How to Test Unpredictable LLM Pipelines in CI Using a Three-Tier Contract Method
Testing LLM-backed features in CI is challenging because language models like GPT-4 or Claude can return different valid outputs for the same input, breaking standard determinism assumptions. Many engineering teams respond by writing few tests or asserting on exact strings, both of which become unsustainable in production. A proposed contract-based approach splits testing into three tiers with different determinism guarantees, each mapped to a separate CI job. The first tier uses static JSON fixtures to validate output shape and field types without ever calling a live model, running in milliseconds on every commit. The second tier employs cassette-based replay, recording a real model response once and replaying it in subsequent CI runs to test parsing and business logic without hitting the network.
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