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Mocha - the fun, simple, flexible JavaScript test framework

Mocha is a feature-rich JavaScript test framework running on Node.js and in the browser, making asynchronous testing simple and fun. Mocha tests run serially, allowing for flexible and accurate reporting, while mapping uncaught exceptions to the correct test cases. Hosted on GitHub.

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{% include backers.md %} {% include sponsors.md %}

Features

  • browser support
  • simple async support, including promises
  • test coverage reporting
  • string diff support
  • javascript API for running tests
  • proper exit status for CI support etc
  • auto-detects and disables coloring for non-ttys
  • maps uncaught exceptions to the correct test case
  • async test timeout support
  • test retry support
  • test-specific timeouts
  • growl notification support
  • reports test durations
  • highlights slow tests
  • file watcher support
  • global variable leak detection
  • optionally run tests that match a regexp
  • auto-exit to prevent "hanging" with an active loop
  • easily meta-generate suites & test-cases
  • mocha.opts file support
  • clickable suite titles to filter test execution
  • node debugger support
  • detects multiple calls to done()
  • use any assertion library you want
  • extensible reporting, bundled with 9+ reporters
  • extensible test DSLs or "interfaces"
  • before, after, before each, after each hooks
  • arbitrary transpiler support (coffee-script etc)
  • TextMate bundle
  • and more!

Table of Contents

Installation

Install with npm globally:

$ npm install --global mocha

or as a development dependency for your project:

$ npm install --save-dev mocha

To install Mocha v3.0.0 or newer with npm, you will need npm v1.4.0 or newer. Additionally, to run Mocha, you will need Node.js v0.10 or newer.

Mocha can also be installed via Bower (bower install mocha), and is available at cdnjs.

Getting Started

$ npm install mocha
$ mkdir test
$ $EDITOR test/test.js # or open with your favorite editor

In your editor:

var assert = require('assert');
describe('Array', function() {
  describe('#indexOf()', function() {
    it('should return -1 when the value is not present', function() {
      assert.equal(-1, [1,2,3].indexOf(4));
    });
  });
});

Back in the terminal:

$ ./node_modules/mocha/bin/mocha

  Array
    #indexOf()
      ✓ should return -1 when the value is not present


  1 passing (9ms)

Set up a test script in package.json:

"scripts": {
    "test": "mocha"
  }

Then run tests with:

$ npm test

Assertions

Mocha allows you to use any assertion library you wish. In the above example, we're using Node.js' built-in assert module--but generally, if it throws an Error, it will work! This means you can use libraries such as:

  • should.js - BDD style shown throughout these docs
  • expect.js - expect() style assertions
  • chai - expect(), assert() and should-style assertions
  • better-assert - C-style self-documenting assert()
  • unexpected - "the extensible BDD assertion toolkit"

Asynchronous Code

Testing asynchronous code with Mocha could not be simpler! Simply invoke the callback when your test is complete. By adding a callback (usually named done) to it(), Mocha will know that it should wait for this function to be called to complete the test.

describe('User', function() {
  describe('#save()', function() {
    it('should save without error', function(done) {
      var user = new User('Luna');
      user.save(function(err) {
        if (err) done(err);
        else done();
      });
    });
  });
});

To make things even easier, the done() callback accepts an error, so we may use this directly:

describe('User', function() {
  describe('#save()', function() {
    it('should save without error', function(done) {
      var user = new User('Luna');
      user.save(done);
    });
  });
});

Working with Promises

Alternately, instead of using the done() callback, you may return a Promise. This is useful if the APIs you are testing return promises instead of taking callbacks:

beforeEach(function() {
  return db.clear()
    .then(function() {
      return db.save([tobi, loki, jane]);
    });
});

describe('#find()', function() {
  it('respond with matching records', function() {
    return db.find({ type: 'User' }).should.eventually.have.length(3);
  });
});

The latter example uses Chai as Promised for fluent promise assertions.

