Project · test-fixture
dummy-dna
- How you run it
- not recorded
- Holochain version
- 0.4.0-dev.12
- Activity
- stalled
- Checked
- 27 October 2026
What is dummy-dna and what is it for?
dummy-dna is a Holochain DNA built for testing Holo and Holochain services rather than for people to use directly. Its purpose is to give Holo and Holochain service code a DNA to install and call while testing.
dummy-dna is a test DNA published in the Holo-Host GitHub organisation. Its own one-line description says it is a test DNA "for Holo or Holochain services testing", and that is the whole of the stated purpose: a DNA that Holo and Holochain services can install so their tests have something real to work against.
A Holochain DNA is a packaged bundle of rules and data definitions that a conductor installs and runs. dummy-dna ships as that kind of bundle and nothing more. The repository builds a test DNA and a test hApp package, with no user interface and no end-user application around it, and it is meant to be installed by test code rather than opened by a person.
One concrete example comes from the repository's own Makefile: `make test` installs the built DNA into Scenario tests that call it from a script under tests/, and the build also packs alternate hApp configurations kept in alternate-happ-configs/. The repository at github.com/Holo-Host/dummy-dna holds the current source and instructions.
How to get it
As a library
- Enter the Holochain development environment the repository expects: `nix develop` (the Makefile notes this supplies the Holochain toolchain).
- Build and package the DNA and hApp: `make build`, which runs `hc dna pack` and `hc app pack` to produce test.dna and test.happ.
- Run the repository's Scenario tests, which install the built DNA: `make test` (the tests live under tests/).
Source: https://github.com/Holo-Host/dummy-dna/blob/develop/Makefile
Questions people ask
- Is dummy-dna an app someone can install and use?
- No. The repository describes it only as a test DNA for Holo or Holochain services testing, and it is packaged as a DNA and hApp for test harnesses rather than as a user-facing application. source
- How is dummy-dna built and tested?
- The repository's Makefile describes entering a Nix development environment, packaging the DNA and hApp with the Holochain command-line tools, and running Scenario tests from the tests directory. These are the repository's own instructions; this page does not assert that they work with any current Holochain release. source
From 4 public sources, checked 23 September 2026.
Try dummy-dna
- Code on GitHubOpen on GitHub ↗Last change 30 June 2025.
- Releasev0.8.3Published 30 June 2025.
- The project's own files do not say how it is run.
Details & sources
- Source
- Holo-Host/dummy-dna
Evidence
- Release
- github.com/Holo-Host/dummy-dna/releases/tag/v0.8.3shipped in a release · seen since 20 October 2026 · github.release@1
- Last change
- api.github.com/repos/Holo-Host/dummy-dnalisted by a third party · seen since 20 October 2026 · github.repository@1
- Activity
- api.github.com/repos/Holo-Host/dummy-dnalisted by a third party · seen since 20 October 2026 · liveness@1
Compatibility
- hdk
- 0.4.0-dev.12 · Cargo.toml @ b0746d8
- hdi
- 0.5.0-dev.10 · Cargo.toml @ b0746d8
- holochain-client
- —
- happ.yaml
- present · happ.yaml @ b0746d8
- web-happ.yaml
- absent