Research Article

A CONTRACT-DRIVEN AUTOMATED UNIT TEST MAINTENANCE APPROACH WITH GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR BACKEND SOFTWARE PROJECTS

Volume: 4 Number: 2 December 31, 2025
TR EN

A CONTRACT-DRIVEN AUTOMATED UNIT TEST MAINTENANCE APPROACH WITH GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR BACKEND SOFTWARE PROJECTS

Abstract

Modern backend systems frequently undergo changes in function contracts and API surfaces, which can quickly render unit tests outdated, brittle, or unusable. Most existing tools—whether based on classical test generation or large language models (LLMs)—focus on initial test creation, leaving the ongoing maintenance of existing test suites largely manual and error-prone. This paper presents a contract-driven, AI-assisted framework for unit test maintenance in TypeScript backend projects. The framework detects function-level contract changes and adapts related Jest tests through small, validated edits synthesized by an LLM, without creating new tests or performing broad refactorings. We evaluate the approach on 28 contract-change instances across four open-source projects. The results indicate that contract-aware, LLM-based test maintenance can act as a practical self-healing mechanism when contract changes are visible in the test surface, while its effectiveness remains strongly shaped by project architecture and test-suite design.

Keywords

Ethical Statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest regarding this study.

References

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Artificial Intelligence (Other), Software Testing, Verification and Validation

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

December 31, 2025

Submission Date

November 17, 2025

Acceptance Date

December 31, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2025 Volume: 4 Number: 2

APA
Akıncı, F. S., & Tuğlular, T. (2025). A CONTRACT-DRIVEN AUTOMATED UNIT TEST MAINTENANCE APPROACH WITH GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR BACKEND SOFTWARE PROJECTS. Akıllı Sistemler Dergisi, 4(2), 74-97. https://izlik.org/JA82NX92HA
AMA
1.Akıncı FS, Tuğlular T. A CONTRACT-DRIVEN AUTOMATED UNIT TEST MAINTENANCE APPROACH WITH GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR BACKEND SOFTWARE PROJECTS. JOSS. 2025;4(2):74-97. https://izlik.org/JA82NX92HA
Chicago
Akıncı, Furkan Samet, and Tuğkan Tuğlular. 2025. “A CONTRACT-DRIVEN AUTOMATED UNIT TEST MAINTENANCE APPROACH WITH GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR BACKEND SOFTWARE PROJECTS”. Akıllı Sistemler Dergisi 4 (2): 74-97. https://izlik.org/JA82NX92HA.
EndNote
Akıncı FS, Tuğlular T (December 1, 2025) A CONTRACT-DRIVEN AUTOMATED UNIT TEST MAINTENANCE APPROACH WITH GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR BACKEND SOFTWARE PROJECTS. Akıllı Sistemler Dergisi 4 2 74–97.
IEEE
[1]F. S. Akıncı and T. Tuğlular, “A CONTRACT-DRIVEN AUTOMATED UNIT TEST MAINTENANCE APPROACH WITH GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR BACKEND SOFTWARE PROJECTS”, JOSS, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 74–97, Dec. 2025, [Online]. Available: https://izlik.org/JA82NX92HA
ISNAD
Akıncı, Furkan Samet - Tuğlular, Tuğkan. “A CONTRACT-DRIVEN AUTOMATED UNIT TEST MAINTENANCE APPROACH WITH GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR BACKEND SOFTWARE PROJECTS”. Akıllı Sistemler Dergisi 4/2 (December 1, 2025): 74-97. https://izlik.org/JA82NX92HA.
JAMA
1.Akıncı FS, Tuğlular T. A CONTRACT-DRIVEN AUTOMATED UNIT TEST MAINTENANCE APPROACH WITH GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR BACKEND SOFTWARE PROJECTS. JOSS. 2025;4:74–97.
MLA
Akıncı, Furkan Samet, and Tuğkan Tuğlular. “A CONTRACT-DRIVEN AUTOMATED UNIT TEST MAINTENANCE APPROACH WITH GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR BACKEND SOFTWARE PROJECTS”. Akıllı Sistemler Dergisi, vol. 4, no. 2, Dec. 2025, pp. 74-97, https://izlik.org/JA82NX92HA.
Vancouver
1.Furkan Samet Akıncı, Tuğkan Tuğlular. A CONTRACT-DRIVEN AUTOMATED UNIT TEST MAINTENANCE APPROACH WITH GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR BACKEND SOFTWARE PROJECTS. JOSS [Internet]. 2025 Dec. 1;4(2):74-97. Available from: https://izlik.org/JA82NX92HA

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