In Mocha v3.0.0 and newer, returning a Promise and calling done() will result in an exception, as this is generally a mistake:

const assert = require('assert');

it('should complete this test', function (done) {
  return new Promise(function (resolve) {
    assert.ok(true);
    resolve();
  })
    .then(done);
});

The above test will fail with Error: Resolution method is overspecified. Specify a callback *or* return a Promise; not both.. In versions older than v3.0.0, the call to done() is effectively ignored.

Using async / await

If your JS environment supports async / await you can also write asynchronous tests like this:

beforeEach(async function() {
  await db.clear();
  await db.save([tobi, loki, jane]);
});

describe('#find()', function() {
  it('responds with matching records', async function() {
    const users = await db.find({ type: 'User' });
    users.should.have.length(3);
  });
});

Synchronous Code

When testing synchronous code, omit the callback and Mocha will automatically continue on to the next test.

describe('Array', function() {
  describe('#indexOf()', function() {
    it('should return -1 when the value is not present', function() {
      [1,2,3].indexOf(5).should.equal(-1);
      [1,2,3].indexOf(0).should.equal(-1);
    });
  });
});

Arrow Functions

Passing arrow functions ("lambdas") to Mocha is discouraged. Due to the lexical binding of this, such functions are unable to access the Mocha context. For example, the following code will fail due to the nature of lambdas:

describe('my suite', () => {
  it('my test', () => {
    // should set the timeout of this test to 1000 ms; instead will fail
    this.timeout(1000);
    assert.ok(true);
  });
});

If you do not need to use Mocha's context, lambdas should work. However, the result will be more difficult to refactor if the need eventually arises.

Hooks

With its default "BDD"-style interface, Mocha provides the hooks before(), after(), beforeEach(), and afterEach(). These should be used to set up preconditions and clean up after your tests.

describe('hooks', function() {

  before(function() {
    // runs before all tests in this block
  });

  after(function() {
    // runs after all tests in this block
  });

  beforeEach(function() {
    // runs before each test in this block
  });

  afterEach(function() {
    // runs after each test in this block
  });

  // test cases
});

Tests can appear before, after, or interspersed with your hooks. Hooks will run in the order they are defined, as appropriate; all before() hooks run (once), then any beforeEach() hooks, tests, any afterEach() hooks, and finally after() hooks (once).

Describing Hooks

Any hook can be invoked with an optional description, making it easier to pinpoint errors in your tests. If a hook is given a named function, that name will be used if no description is supplied.

beforeEach(function() {
  // beforeEach hook
});

beforeEach(function namedFun() {
  // beforeEach:namedFun
});

beforeEach('some description', function() {
  // beforeEach:some description
});

Asynchronous Hooks

All hooks (before(), after(), beforeEach(), afterEach()) may be sync or async as well, behaving much like a regular test-case. For example, you may wish to populate database with dummy content before each test:

describe('Connection', function() {
  var db = new Connection,
    tobi = new User('tobi'),
    loki = new User('loki'),
    jane = new User('jane');

  beforeEach(function(done) {
    db.clear(function(err) {
      if (err) return done(err);
      db.save([tobi, loki, jane], done);
    });
  });

  describe('#find()', function() {
    it('respond with matching records', function(done) {
      db.find({type: 'User'}, function(err, res) {
        if (err) return done(err);
        res.should.have.length(3);
        done();
      });
    });
  });
});

Root-Level Hooks

You may also pick any file and add "root"-level hooks. For example, add beforeEach() outside of all describe() blocks. This will cause the callback to beforeEach() to run before any test case, regardless of the file it lives in (this is because Mocha has an implied describe() block, called the "root suite").

beforeEach(function() {
  console.log('before every test in every file');
});

Delayed Root Suite

If you need to perform asynchronous operations before any of your suites are run, you may delay the root suite. Run mocha with the --delay flag. This will attach a special callback function, run(), to the global context:

setTimeout(function() {
  // do some setup

  describe('my suite', function() {
    // ...
  });

  run();
}, 5000);

Pending Tests

"Pending"--as in "someone should write these test cases eventually"--test-cases are simply those without a callback:

describe('Array', function() {
  describe('#indexOf()', function() {
    // pending test below
    it('should return -1 when the value is not present');
  });
});

Pending tests will be reported as such.

