The Universal Test Runner is a zero-configuration, language-aware way to run unit tests in any project. It installs a command, t
, which will determine how to run your test suite (and then run it).
If you're working on a JS project, it runs [your package manager here] test
. You've run pytest
in this folder before? pytest
it is. Rust project? cargo test
coming right up. Is also clever about running all your go
module tests (regardless of how they're organized). No matter the command, all args are passed directly into the test runner.
Currently supports 7 languages (and their respective test frameworks). Please open an issue if I'm missing your favorite!
The easiest way to install is by using pipx:
pipx install universal-test-runner
You can also use brew (which will build from source and take a little longer):
brew install xavdid/projects/universal-test-runner
You can also clone the demo repo to play around with the test runner - it's got toy examples to show how tests are run in many languages!
Once installed, the command t
will be available. Run it in a project folder's root and it'll do its best to run your unit tests:
% t
-> pytest
=============================== test session starts ================================
platform darwin -- Python 3.11.0, pytest-7.3.1, pluggy-1.0.0
rootdir: /Users/username/projects/test-runner
collected 78 items
tests/test_cli.py ... [ 3%]
tests/test_context.py ..................... [ 30%]
tests/test_matchers.py .................................................. [ 94%]
tests/test_runner.py .... [100%]
================================ 78 passed in 0.08s ================================
It passes all arguments and environment modifications down to the chosen test runner:
% t -k test_builder --verbose
-> pytest -k test_builder --verbose
=============================== test session starts ================================
platform darwin -- Python 3.11.0, pytest-7.3.1, pluggy-1.0.0
cachedir: .pytest_cache
rootdir: /Users/username/projects/test-runner
collected 78 items / 77 deselected / 1 selected
tests/test_context.py::test_builder PASSED [100%]
========================= 1 passed, 77 deselected in 0.03s =========================
It prints the command it's running as part of the output. To disable that behavior, set UTR_DISABLE_ECHO
environment variable to anything besides 0
.
If it can't guess the testing method, it will tell you so. Feel free to open an issue to request wider language support!
The package also ships a command to surface info about itself: universal-test-runner
. It has a few key pieces of functionality:
- the
universal-test-runner --version
flag, which prints info about your installed package version - the
universal-test-runner debug
command, which prints info about which command would run (and why):
% universal-test-runner debug
[universal-test-runner]: checking each handler for first match
[universal-test-runner]: Checking command 01/11: pytest
[universal-test-runner]: looking for: ".pytest_cache"
[universal-test-runner]: no match, continuing
[universal-test-runner]: Checking command 02/11: py
[universal-test-runner]: looking for: "tests.py"
[universal-test-runner]: no match, continuing
[universal-test-runner]: Checking command 03/11: go_multi
[universal-test-runner]: looking for: "go.mod" and no arguments
[universal-test-runner]: no match, continuing
[universal-test-runner]: Checking command 04/11: go_single
[universal-test-runner]: looking for: "go.mod" or a file named "..._test.go"
[universal-test-runner]: no match, continuing
...
[universal-test-runner]: no matching test handler. To add a new one, please file an issue: https://github.com/xavdid/universal-test-runner/issues
To clear the terminal and scrollback buffer before running the test command, set the UTR_CLEAR_PRE_RUN
environment variable to anything besides 0
.
This functionality has been tested on iTerm2, Terminal.app
, and Kitty. Please open an issue if it doesn't work on your terminal.
This list describes how each language behaves (but not the order in which languages are matched; use the debugger for that).
- Python
- checks for
manage.py
(Django) - else tries to determine if you use
pytest
in rough order of simplicity. It checks:- if you've got a
.pytest-cache
orpytest.ini
- if there's a
[pytest]
line intox.ini
- if there's a
setup.cfg
and a[tool:pytest]
line - otherwise, it tries to read
pyproject.toml
- if you're on Python 3.11+, it parses the file and checks for dependency locations for popular tools
- otherwise, it does a best-effort regex against the file contents, looking for
[tool.pytest.ini_options]
or dependency specifiers likepytest >= 2
- if you've got a
- lastly, if there are any python-related files, it runs
python -m unittest
, which does its own discovery
- checks for
- Rust
cargo test
- Go
- if there's a
X_test.go
, then runs a plaingo test
- if you pass any args at all, runs
go test your-args-here
- otherwise, runs
go test ./...
- if there's a
- Elixir
mix test
- Clojure
lein test
- Javascript/Typescript
- if there's a
package.json
and it has atest
script, runs[package manager] test
, where[package manager]
is:npm
if there's apackage-lock.json
yarn
if there's ayarn.lock
pnpm
if there's apnpm-lock.yaml
bun test
if there's abun.lockb
- if there's a
- Just
- if there are any common justfile names, it uses the JSON api to find a
test
command - if
just
isn't installed, it does its best to parse the file as a string
- if there are any common justfile names, it uses the JSON api to find a
- Makefile
- looks for a line that starts with
test:
- looks for a line that starts with
Exercism is a platform for learning new programming languages. It has more than 65 tracks available. The Universal Test Runner supports nearly all of them out of the box using the Exercism CLI's exercism test
command. Just like this tool, it knows how to run each track's tests and invokes the correct one automatically.
Rather than re-implement all of the test commands exercism
can handle, the runner will invoke the Exercism CLI when run from an exercise directory. This requires version 3.2.0
of the Exercism CLI installed.
fun fact: I added the test command after it was suggested in the forum thread where I announced the Universal Test Runner
I work in a few languages at a time, so I've actually had a version of this in my dotfiles for a while. Also, as I've been doing Exercism's #12in23 program, I'm really switching languages. It's nice not to have to re-learn any muscle memory. Plus, increasingly complex bash
was holding me back.
- The runner itself should need no configuration - it Just Works
- It should pass all arguments through to the underlying test command
- It should have wide language and test runner support; please open an issue if your use case isn't supported!
If you run with args (like t -k whatever
) and see an error from just
like:
error: Justfile does not contain recipes `-k` or `whatever`.
That means your test
recipe doesn't accept any options. Make sure it has an *options
arg that you pass through to your test command:
test *options:
pytest {{options}}
This section is people making changes to this package.
When in a virtual environment, run the following:
pip install -e '.[test]'
This installs the package in --edit
mode and makes its dependencies available. You can now run t
to run tests and universal-test-runner
to access help, version, and debugging info.
In your virtual environment, a simple pytest
should run the unit test suite. You can also run pyright
for type checking.
these notes are mostly for myself (or other contributors)
- bump to desired version in
pyproject.toml
and addCHANGELOG
entry - Run
just release
while your venv is active - paste the stored API key (If you're getting invalid password, verify that
~/.pypirc
is empty)