test.vim

A Vim wrapper for running tests on different granularities.

Features

• Zero dependencies
• Zero configuration required (it Does the Right Thing™, see Philosophy)
• Wide range of test runners which are automagically detected
• Polyfills for nearest tests (by constructing regexes)
• Wide range of execution environments ("strategies")
• Fully customized CLI options configuration
• Extendable with new runners and strategies

Test.vim consists of a core which provides an abstraction over running any kind of tests from the command-line. Concrete test runners are then simply plugged in, so they all work in the same unified way. Currently the following test runners are supported:

Language	Test Runners	Identifiers
C#	.NET	xunit, dotnettest
C++	CTest,Make	ctest, make
Clojure	Fireplace.vim, Leiningen	fireplacetest, leintest
Crystal	Crystal	crystalspec
Dart	Dart Test, Flutter Test	darttest, fluttertest
Elixir	ESpec, ExUnit	espec, exunit
Elm	elm-test	elmtest
Erlang	CommonTest, EUnit, PropEr	commontest, eunit, proper
Go	Ginkgo, Go, Rich-Go, Delve	ginkgo, gotest, richgo, delve
Groovy	Maven, Gradle	maventest, gradletest
Haskell	stack, cabal	stacktest, cabaltest
Java	Maven, Gradle (Groovy and Kotlin DSL)	maventest, gradletest
JavaScript	Ava, Cucumber.js, Cypress, Deno, Ember, Intern, Jasmine, Jest, Karma, Lab, Mocha, ng test, NX, Playwright, ReactScripts, TAP, Teenytest, WebdriverIO	ava, cucumberjs, cypress, deno, ember exam, intern, jasmine, jest, karma, lab, mocha, ngtest , nx, playwright, reactscripts, tap, teenytest, webdriverio, vue-test-utils, vitest
Kotlin	Gradle (Groovy and Kotlin DSL)	gradletest
Lua	Busted	busted
Mint	Mint	minttest
Nim	Nim	unittest
PHP	Behat, Codeception, Kahlan, Peridot, Pest, PHPUnit, Sail, PHPSpec, Dusk	behat, codeception, dusk, kahlan, peridot, phpunit, sail, phpspec, pest
Perl	Prove	prove
Python	Behave, Django, Mamba, Nose, Nose2, PyTest, PyUnit	behave, djangotest, djangonose, mamba, nose, nose2, pytest, pyunit
Racket	RackUnit	rackunit
Ruby	Cucumber, M, Minitest, Rails, RSpec, TestBench	cucumber, m, minitest, rails, rspec, testbench
Rust	Cargo, cargo-nextest	cargotest, cargonextest
Scala	SBT, Bloop	sbttest, blooptest
Shell	Bats, ShellSpec	bats, shellspec
Swift	Swift Package Manager	swiftpm
VimScript	Vader.vim, Vroom, VSpec, Themis, Testify	vader, vroom, vspec, themis, testify
Zig	ZigTest	zigtest
Gleam	GleamTest	gleamtest

Setup

Using vim-plug, add

Plug 'vim-test/vim-test'

to your .vimrc file (see vim-plug documentation for where), and run :PlugInstall.

Add your preferred mappings to your .vimrc file:

nmap <silent> <leader>t :TestNearest<CR>
nmap <silent> <leader>T :TestFile<CR>
nmap <silent> <leader>a :TestSuite<CR>
nmap <silent> <leader>l :TestLast<CR>
nmap <silent> <leader>g :TestVisit<CR>

Command	Description
:TestNearest	In a test file runs the test nearest to the cursor, otherwise runs the last nearest test. In test frameworks that don't support line numbers it will polyfill this functionality with regexes.
:TestClass	In a test file runs the first test class found on the same line as or above the cursor. (Currently only supported by Pytest)
:TestFile	In a test file runs all tests in the current file, otherwise runs the last file tests.
:TestSuite	Runs the whole test suite (if the current file is a test file, runs that framework's test suite, otherwise determines the test framework from the last run test).
:TestLast	Runs the last test.
:TestVisit	Visits the test file from which you last run your tests (useful when you're trying to make a test pass, and you dive deep into application code and close your test buffer to make more space, and once you've made it pass you want to go back to the test file to write more tests).