Exclusive Tests

The exclusivity feature allows you to run only the specified suite or test-case by appending .only() to the function. Here's an example of executing only a particular suite:

describe('Array', function() {
  describe.only('#indexOf()', function() {
    // ...
  });
});

Note: All nested suites will still be executed.

Here's an example of executing an individual test case:

describe('Array', function() {
  describe('#indexOf()', function() {
    it.only('should return -1 unless present', function() {
      // ...
    });

    it('should return the index when present', function() {
      // ...
    });
  });
});

Previous to v3.0.0, .only() used string matching to decide which tests to execute. As of v3.0.0, this is no longer the case. In v3.0.0 or newer, .only() can be used multiple times to define a subset of tests to run:

describe('Array', function() {
  describe('#indexOf()', function() {
    it.only('should return -1 unless present', function() {
      // this test will be run
    });

    it.only('should return the index when present', function() {
      // this test will also be run
    });

    it('should return -1 if called with a non-Array context', function() {
      // this test will not be run
    });
  });
});

You may also choose multiple suites:

describe('Array', function() {
  describe.only('#indexOf()', function() {
    it('should return -1 unless present', function() {
      // this test will be run
    });

    it('should return the index when present', function() {
      // this test will also be run
    });
  });

  describe.only('#concat()', function () {
    it('should return a new Array', function () {
      // this test will also be run
    });
  });

  describe('#slice()', function () {
    it('should return a new Array', function () {
      // this test will not be run
    });
  });
});

But tests will have precedence:

describe('Array', function() {
  describe.only('#indexOf()', function() {
    it.only('should return -1 unless present', function() {
      // this test will be run
    });

    it('should return the index when present', function() {
      // this test will not be run
    });
  });
});

Note: Hooks, if present, will still be executed.

Be mindful not to commit usages of .only() to version control, unless you really mean it!

Inclusive Tests

This feature is the inverse of .only(). By appending .skip(), you may tell Mocha to simply ignore these suite(s) and test case(s). Anything skipped will be marked as pending, and reported as such. Here's an example of skipping an entire suite:

describe('Array', function() {
  describe.skip('#indexOf()', function() {
    // ...
  });
});

Or a specific test-case:

describe('Array', function() {
  describe('#indexOf()', function() {
    it.skip('should return -1 unless present', function() {
      // this test will not be run
    });

    it('should return the index when present', function() {
      // this test will be run
    });
  });
});

Best practice: Use .skip() instead of commenting tests out.

You may also skip at runtime using this.skip(). If a test needs an environment or configuration which cannot be detected beforehand, a runtime skip is appropriate. For example:

it('should only test in the correct environment', function() {
  if (/* check test environment */) {
    // make assertions
  } else {
    this.skip();
  }
});

The above test will be reported as pending. It's also important to note that calling this.skip() will effectively abort the test.

Best practice: To avoid confusion, do not execute further instructions in a test or hook after calling this.skip().

Contrast the above test with the following code:

it('should only test in the correct environment', function() {
  if (/* check test environment */) {
    // make assertions
  } else {
    // do nothing
  }
});

Because this test does nothing, it will be reported as passing.

Best practice: Don't do nothing! A test should make an assertion or use this.skip().

To skip multiple tests in this manner, use this.skip() in a "before" hook:

before(function() {
  if (/* check test environment */) {
    // setup code
  } else {
    this.skip();
  }
});

Before Mocha v3.0.0, this.skip() was not supported in asynchronous tests and hooks.

Retry Tests

You can choose to retry failed tests up to a certain number of times. This feature is designed to handle end-to-end tests (functional tests/Selenium...) where resources cannot be easily mocked/stubbed. It's not recommended to use this feature for unit tests.

This feature does re-run beforeEach/afterEach hooks but not before/after hooks.

