mini-test.md

Write and use extensive Neovim plugin tests

• Supports hierarchical tests, hooks, parametrization, filtering (like from current file or cursor position), screen tests, "busted-style" emulation, customizable reporters, and more.
• Designed to be used with provided wrapper for managing child Neovim processes.

See more details in Features and help file. For more hands-on introduction based on examples, see TESTING.md. For more in-depth usage see 'mini.nvim' tests.

---

⦿ This is a part of mini.nvim library. Please use this link if you want to mention this module.

⦿ All contributions (issues, pull requests, discussions, etc.) are done inside of 'mini.nvim'.

⦿ See the repository page to learn about common design principles and configuration recipes.

---

If you want to help this project grow but don't know where to start, check out contributing guides of 'mini.nvim' or leave a Github star for 'mini.nvim' project and/or any its standalone Git repositories.

Demo

demo-test.mp4

Features

• Test action is defined as a named callable entry of a table.
• Helper for creating child Neovim process which is designed to be used in tests (including taking and verifying screenshots). See help for MiniTest.new_child_neovim() and Minitest.expect.reference_screenshot().
• Hierarchical organization of tests with custom hooks, parametrization, and user data. See help for MiniTest.new_set().
• Emulation of Olivine-Labs/busted interface (describe, it, etc.).
• Predefined small yet usable set of expectations (assert-like functions). See help for MiniTest.expect.
• Customizable definition of what files should be tested.
• Test case filtering. There are predefined wrappers for testing a file (MiniTest.run_file()) and case at a location like current cursor position (MiniTest.run_at_location()).
• Customizable reporter of output results. There are two predefined ones:
  • MiniTest.gen_reporter.buffer() for interactive usage.
  • MiniTest.gen_reporter.stdout() for headless Neovim.
• Customizable project specific testing script.

Installation

This plugin can be installed as part of 'mini.nvim' library (recommended) or as a standalone Git repository.

There are two branches to install from:

• main (default, recommended) will have latest development version of plugin. All changes since last stable release should be perceived as being in beta testing phase (meaning they already passed alpha-testing and are moderately settled).
• stable will be updated only upon releases with code tested during public beta-testing phase in main branch.

Here are code snippets for some common installation methods (use only one):

With mini.deps

Github repo	Branch	Code snippet
'mini.nvim' library	Main	Follow recommended 'mini.deps' installation
	Stable
Standalone plugin	Main	add('echasnovski/mini.test')
	Stable	add({ source = 'echasnovski/mini.test', checkout = 'stable' })

With folke/lazy.nvim

Github repo	Branch	Code snippet
'mini.nvim' library	Main	{ 'echasnovski/mini.nvim', version = false },
	Stable	{ 'echasnovski/mini.nvim', version = '*' },
Standalone plugin	Main	{ 'echasnovski/mini.test', version = false },
	Stable	{ 'echasnovski/mini.test', version = '*' },

With junegunn/vim-plug

Github repo	Branch	Code snippet
'mini.nvim' library	Main	Plug 'echasnovski/mini.nvim'
	Stable	Plug 'echasnovski/mini.nvim', { 'branch': 'stable' }
Standalone plugin	Main	Plug 'echasnovski/mini.test'
	Stable	Plug 'echasnovski/mini.test', { 'branch': 'stable' }

Important: don't forget to call require('mini.test').setup() to enable its functionality.

Note: if you are on Windows, there might be problems with too long file paths (like error: unable to create file <some file name>: Filename too long). Try doing one of the following:

• Enable corresponding git global config value: git config --system core.longpaths true. Then try to reinstall.
• Install plugin in other place with shorter path.

Default config

-- No need to copy this inside `setup()`. Will be used automatically.
{
  -- Options for collection of test cases. See `:h MiniTest.collect()`.
  collect = {
    -- Temporarily emulate functions from 'busted' testing framework
    -- (`describe`, `it`, `before_each`, `after_each`, and more)
    emulate_busted = true,

    -- Function returning array of file paths to be collected.
    -- Default: all Lua files in 'tests' directory starting with 'test_'.
    find_files = function()
      return vim.fn.globpath('tests', '**/test_*.lua', true, true)
    end,

    -- Predicate function indicating if test case should be executed
    filter_cases = function(case) return true end,
  },

  -- Options for execution of test cases. See `:h MiniTest.execute()`.
  execute = {
    -- Table with callable fields `start()`, `update()`, and `finish()`
    reporter = nil,

    -- Whether to stop execution after first error
    stop_on_error = false,
  },

  -- Path (relative to current directory) to script which handles project
  -- specific test running
  script_path = 'scripts/minitest.lua',

  -- Whether to disable showing non-error feedback
  silent = false,
}

Similar plugins

• nvim-lua/plenary.nvim ('test_harness', 'busted', 'luassert' modules)