Separating mocked integration evidence from observations of a live service

Goal

Prevent fixture responses and local stand-ins from being mistaken for evidence that a real external integration is configured and working.

Prerequisites

Know the integration’s execution modes, destination configuration, and allowed access. A live check requires its own authorization and must not be inferred from permission to run local tests.

Steps

1. Label each check before execution as fixture, stubbed transport, local integration, or external-service observation. Record which boundary the check exercises and which boundary remains simulated.

2. Inspect how the application chooses its mode. Confirm that a default fixture flag, missing credential fallback, or test endpoint does not silently select simulation while the agent believes it is calling the service.

3. Capture nonsecret evidence of the actual destination and execution path. Avoid using a convincing payload shape as proof of origin; a fixture can reproduce the same fields as a real response.

4. Report what the check establishes: request construction, error handling, local wiring, or actual remote interaction. Keep the last category separate from claims about end-to-end correctness under production load.

5. Exercise a fixture fallback and a failed external connection in an isolated setup. Verify that the report states the selected mode and does not turn a successful simulated response into a live-service success.

Expected result

The integration report tells readers exactly which components were real and which were simulated. Missing access becomes an explicit validation gap rather than a hidden change in the meaning of success.

Limits and test basis

This method is proposed and untested here. Simulation remains valuable for repeatable cases, but its evidence has a defined scope. An external response also does not prove all credentials, accounts, or deployment environments are configured correctly.