OpenClaw deleted ~400k lines of AI-written tests with little coverage loss using a test-audit skill

steipete · x · 2026-09-24

steipete shares that OpenClaw deleted around 400k lines of its own AI-written tests with little change in code coverage — modern models love writing tests for every tiny change, useful or not.

The companion SKILL.md defines three modes: an authoring gate that blocks new tests unless they answer four questions (what behavior it protects, what regression fails it, etc.), an audit mode sweeping low-value, implementation-coupled, or duplicative tests, and a campaign mode pruning a whole subsystem's test surface — optimizing for confidence, not deletion count.

Related event: OpenClaw uses agent to delete 400K lines of tests(2 posts)→

Original post →

More from coding & agent

coding & agent channel →