Thanks for sharing!

John Beynon, the goal of the tests above is to actually hit the server since once in a while to guarantee the contract between the application and the external service is still valid.

That said VCR is still a good option since it allows you to hit the server by simply cleaning up the cassettes cache and SOAP can be used over HTTP. But depending on the type of external service, you don’t have automatic tools like VCR, so the tip above is still handy.

RSpec.configure do |c|
c.treat_symbols_as_metadata_keys_with_true_values = true
end

it “works”, :focus do
should be_nice
end

You can also add a name to your subject:

subject(:serializer) { Serializer.new(foo) }

it “serializes” do
expect(serializer).to be_serializable # this works
should be_serializable # this too!
end

And I really like this “should something” syntax.