Quell reads your docstrings, Pydantic models, and type annotations, extracts every testable requirement, finds which ones have no test, generates pytest tests via a rule engine, verifies each test through a 5-gate pipeline, and writes only proven tests to disk.

Does Quell require an LLM API key?

The rule engine runs entirely in-process — no source code is ever transmitted. ~75% of edge cases are handled with no network call and no API key. LLM fallback is opt-in and only sends the function signature, never the full body.

What is the 5-gate pipeline?

Every generated test must pass: Gate 1 (AST valid Python), Gate 2 (not already in a test file), Gate 3 (no shell calls or file writes), Gate 4 (passes against original code), Gate 5 (fails when the requirement is violated). Only gate-5-verified tests are written to disk.

What is the Production Readiness Score (PRS)?

PRS = (WRITTEN × 1.0 + SCAFFOLDED × 0.5) / total_requirements × 100. Tiers: 80-100 Production Ready, 60-79 Review Needed, 0-59 Needs Work.

How is Quell different from GitHub Copilot or Qodo for test generation?

Quell reads specifications that already exist in your code — it does not generate tests from scratch. It finds requirements already documented in your docstrings, Pydantic models, and type annotations that have no test. The 5-gate pipeline, especially Gate 5 (violation injection), verifies each test actually catches the bug it claims to catch. This verification step is not present in Copilot, Qodo, or Hypothesis.

Can Quell be used in CI pipelines?

Yes. Run quell ci src/ --threshold 80 to fail CI if PRS falls below 80. Set prs_threshold in pyproject.toml under [tool.quell]. Works with GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, and any system that checks exit codes.

quell init

Set up the [tool.quell] configuration block in your pyproject.toml.

Usage

quell init

Runs interactively and adds a [tool.quell] block to your existing pyproject.toml (or creates a minimal one if it doesn't exist).

Example output

[tool.quell]
# Paths to scan for edge cases
paths = ["src/"]

# Minimum PRS score for CI (quell ci)
threshold = 75

# Enable LLM fallback (requires GROQ_API_KEY)
enable_llm = false

# Mutation testing integration (optional)
enable_mutations = false

Manual configuration

You can also edit pyproject.toml directly. All options:

[tool.quell]
paths = ["src/"]          # Paths to scan
threshold = 75            # CI failure threshold (0–100)
enable_llm = false        # LLM fallback (default: false)
enable_mutations = false  # mutmut integration (default: false)
test_dir = "tests/"       # Where to write tests
exclude = ["src/legacy/"] # Paths to skip

See pyproject.toml reference for full options.