
Test-Driven Development for AI and LLM Applications: A Practical 2026 Guide
Test-driven development is easy to explain when the function under test adds two numbers. Write a failing test, make it pass, then improve the implementation without changing its behavior. The difficulty begins when the function calls a language model and five different answers may all be acceptable. That does not make TDD obsolete. It means the word test has to become more precise. For an AI application, I use TDD as a discipline for discovering contracts. Some contracts are exact: a parser must reject malformed JSON, an authorization check must not leak another tenant’s data, and a tool call must match its schema. Other contracts are statistical: a support assistant should resolve most routine cases, cite the supplied policy, and rarely invent a refund rule. The first group belongs in ordinary tests. The second belongs in evaluations and monitoring. ...


