Ivan Mykhavko

Posted on Jan 9

Stop Flaky Tests: Freeze Time in Laravel Testing

#php #laravel #testing #webdev

About a year ago, I wrote about freezing time when testing Laravel's temporary storage URLs.

Freezing Time: Testing Laravel Temporary Storage URLs

Ivan Mykhavko ・ Jan 28 '25

#laravel #testing #php #webdev

Guess what? I ran into the same problem again, just from a different angle. It was a good reminder: controlling time in your tests isn't just a nice-to-have, it's essential.

The Problem

I had this test running smoothly on my machine. But then, on CI, it failed randomly:

public function test_order_item_cancel(): void
{
    $user = UserFixture::createUser();
    $this->actingAsFrontendUser($user);

    $order = OrderFixture::create($user);
    $orderItem = OrderItemFactory::new()->for($order)->for($user)->create();

    $response = $this->put(route('api-v2:order.order-items.cancel', ['uuid' => $orderItem->uuid]));

    $response->assertNoContent();

    $this->assertDatabaseHas(OrderItem::class, [
        'uuid' => $orderItem->uuid,
        'canceled_at' => Date::now(),
    ]);
}

Sometimes I'd get this error:

Failed asserting that a row in the table [order_items] matches the attributes {
    "canceled_at": "2026-01-09T10:24:52.008406Z"
}.

Found: [
    {
        "canceled_at": "2026-01-09 12:24:51"
    }
].

At first, I just shrugged and hit retry, like everyone does, right? 😅 But after reading The Flaky Test Chronicles VI, I realized I needed to actually pay attention. Was this a real bug, or just a flaky test?

Why This Happens

The problem's pretty simple: Date::now() gets called twice, but not at the same time.

First, when the controller sets canceled_at.
Then, again when the test checks the value.

Even a tiny delay, maybe just a millisecond, can make those two timestamps different. And CI is usually slower, so it happens more often there.

The Fix

Just freeze time before you make the request:


// Option 1
$this->freezeTime();
// Option 2
$now = Date::now();
Date::setTestNow($now);

$response = $this->put(route('api-v2:order.order-items.cancel', ['uuid' => $orderItem->uuid]));

$this->assertDatabaseHas(OrderItem::class, [
    'uuid' => $orderItem->uuid,
    'canceled_at' => $now,
]);

$this->freezeTime() is just a convenient wrapper around Date::setTestNow(), scoped to the test lifecycle.

Now both the controller and the test share the exact same timestamp. No more missmatches.

Another Way

If you don't care about the exact timestamp and just want to make sure the field isn't empty, go with this:


$this->assertDatabaseMissing(OrderItem::class, [
    'uuid' => $orderItem->uuid,
    'canceled_at' => null,
]);

Final thoughts

If your tests depend on time, take control of it. When test passes locally but fails in CI, freeze time using Date::setTestNow() or $this->freezeTime(). Make your tests reliable by controlling what you're testing. Build it right. Keep it deterministic. Trust your tests.

Author's Note

Thanks for sticking around!
Find me on dev.to, linkedin, or you can check out my work on github.

Notes from real-world Laravel.

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