Thread 15: Inherited a small microservices system (2-3 services) with almost no tests. With limited resources, where do you invest: Unit or Integration?

Platform

Reddit

Link

https://www.reddit.com/r/ExperiencedDevs/comments/1sal5f1/inherited_a_small_microservices_system_23/

Full Post Text (Key Excerpt)

“I inherited 2-3 interacting services with very few tests and limited resources, and need to choose where to invest first between unit and integration coverage.”

Why This Matches Ryva ICP

This is first-person ownership transfer pain with explicit resource constraints and dependency risk, strongly aligned to Ryva ICP.

Underlying Problem

A new owner lacks risk visibility across service boundaries, so test investment decisions become guesswork.

Suggested Public Reply (Copy)

Start with thin integration tests on highest-value flows, then add unit tests around unstable modules. In inherited systems, boundary failures usually hurt first, so protect cross-service behavior before deeper internals.

Suggested DM Idea (Copy)

If useful, I can help you rank the first 5 integration scenarios by user impact and failure cost so test investment is not random.