# Fairlead Rebalance: Fix the inverted pyramid.

Canonical: https://fairleadhq.com/platform/products/rebalance/

Updated: 2026-10-10
Publication state: published
Product version: in-development

Agent summary: Fairlead Rebalance: Push slow, flaky end to end and manual tests down to fast, reliable layers. Analyze coverage and criticality to keep the same coverage with far fewer expensive tests.

## Prerequisites

- None declared.

## Inputs

- None declared.

## Outputs

- None declared.

## Limitations

- None declared.

## Permissions

- None declared.

## Privacy

- None declared.


Push slow, flaky end to end and manual tests down to fast, reliable layers, and keep the same coverage with far fewer expensive tests.

Status: In development

- Up to 70%: Lower testing cost
- 80%: Faster feedback
- ~10×: More unit tests

## How it works

1. Map: Read every suite, from manual cases to unit tests, and count the checks in each layer.
2. Trace: Record the code each test runs, across the services it crosses, so every check has a footprint.
3. Score: Weigh each end to end and manual check by its cost, its criticality and its flakiness. A check already covered lower is removed, a critical journey stays end to end, and the rest can move.
4. Push down: Rewrite each check that can move in the lowest layer that still proves it, unit first, then integration, then API.
5. Verify: Keep a new test only when it covers the same code, passes and stays stable on reruns. A coverage gap is rewritten, or the original check stays.
6. Deliver: Deliver a pull or merge request per repository with the faster tests and the checks they replace, a report of each check kept and why, and the layer mix before and after.

## What it does

- Coverage and criticality analysis: Finds which expensive end to end checks can move to faster, cheaper layers without losing coverage.
- Push tests down the pyramid: Replaces slow, flaky end to end tests with deterministic integration and unit tests.
- Grow the base: Grows unit (~10×) and integration, the layers usually written as an afterthought.
- Shrink the top: Reduces the brittle manual and end to end tests that bloat scope every release.

## Target outcomes

- Up to 70%: Lower testing cost
- 80%: Faster feedback
- The same coverage, with far fewer end to end tests.