Test as You Code: Catch Functional Issues While You Build, Not After
Most functional issues aren’t difficult to fix. They’re difficult to catch at the right time.
Broken user flows, unexpected UI behavior, or incorrect API responses often appear after code is written, pushed, and reviewed. By then, the context is gone, switching back is expensive, and small issues turn into time-consuming rework.
Test as You Code changes that timing. It gives you the ability to check whether the application behaves the way it’s supposed to be, allowing issues to surface while you build, not after you move on.
What does “Test as You Code” really mean?
Test as You Code means functional checks happen inside the editor, during development, alongside code changes.
Instead of writing features first and discovering issues later, developers get immediate feedback as they implement flows, screens, and interactions. The code, behavior, and validation evolve together.
Modern IDE extensions observe real user journeys as you interact with the application. User journeys include clicks, navigation, form submissions, and API calls. They use AI to understand what “working” should look like.
When something goes wrong, the issue is detected immediately, while the code is still fresh in your mind.
Why does timing matter to developers?
Developers naturally think about what the app should do in response to actions:
- This action should navigate here
- This response should update the UI
- This state should render correctly
But without in-editor validation, you usually find issues only later, after commits, after merges, or during downstream checks. Test as You Code removes that delay.
By validating behavior as it’s implemented, developers:
- Stay in flow without context switching
- Fix issues immediately instead of revisiting old code
- Avoid compounding small mistakes into larger fixes
The result is faster progress with fewer interruptions.
How AI improves developer productivity?
AI doesn’t replace developer intent but reinforces it.
AI-powered IDE extensions can:
- Automatically generate functional test flows based on real interactions.
- Detect broken journeys, missing UI elements, and unexpected states.
- Surface inconsistencies between expected and actual behavior without manual setup.
This reduces repetitive effort and eliminates the need to constantly maintain fragile scripts. As the code changes, validation adapts to it.
The biggest shift with Test as You Code is not the tool itself, but how developers think about quality and feedback while coding. Quality is no longer something verified later. It’s something continuously reinforced during building. By catching functional issues early, developers move faster, spend less time fixing old problems, and ship with confidence without slowing down or adding extra steps to their workflow.
