storkit/.living_spec/stories/18_streaming_responses_testing.md

Story 18: Streaming Responses - Testing Notes

Manual Testing Checklist

Setup

1. Start Ollama: ollama serve
2. Ensure a model is running: ollama list
3. Build and run the app: npm run tauri dev

Test Cases

TC1: Basic Streaming

• Send a simple message: "Hello, how are you?"
• Verify tokens appear one-by-one in real-time
• Verify smooth streaming with no lag
• Verify message appears in the chat history after streaming completes

TC2: Long Response Streaming

• Send: "Write a long explanation of how React hooks work"
• Verify streaming continues smoothly for long responses
• Verify auto-scroll keeps the latest token visible
• Verify no UI stuttering or performance issues

TC3: Code Block Streaming

• Send: "Show me a simple Python function"
• Verify code blocks stream correctly
• Verify syntax highlighting appears after streaming completes
• Verify code formatting is preserved

TC4: Tool Calls During Streaming

• Send: "Read the package.json file"
• Verify streaming stops when tool call is detected
• Verify tool execution begins immediately
• Verify tool output appears in chat
• Verify conversation can continue after tool execution

TC5: Multiple Turns

• Have a 3-4 turn conversation
• Verify each response streams correctly
• Verify message history is maintained
• Verify context is preserved across turns

TC6: Stop Button During Streaming

• Send a request for a long response
• Click the Stop button mid-stream
• Verify streaming stops immediately
• Verify partial response is preserved in chat
• Verify can send new messages after stopping

TC7: Network Interruption

• Send a request
• Stop Ollama during streaming (simulate network error)
• Verify graceful error handling
• Verify partial content is preserved
• Verify error message is shown

TC8: Fast Streaming

• Use a fast model (e.g., llama3.1:8b)
• Send: "Count from 1 to 20"
• Verify UI can keep up with fast token rate
• Verify no dropped tokens

Expected Behavior

Streaming Flow

1. User sends message
2. Message appears in chat immediately
3. "Thinking..." indicator appears briefly
4. Tokens start appearing in real-time in assistant message bubble
5. Auto-scroll keeps latest token visible
6. When streaming completes, chat:update event finalizes the message
7. Message is added to history
8. UI returns to ready state

Events

• chat:token: Emitted for each token (payload: string)
• chat:update: Emitted when streaming completes (payload: Message[])

UI States

• Idle: Input enabled, no loading indicator
• Streaming: Input disabled, streaming content visible, auto-scrolling
• Tool Execution: Input disabled, tool output visible
• Error: Error message visible, input re-enabled

Debugging

Backend Logs

Check terminal for Rust logs:

• Look for "=== Ollama Request ===" to verify streaming is enabled
• Check for streaming response parsing logs

Frontend Console

Open DevTools console:

• Look for chat:token events
• Look for chat:update events
• Check for any JavaScript errors

Ollama Logs

Check Ollama logs:

journalctl -u ollama -f  # Linux
tail -f /var/log/ollama.log  # If configured

Known Issues / Limitations

1. Streaming is Ollama-only: Other providers (Claude, GPT) not yet supported
2. Tool outputs don't stream: Tools execute and return results all at once
3. No streaming animations: Just simple text append, no typing effects
4. Token buffering: Very fast streaming might batch tokens slightly

Success Criteria

All acceptance criteria from Story 18 must pass:

• Backend emits chat:token events
• Frontend listens and displays tokens in real-time
• Tokens appear smoothly without lag (manual verification required)
• Auto-scroll works during streaming (manual verification required)
• Tool calls work correctly with streaming (manual verification required)
• Stop button cancels streaming (manual verification required)
• Error handling works (manual verification required)
• Multi-turn conversations work (manual verification required)