This is part of the Semicolon&Sons Code Diary - consisting of lessons learned on the job. You're in the testing category.

Last Updated: 2025-11-14

I wrote a Laravel dusk integration test

 <? php

   Mail::fake();
   Mail::assertSent(ReverseAuctionMail::class, 3);

To run these tests I had to have a test server in one tab running php artisan server and my dusk tests in another php artisan dusk.

However this mock never worked. The server process had no idea about it, having been started up independently (and often BEFORE the test script.)

Lessons

Mocks/fakes etc. in testing will fail (in most systems) if your testing set-up involves two independently started processes. Therefore consider:

Mocks fail when there are independently started processes