# Introducing Consort: Test-driven development on a branching database

DevFeed: [Introducing Consort: Test-driven development on a branching database](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/introducing-consort-test-driven-development-on-a-branching-database-11542.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.databricks.com/blog/introducing-consort-test-driven-development-branching-database>)

Author: Kevin Hartman

Published: 2026-09-09T13:41:25Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Databricks](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/databricks.md>)

Topics: [Test-driven development](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/tdd.md>), [Database](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/database.md>), [Integration testing](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/integration-testing.md>), [Software Engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/software-engineering.md>), [Refactoring](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/refactoring.md>), [Continuous Delivery (CD)](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/continuous-delivery.md>), [Pull Request](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/pull-request.md>), [Reverse Engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/reverse-engineering.md>)

Tags: [code](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/code.md>), [continuous-delivery](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/continuous-delivery.md>), [database](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/database.md>), [development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/development.md>), [integration](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/integration.md>), [partners](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/partners.md>), [platform](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/platform.md>), [postgres](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/postgres.md>), [pull-request](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/pull-request.md>), [refactoring](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/refactoring.md>), [reverse-engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/reverse-engineering.md>), [software](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/software.md>), [software-development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/software-development.md>), [testing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/testing.md>)

## AI overview

The article introduces Consort, a workflow for applying test-driven development to a branching database. It argues that copy-on-write branches of a real database can replace mocks, bring integration testing into the inner development loop, and let engineers run destructive tests in isolation. Versioned schema migrations can move with the dependent code, enabling what the article calls Data CD and helping catch production database problems during pull requests and merges.

## Source excerpt

For 25 years I built software on the practices I grew up with: Kent Beck's TDD, Martin...