Can forge test send txs to a real network?

[mtomassoli]

Is it possible for forge test to send a tx to a real network?
In other words, is there any combination of env variables, CLI parameters, and test code such that forge test [+ CLI parameters] sends a transaction to a real network?

[mds1]

forge test cannot send transactions to a network, however that is what forge script is intended to do

[mtomassoli]

I know about forge script. I'm asking for when I'll be forking a network and test really dangerous POCs with forge test. To be extra sure, I'll probably use a sandbox where I'll never use any valid private key. I want to drive the probability of things going wrong to 0.

[mds1]

forge test can send RPC requests to fetch data, e.g. if you're running tests against a forked network, but it cannot send signed transactions to the network (and you don't need to give it a private key)

[mtomassoli]

One last question. I noticed that broadcast, startBroadcast, and endBroadcast work even in tests. Are they no-ops or do they collect txs just like in the first phase of forge script?

[mds1]

When invoked during tests I believe they just act like vm.prank would

[mtomassoli]

I completely forgot about ffi. So forge test can indeed send txs indirectly! Again: sandbox.