# Mock Mirage

> A defect in which tests assert calls on mocks rather than observable behavior or contracts.

Record: `architecture:mock-mirage`
Kind: anti-pattern
Layer: [Enforcement Core](https://banes-lab.com/records/layer/enforcement-core.md)
Severity: discouraged
Scope: contract_compatibility, correctness_verification, observability_traceability
Canonical: https://banes-lab.com/ontology#architecture-mock-mirage

Listed in [Architecture principles](https://banes-lab.com/api/records/architecture.md), after [Test Pyramid Inversion](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/test-pyramid-inversion.md) and before [Flaky Test Normalization](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/flaky-test-normalization.md).

## Repair

- Refactored by: test_observable_behavior, contract_test, use_fake_at_boundary, reduce_internal_mocks
- Detected by: tests_fail_on_refactor_without_behavior_change, assert_called_everywhere, no_contract_tests
- Violated by: Overuse mocks so tests verify internal calls rather than observable behavior or contracts.
- Measured by: tests that break on refactors with no change in behavior
- Enforced by: contract tests, review of mock usage

## Severity

- [discouraged](https://banes-lab.com/records/vocabulary/severity-discouraged.md)

## Category

- [Anti-patterns](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture-category/anti-patterns.md)

## Force

- [Contract compatibility](https://banes-lab.com/records/force/contract-compatibility.md)
- [Correctness verification](https://banes-lab.com/records/force/correctness-verification.md)
- [Observability traceability](https://banes-lab.com/records/force/observability-traceability.md)

## Negated by

- [Specification-Based Testing](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/specification-based-testing.md)

## Linked from

- [The check comes first](https://banes-lab.com/disciplined-methodology/build/the-check-comes-first.md)
- [Verify the verifier](https://banes-lab.com/disciplined-methodology/verify/verify-the-verifier.md)
- [What can drift, seen through how it drifts](https://banes-lab.com/software-architecture/coverage/what-can-drift-seen-through-how-it-drifts.md)
- [Anti-patterns](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-anti-patterns.md)
- [Correctness / Determinism / Verification](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-correctness-determinism-verification.md)
- [Correctness / Determinism / Verification](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/lexicon/lexicon-category-correctness-determinism-verification.md)
- [Failure shapes](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/reasoning/the-failure-shapes.md)
- [Severity levels](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/schema/the-vocabulary-severity.md)
- [The forces](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/schema/the-forces.md)