--- title: "Don't Trip[wire] Yourself: Testing Error Recovery in Zig" url: https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-trip-wire-yourself-testing-error-recovery-in-zig-gq3xhgmnl source_url: https://mitchellh.com/writing/tripwire type: article source: "Mitchell Hashimoto" published: 2026-01-21T21:58:05.401Z updated: 2026-01-21T21:58:25.244Z tags: ["testing", "zig"] reading_time: 8 upvotes: 4 comments: 1 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Don't Trip[wire] Yourself: Testing Error Recovery in Zig **[Mitchell Hashimoto](https://daily.dev/sources/mitchellh)** · 8 min read · 4 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary Tripwire is a single-file Zig library for testing error recovery paths by injecting failures at named points in code. It enables testing of errdefer statements, which are difficult to exercise otherwise, by allowing developers to trigger errors at specific locations during tests. The library has zero runtime cost outside tests through compile-time optimization and inlining. When integrated into Ghostty, it immediately uncovered six previously unknown errdefer bugs, all now fixed with accompanying unit tests. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@khauma** · 0 upvotes > Fantastic! --- Tags: [#testing](https://daily.dev/tags/testing), [#zig](https://daily.dev/tags/zig) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-trip-wire-yourself-testing-error-recovery-in-zig-gq3xhgmnl)