Strategies

Test.vim can run tests using different execution environments called "strategies". To use a specific strategy, assign it to a variable:

" make test commands execute using dispatch.vim
let test#strategy = "dispatch"

Strategy	Identifier	Description
Basic (default)	basic	Runs test commands with :! on Vim, and with :terminal on Neovim.
Make	make make_bang	Runs test commands with :make or :make!.
Neovim	neovim	Runs test commands with :terminal in a split window.
Neovim sticky	neovim_sticky	Runs test commands with :terminal in a split window, but keeps it open for subsequent runs.
Neovim VS Code	neovim_vscode	Runs test commands in with VS Code terminal, keeps the focus to EditorGroup.
Vim8 Terminal	vimterminal	Runs test commands with term_start() in a split window.
Dispatch	dispatch dispatch_background	Runs test commands with :Dispatch or :Dispatch!.
[Spawn]	spawn spawn_background	Runs test commands using dispatch.vim :Spawn or :Spawn!.
Vimux	vimux	Runs test commands in a small tmux pane at the bottom of your terminal.
Tslime	tslime	Runs test commands in a tmux pane you specify.
Slimux	slimux	Runs test commands in a tmux pane you specify.
Neoterm	neoterm	Runs test commands with :T, see neoterm docs for display customization.
Toggleterm	toggleterm	Runs test commands with TermExec
Floaterm	floaterm	Runs test commands within floating/popup terminal, see floaterm docs for display customization.
Neomake	neomake	Runs test commands asynchronously with :NeomakeProject.
MakeGreen	makegreen	Runs test commands with :MakeGreen.
VimShell	vimshell	Runs test commands in a shell written in VimScript.
Vim Tmux Runner	vtr	Runs test commands in a small tmux pane.
Tmuxify	tmuxify	Runs test commands in a small tmux pane at the bottom of your terminal.
VimProc	vimproc	Runs test commands asynchronously.
AsyncRun	asyncrun asyncrun_background asyncrun_background_term	Runs test commands asynchronosuly using new APIs in Vim 8 and NeoVim (:AsyncRun, :AsyncRun -mode=async -silent, or :AsyncRun -mode=term -pos=tab -focus=0 -listed=0).
Terminal.app	terminal	Sends test commands to Terminal (useful in MacVim GUI).
iTerm2.app	iterm	Sends test commands to iTerm2 >= 2.9 (useful in MacVim GUI).
Kitty	kitty	Sends test commands to Kitty terminal.
Shtuff	shtuff	Sends test commands to remote terminal via shtuff.
Harpoon	harpoon	Sends test commands to neovim terminal using a terminal managed by harpoon. By default commands are sent to terminal number 1, you can choose your terminal by setting g:test#harpoon_term with the terminal you want
WezTerm	wezterm	Sends test commands to an adjacent WezTerm pane.

You can also set up strategies per granularity:

let test#strategy = {
  \ 'nearest': 'neovim',
  \ 'file':    'dispatch',
  \ 'suite':   'basic',
\}

or even per command:

:TestFile -strategy=neovim

Some strategies clear the screen before executing the test command, but you can disable this:

let g:test#preserve_screen = 1

The Vimux strategy will not clear the screen by default, but you can enable it by explicitly setting test#preserve_screen to 0.

On Neovim the "basic" and "neovim" strategies will run test commands using Neovim's terminal, and leave you in insert mode, so that you can just press "Enter" to close the terminal session and go back to editing. If you want to scroll through the test command output, you'll have to first switch to normal mode. The built-in mapping for exiting terminal insert mode is CTRL-\ CTRL-n, which is difficult to press, so I recommend mapping it to CTRL-o:

if has('nvim')
  tmap <C-o> <C-\><C-n>
endif

If you prefer, you can instead have the terminal open in normal mode, so it does not close on key press.

let g:test#neovim#start_normal = 1 " If using neovim strategy
let g:test#basic#start_normal = 1 " If using basic strategy

By default vim-test will echo the test command before running it. You can disable this behavior with:

let g:test#echo_command = 0

With the Neovim sticky strategy, if an additional test run is requested before the previous one has finished, it will either wait or fail to run at all. You can customize this behavior with the following options:

let g:test#neovim_sticky#kill_previous = 1  " Try to abort previous run
let g:test#preserve_screen = 0  " Clear screen from previous run
let test#neovim_sticky#reopen_window = 1 " Reopen terminal split if not visible

