# silentbicycle/greatest

A C testing library in 1 file. No dependencies, no dynamic allocation. ISC licensed.

Repository: https://github.com/silentbicycle/greatest
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/greatest
Language: C
License: ISC
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2023-06-11T15:41:53+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5350, "days_push": 1179, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1540, forks 109 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:00.462769+00:00)

## What it is
greatest is a minimal unit testing library for C, distributed as a single header file with no dependencies and no dynamic allocation. It provides assertions, test suites, command-line test filtering, and parametric testing while staying under 1,000 lines of ANSI C89 code.

## Use cases
- unit test C code with minimal setup
- add tests to an embedded C project without dependencies
- run individual tests or suites by name during development
- test C code from a C++ project
- group tests into suites with shared setup
- avoid heavyweight test frameworks in a small C library

## When to choose
- you want a zero-dependency, single-file testing solution for C
- you target constrained or embedded environments where dynamic allocation is unacceptable
- you need portability across ANSI C89 compilers
- you want low-friction, fast test iteration with name-based filtering

## When to avoid
- you need property-based testing (use the related theft project)
- you want rich assertion introspection, mocking, or fixtures out of the box
- you prefer an opinionated framework with integrated build tooling
- you need advanced features like parallel test execution

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: testing
- domain: testing, developer-tools, embedded-systems
- platform: cross-platform, c
- tags: unit-testing, single-header, c89, no-dependencies, test-runner, embedded-friendly

## Member repositories
- silentbicycle/greatest (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:00.462769+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 2026-08-30T04:30:52.028939+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/silentbicycle/greatest (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:00.462769+00:00, sha 3be4356dcfb8)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.