`around_` inadvertently affects the test context about hspec

[sol]

If I change your Example instance to

instance Example (IO CheckEnv) where
  type Arg (IO CheckEnv) = ()
  evaluateExample example _ hook _ = do
    ref <- newIORef $ CheckEnv "success"
    liftA2
        (\expected (CheckEnv actual) ->
          Result "ran"
          (if expected == actual
            then Success
            else Failure Nothing (ExpectedButGot Nothing expected actual)))
        (getEnv envVar)
        (hook (\() -> example >>= writeIORef ref) >> readIORef ref)

then I get the behavior you expect.

Note that I renamed checkEnv to example and action to hook.

TL;DR: What you need to do is apply the hook to the example and do any other housekeeping outside of that.

From what I understand, this is a bug in hspec-golden. Please report it there. If somebody is going to fix this in hspec-golden then I can offer to take a quick look at the fix and offer third-party feedback.

[sellout]

@sol – thanks! Opened a ticket there, closing this one.