Kitty strategy setup

Before you can run tests in a kitty terminal window using the kitty strategy, please make sure:

• you start kitty setting up remote control and specifying a socket for kitty to listen to, like this:

  $ kitty -o allow_remote_control=yes --listen-on unix:/tmp/mykitty
  

  or via kitty.conf:

  allow_remote_control yes
  listen_on unix:/tmp/mykitty
  

• you export an environment variable $KITTY_LISTEN_ON with the same socket, like:

  $ export KITTY_LISTEN_ON=unix:/tmp/mykitty
  

  or if via kitty.conf (it appends kitty's PID):

  $ export KITTY_LISTEN_ON=unix:/tmp/mykitty-$PPID
  

Shtuff strategy setup

This strategy lets you run commands in a remote terminal without needing tools like tmux or special terminals such as Kitty.

Before you can run tests using this strategy, you will need to have a terminal setup as a receiver, and also you'll need to set g:shtuff_receiver in your vimrc file.

In your terminal of choice:

$ shtuff as devrunner

And in your vimrc:

let g:shtuff_receiver = 'devrunner'

asyncrun_background and asyncrun_background_term setup

asyncrun_background will load test results into the quickfix buffer.

asyncrun_background_term will open a terminal in a new tab and run the tests while remaining in the current window.

These are hardcoded solutions and will not be affected by your global AsyncRun settings. If you want to switch between them then change test#strategy.

Note: the base asyncrun option will be affected by your global asyncrun settings.

Quickfix Strategies

If you want your test results to appear in the quickfix window, use one of the following strategies:

• Make
• Neomake
• MakeGreen
• Dispatch.vim
• asyncrun_background

Regardless of which you pick, it's recommended you have Dispatch.vim installed as the strategies will automatically use it to determine the correct compiler, ensuring the test output is correctly parsed for the quickfix window.

As Dispatch.vim just determines the compiler, you need to make sure the Vim distribution or a plugin has a corresponding compiler for your test runner, or you may need to write a compiler plugin.

If the test command prefix doesn't match the compiler's makeprg then use the g:dispatch_compiler variable. For example if your test command was ./vendor/bin/phpunit but you wanted to use the phpunit2 compiler:

let g:dispatch_compilers = {}
let g:dispatch_compilers['./vendor/bin/'] = ''
let g:dispatch_compilers['phpunit'] = 'phpunit2'

Custom Strategies

Strategy is a function which takes one argument – the shell command for the test being run – and it is expected to run that command in some way. Test.vim comes with many predefined strategies (see above), but if none of them suit your needs, you can define your own custom strategy:

function! EchoStrategy(cmd)
  echo 'It works! Command for running tests: ' . a:cmd
endfunction

let g:test#custom_strategies = {'echo': function('EchoStrategy')}
let g:test#strategy = 'echo'

Transformations

You can automatically apply transformations of your test commands by registering a "transformation" function. The following example demonstrates how you could set up a transformation for Vagrant:

function! VagrantTransform(cmd) abort
  let vagrant_project = get(matchlist(s:cat('Vagrantfile'), '\vconfig\.vm.synced_folder ["''].+[''"], ["''](.+)[''"]'), 1)
  return 'vagrant ssh --command '.shellescape('cd '.vagrant_project.'; '.a:cmd)
endfunction

let g:test#custom_transformations = {'vagrant': function('VagrantTransform')}
let g:test#transformation = 'vagrant'

Commands

You can execute test.vim commands directly, and pass them CLI options:

:TestNearest --verbose
:TestFile --format documentation
:TestSuite --fail-fast
:TestLast --backtrace

If you want some options to stick around, see Configuring.

