The test pyramid is a well-known visualization aid to classify software tests. As you climb the steps towards greater integration of components, you proceed from many, detailed, fast and isolated tests towards fewer, slower and more global tests that validate the system as a whole. It makes good sense in principle but it’s harder to explain how the stratification between unit-, integration and end-to-end tests is supposed to work. Opinions differ on what parts to integrate at which layer in the pyramid. You would think the database belongs in the upper strata, because it is expensive to set up and run. Yet it also makes sense to integrate it at the lower, detailed stage in the pyramid when it contains business-critical logic that requires detailed validation. It often needs the kind of rigorous validation that you cannot leave to a few slow, global integration tests. But let’s start with a recap of the definition of a unit test.