Context: on 2026-10-21 the dev SQLite DB was wiped because an early
revision of Phase 1 tests called RefreshDatabase before the per-test
config() swap had been applied, so migrate:fresh ran against the real
database file. Restored from data/backups/db-20261020-033001.sqlite
(24 users, 72 videos, 32 comments recovered); anything created between
Oct 20 03:30 and Oct 21 08:25 needs manual rebuild from NAS.
Two layers of defense added so this cannot recur:
1. .env.testing — forces DB_CONNECTION=sqlite and DB_DATABASE=:memory:
at the earliest bootstrap stage, before any trait setUp hook runs.
Also carries the APP_KEY and testing-safe defaults for mail/queue
/session.
2. TestCase::assertSafeTestDatabase() — a belt-and-braces guard that
aborts the whole phpunit run (exit code 2) if the resolved default
DB target is anything other than :memory: or a /testing/ or /tmp/
path. The abort happens BEFORE any query can execute.
Running the suite with a bad DB target now prints a stderr banner and
stops instantly; the dev file is safe even if someone writes a new
test that forgets to override the connection.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <[email protected]>