Environment variables

Environment variables are automatically detected from the arguments based on <VARIABLE>=value format, and prepended to the test command:

TestFile COVERAGE=1
" COVERAGE=1 bundle exec rspec something_spec.rb

Runner commands

Aside from the main commands, you get a corresponding Vim command for each test runner (which also accept options):

:RSpec --tag ~slow
:Mocha --grep 'API'
:ExUnit --trace
:Nose --failed

These commands are useful when using multiple testing frameworks in the same project, or as a wrapper around your executable. To avoid pollution they are not defined by default, instead you can choose the ones you want:

let g:test#runner_commands = ['Minitest', 'Mocha']

Configuring

CLI options

If you want some CLI options to stick around, you can configure them in your .vimrc:

let test#ruby#minitest#options = '--verbose'
let test#javascript#denotest#options = '--quiet'

You can also choose a more granular approach:

let test#ruby#rspec#options = {
  \ 'nearest': '--backtrace',
  \ 'file':    '--format documentation',
  \ 'suite':   '--tag ~slow',
\}

You can also specify a global approach along with the granular options for the specified test runner:

let test#ruby#rspec#options = {
  \ 'all':   '--backtrace',
  \ 'suite': '--tag ~slow',
\}

The cargotest runner lets you specify the test-options argument as follows:

let test#rust#cargotest#test_options = '-- --nocapture'

Or using a more granular approach:

let test#rust#cargotest#test_options = {
  \ 'nearest': ['--', '--nocapture'],
  \ 'file':    '',
\}

The gotest runner let you specify the -args argument as follows:

let test#go#gotest#args = 'a=b'

Vim8 / Neovim terminal position

Both the neovim and Vim8 Terminal strategy will open a split window on the bottom by default, but you can configure a different position or orientation. Whatever you put here is passed to new - so, you may also specify size (see :help opening-window or :help new for more info):

" for neovim
let test#neovim#term_position = "topleft"
let test#neovim#term_position = "vert"
let test#neovim#term_position = "vert botright 30"
" or for Vim8
let test#vim#term_position = "belowright"

For full list of variants, see :help opening-window.

Executable

You can instruct test.vim to use a custom executable for a test runner.

let test#ruby#rspec#executable = 'foreman run rspec'

File pattern

Test.vim has file pattern it uses to determine whether a file belongs to certain testing framework. You can override that pattern by overriding the file_pattern variable:

let test#ruby#minitest#file_pattern = '_spec\.rb' " the default is '\v(((^|/)test_.+)|_test)(spec)@<!\.rb$'

Filename modifier

By default test.vim generates file paths relative to the working directory. If you're using a strategy which sends commands to a shell which is cd-ed into another directory, you might want to change the filename modifier to generate absolute paths:

let test#filename_modifier = ':.' " test/models/user_test.rb (default)
let test#filename_modifier = ':p' " /User/janko/Code/my_project/test/models/user_test.rb
let test#filename_modifier = ':~' " ~/Code/my_project/test/models/user_test.rb

Working directory

Test.vim relies on you being cd-ed into the project root. However, sometimes you may want to execute tests from a different directory than Vim's current working directory. You might have a bigger project or monorepo with many subprojects, or you might be using autochdir. In any case, you can tell test.vim to use a different working directory for running tests:

let test#project_root = "/path/to/your/project"

Alternatively you can pass in a function that'll be evaluated before each test run.

function! CustomPath()
  return "~/Project"
endfunction

let test#project_root = function('CustomPath')

Language-specific

Python

If your project has a pytest configuration file, then pytest will automatically be detected. For other Python test runners, test.vim has no way of detecting which one did you intend to use. By default, the first available will be chosen, but you can force a specific one:

let test#python#runner = 'pytest'
" Runners available are 'pytest', 'nose', 'nose2', 'djangotest', 'djangonose', 'mamba', and Python's built-in unittest as 'pyunit'

The pytest and djangotest runner optionally supports pipenv. If you have a Pipfile, it will use pipenv run pytest instead of just python -m pytest. They also support poetry and will use poetry run pytest if it detects a poetry.lock. The pyunit and nose runner supports pipenv as well and will respectively use pipenv run python -m unittest or pipenv run python -m nosetests if there is a Pipfile. It also supports pdm as well and will use poetry run pytest if there is a pdm.lock file.

