# specta/expecta

A Matcher Framework for Objective-C/Cocoa

Repository: https://github.com/specta/expecta
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/expecta
Language: Objective-C
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2024-04-17T17:30:35+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5597, "days_push": 868, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1583, forks 156 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:07.271625+00:00)

## What it is
Expecta is a matcher (assertion) framework for Objective-C and Cocoa that provides a readable, type-agnostic expect() syntax for test assertions. It is framework-agnostic and works with XCTest and compatible test frameworks such as Specta and Kiwi.

## Use cases
- write readable assertions in Objective-C unit tests
- assert equality without specifying data types
- test whether code blocks raise exceptions
- check collection contents, counts, and emptiness in tests
- compare numbers with range and closeness matchers
- use expressive matchers alongside XCTest or Specta

## When to choose
- you are writing Objective-C/Cocoa tests and want readable, type-agnostic assertions
- you use Specta, Kiwi, or XCTest and want a richer matcher syntax
- you prefer expect(x).to.equal(y) style over verbose XCTest assertions

## When to avoid
- you are writing tests in Swift with native XCTest expectations
- your project targets only modern Swift-first testing workflows
- you need a matcher framework with active ongoing development

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: testing, e2e-testing
- domain: testing, developer-tools
- platform: cross-platform
- tags: objective-c, cocoa, matcher-framework, assertions, xctest, unit-testing, macos, ios

## Member repositories
- specta/expecta (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:07.271625+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:56:07.128460+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/specta/expecta (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:07.271625+00:00, sha b13c0ee6b2cf)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.