rs test / rs lint run with an empty config when define.test() / define.lint() is missing: intended or an oversight?

[fi3ework]

What happens

When rstack.config.ts only defines define.lint() and define.fmt() (no define.test()), rs test still starts Rstest with an empty config {}, scans the whole directory with the default include, and runs whatever it finds.

A real case is the rspack-examples repo. The root rstack.config.ts has lint, fmt and staged only. rstest/module-federation-node/host/ has its own rstest.config.ts that registers remote/* through the @module-federation/rstest plugin. Running rs test at the repo root collects host/tests/federated-modules.test.ts too, but with the root's empty config and no federation plugin, so it fails with Cannot find module 'remote/formatPrice' (exit 1). Running rstest inside host/ passes. A minimal fixture with the same layout reproduces the same result.

Another case is a repo that uses vitest. rs test picks up src/sum.test.ts and fails while loading it with Vitest failed to find the current suite (exit 1).

rs lint behaves the same way: without define.lint() it runs with [], prints Lint passed (2 files, 0 rules) and exits 0, reporting nothing for debugger statements or unused variables.

Environment: rstack 0.7.4, @rstest/core 0.11.12 (rstack itself depends on ~0.11.12, so it is always installed alongside rstack), vitest 5.0.1, Node 26.5.0.

History

I went through the git history and the issues and could not find this fallback being discussed:

• The {} fallback for test comes from 2dc4974 (feat: support for defining test config). The [] fallback for lint comes from c7b4ec1 (feat: add lint command placeholder). Both were pushed directly with no linked PR, and neither commit message mentions the missing-definition case.
• The docs say "Define only the configurations your project needs" but do not say what happens when you invoke a tool that has no definition.
• By contrast, rs staged refuses when define.staged() is missing (No define.staged config found). It is the only command that handles the missing case on purpose.

So this looks like a default that came with ?? {} rather than an explicit product decision.

Question

When the matching define.* is missing, what should rs test / rs lint do?

• Keep the current behavior: treat it as define.test({}) and run. If so, this should be documented, so users know that rs test at a monorepo root will pick up nested projects and tests written for other runners.
• Align with rs staged: exit with an error that asks for define.test().