Java

For the same reason as Python, runner detection works the same for Java. To force a specific runner:

let test#java#runner = 'gradletest'

There is a specific strategy for Java with maven which invokes the mvn verify for a file instead of mvn test tailored for integration tests. In this way you can leverage the pre-integration goals, like firing up a database and so on. This strategy is called 'integration' and you can setup a command for it (preferably within the Java filetype plugin):

command! -nargs=* -bar IntegrationTest call test#run('integration', split(<q-args>))

With this set up you can run your integration tests with the :IntegrationTest plugin for that single file and module. As there might be some dependencies between the maven modules you might need to pass in other parameters for the tests just like any other commands in vim-test. Here is a mapping with other optional parameters:

nnoremap <silent><leader>itf :IntegrationTest -Dtest=foo -DfailIfNoTests=false -am -Dpmd.skip=true -Dcheckstyle.skip=true<CR>

If you want to customize the Maven test command, you can set g:test#java#maventest#test_cmd in your vimrc file.

  let g:test#java#maventest#test_cmd = 'surefire:test -Dtest'

The above command makes sure that no surefire tests will be run (by passing in a dummy test and makes sure that the plugin won't fail), it also makes the dependent modules, skips PMD and checkstyle checks as well.

Only for maven, the commands :TestFile and :TestNearest use the same strategy and you can use them to run the integration tests from file or method.

They use mvn verify if the filename ends with *IT, *ITCase or *Integration. The most common plugins are skipped in this strategy to improve the test time.

• Sonar
• PIT
• Jacoco
• Checkstyle
• PMD
• DependencyCheck

mvn verify -Dsonar.skip=true -Dpit.report.skip=true -Dpit.skip=true -Dpmd.skip=true -Dcheckstyle.skip=true -Ddependency-check.skip=true -Djacoco.skip=true -Dfailsafe.only=true

Also, the parameter -Dfailsafe.only is added to the command by vim-test, so you can use it to configure other things in the pom.xml, for example to avoid surefire tests:

            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${surefire.version}</version>
                <configuration>
                    <skipTests>${failsafe.only}</skipTests>
                ....
                </configuration>
                ...
            </plugin>

And keep the parameter -DskipTests working as expected:

    <properties>
        <failsafe.only>${skipTests}</failsafe.only>
    </properties>

Scala

For the same reason as Python, runner detection works the same for Scala. To force a specific runner:

let test#scala#runner = 'blooptest'

You may have subprojects inside your main sbt projects. Bloop project detection uses your main project to run tests. If you need to run test inside your subproject, you can specify custom projects with:

let g:test#scala#blooptest#project_name = 'custom-project'

With this configuration, the test runner will run test for custom-project:

$ bloop test custom-project

Go

For the same reason as Python, runner detection works the same for Go. To force a specific runner:

let test#go#runner = 'ginkgo'
" Runners available are 'gotest', 'ginkgo', 'richgo', 'delve'

You can also configure the delve runner with a different key mapping alongside another:

nmap <silent> t<C-n> :TestNearest<CR>
function! DebugNearest()
  let g:test#go#runner = 'delve'
  TestNearest
  unlet g:test#go#runner
endfunction
nmap <silent> t<C-d> :call DebugNearest()<CR>

If delve is selected and vim-delve is in use, breakpoints and tracepoints that have been marked with vim-delve will be included.

Ruby

Unless binstubs are detected (e.g. bin/rspec), test commands will automatically be prepended with bundle exec if a Gemfile is detected, but you can turn it off:

let test#ruby#bundle_exec = 0

If binstubs are detected, but you don't want to use them, you can turn them off:

let test#ruby#use_binstubs = 0

If your binstubs are not instrumented with spring, you can turn on using the spring bin (bin/spring) directly using:

let test#ruby#use_spring_binstub = 1

JavaScript

Test runner detection for JavaScript works by checking which runner is listed in the package.json dependencies. If you have globally installed the runner make sure it's also listed in the dependencies. When you have multiple runners listed in the package.json dependencies you can specify a runner like so:

let g:test#javascript#runner = 'jest'

Haskell

The stacktest runner is used by default. You can switch to cabaltest like so:

let g:test#haskell#runner = 'cabaltest'

You can pass additional arguments to the test runner by setting its test_command. Here's an example for cabal:

let g:test#haskell#cabaltest#test_command = 'test --test-show-details=direct'

The runners currently supports running tests with the HSpec framework.

PHP

The PHPUnit runner has support for the alternate runner ParaTest and will automatically use it if present in ./vendor/bin. If you prefer to use PHPUnit then override the executable:

let test#php#phpunit#executable = 'phpunit'

Similarly if you'd prefer to use an alternate runner such as the Laravel artisan runner then override the executable:

let test#php#phpunit#executable = 'php artisan test'

C++

Pattern for Test File: We assume all your test files are prefixed with "test_" or "Test". If not, override the following:

"Default
let g:test#cpp#catch2#file_pattern = '\v[tT]est.*(\.cpp)$'

File and Individual Test Case: We assume you are using make to compile your executables, whose names are exactly the same as the test file w/o the extension. If you would like to use change the make command, override the following:

let g:test#cpp#catch2#make_command = "make"

Creating Test Executables: We assume that a Makefile is located in a "build" directory directly below the project root. If not, override the following:

" If Makefile is at top of the project root, do this instead
let g:test#cpp#catch2#relToProject_build_dir = "."

We assume that your compiled executables are stored in build directory. If not, you can override this with:

let g:test#cpp#catch2#bin_dir = "../path/to/your/binaries/dir"

Suite: We assume that you are using Cmake as your build system, and are registering each test file to it. If not, override the following command.

let g:test#cpp#catch2#suite_command = "ctest --output-on-failure"

Rust

If the nextest cargo subcommand is available, cargo-nextest is used. cargo test is used otherwise. To force a specific runner:

let g:test#rust#runner = 'cargotest'

In workspaces, reads the package name field from `Cargo.toml'.

Autocommands

In addition to running tests manually, you can also configure autocommands which run tests automatically when files are saved.

The following setup will automatically run tests when a test file or its alternate application file is saved:

augroup test
  autocmd!
  autocmd BufWrite * if test#exists() |
    \   TestFile |
    \ endif
augroup END

Projectionist integration

If projectionist.vim is present, you can run a test command from an application file, and test.vim will automatically try to run the command on the "alternate" test file.

You can disable this integration by doing

let g:test#no_alternate = 1

Custom alternate file

If you are using a different library for jumping between implementation and test file you can define a custom function that returns the test filename.

function! CustomAlternateFile(cmd)
  return "test_file_spec.rb"
endfunction

let g:test#custom_alternate_file = function('CustomAlternateFile')

Extending

If you wish to extend this plugin with your own test runners, first of all, if the runner is well-known, I would encourage to help me merge it into test.vim.

That being said, if you want to do this for yourself, you need to do 2 things. First, add your runner to the list in your .vimrc:

" First letter of runner's name must be uppercase
let test#custom_runners = {'MyLanguage': ['MyRunner']}

Second, create ~/.vim/autoload/test/mylanguage/myrunner.vim, and define the following methods:

" Returns true if the given file belongs to your test runner
function! test#mylanguage#myrunner#test_file(file)

" Returns test runner's arguments which will run the current file and/or line
function! test#mylanguage#myrunner#build_position(type, position)

" Returns processed args (if you need to do any processing)
function! test#mylanguage#myrunner#build_args(args)

" Returns the executable of your test runner
function! test#mylanguage#myrunner#executable()

See autoload/test for examples.

Choosing which runners to load

All runners are loaded by default. To select which runners to load, set this option:

let test#enabled_runners = ["mylanguage#myrunner", "ruby#rspec"]

All other runners will not be loaded.

Note that for your own custom runners, you still need to set test#custom_runners.

Running tests

Tests are run using a Ruby test runner, so you'll have to have Ruby installed. Then run

$ gem install vim-flavor

Now you can run tests with

$ vim-flavor test spec/

Or if you're inside of Vim, you can simply run :VSpec provided by test.vim.

Unsaved changes

If autowrite or autowriteall are set then unsaved changes will be written to disk with :wall before each test execution.

Prompt for unsaved changes

You can enable a user prompt asking whether to write unsaved changes prior to executing a test by

  let g:test#prompt_for_unsaved_changes = 1

Credits

This plugin was strongly influenced by Gary Bernhardt's Destroy All Software. I also want to thank rspec.vim, from which I borrowed GUI support for OS X, and Windows support. And also thanks to vroom.vim.

License

Copyright © Janko Marohnić. Distributed under the same terms as Vim itself. See :help license.