NOTE: Example below was written using Selenium webdriver (which overwrites global Mocha hooks for Promise chain).

describe('retries', function() {
  // Retry all tests in this suite up to 4 times
  this.retries(4);

  beforeEach(function () {
    browser.get('http://www.yahoo.com');
  });

  it('should succeed on the 3rd try', function () {
    // Specify this test to only retry up to 2 times
    this.retries(2);
    expect($('.foo').isDisplayed()).to.eventually.be.true;
  });
});

Dynamically Generating Tests

Given Mocha's use of Function.prototype.call and function expressions to define suites and test cases, it's straightforward to generate your tests dynamically. No special syntax is required — plain ol' JavaScript can be used to achieve functionality similar to "parameterized" tests, which you may have seen in other frameworks.

Take the following example:

var assert = require('chai').assert;

function add() {
  return Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments).reduce(function(prev, curr) {
    return prev + curr;
  }, 0);
}

describe('add()', function() {
  var tests = [
    {args: [1, 2],       expected: 3},
    {args: [1, 2, 3],    expected: 6},
    {args: [1, 2, 3, 4], expected: 10}
  ];

  tests.forEach(function(test) {
    it('correctly adds ' + test.args.length + ' args', function() {
      var res = add.apply(null, test.args);
      assert.equal(res, test.expected);
    });
  });
});

The above code will produce a suite with three specs:

$ mocha

  add()
    ✓ correctly adds 2 args
    ✓ correctly adds 3 args
    ✓ correctly adds 4 args

Test duration

Many reporters will display test duration, as well as flagging tests that are slow, as shown here with the "spec" reporter:

test duration

To tweak what's considered "slow", you can use the slow() method:

describe('something slow', function() {
  this.slow(10000);

  it('should take long enough for me to go make a sandwich', function() {
    // ...
  });
});

Timeouts

Suite-level

Suite-level timeouts may be applied to entire test "suites", or disabled via this.timeout(0). This will be inherited by all nested suites and test-cases that do not override the value.

describe('a suite of tests', function() {
  this.timeout(500);

  it('should take less than 500ms', function(done){
    setTimeout(done, 300);
  });

  it('should take less than 500ms as well', function(done){
    setTimeout(done, 250);
  });
})

Test-level

Test-specific timeouts may also be applied, or the use of this.timeout(0) to disable timeouts all together:

it('should take less than 500ms', function(done){
  this.timeout(500);
  setTimeout(done, 300);
});

Hook-level

Hook-level timeouts may also be applied:

describe('a suite of tests', function() {
  beforeEach(function(done) {
    this.timeout(3000); // A very long environment setup.
    setTimeout(done, 2500);
  });
});

Again, use this.timeout(0) to disable the timeout for a hook.

In v3.0.0 or newer, a parameter passed to this.timeout() greater than the maximum delay value will cause the timeout to be disabled.

Diffs

Mocha supports the err.expected and err.actual properties of any thrown AssertionErrors from an assertion library. Mocha will attempt to display the difference between what was expected, and what the assertion actually saw. Here's an example of a "string" diff:

string diffs

Usage

  Usage: mocha [debug] [options] [files]


  Options:

    -V, --version                           output the version number
    -A, --async-only                        force all tests to take a callback (async) or return a promise
    -c, --colors                            force enabling of colors
    -C, --no-colors                         force disabling of colors
    -G, --growl                             enable growl notification support
    -O, --reporter-options <k=v,k2=v2,...>  reporter-specific options
    -R, --reporter <name>                   specify the reporter to use
    -S, --sort                              sort test files
    -b, --bail                              bail after first test failure
    -d, --debug                             enable node's debugger, synonym for node --debug
    -g, --grep <pattern>                    only run tests matching <pattern>
    -f, --fgrep <string>                    only run tests containing <string>
    -gc, --expose-gc                        expose gc extension
    -i, --invert                            inverts --grep and --fgrep matches
    -r, --require <name>                    require the given module
    -s, --slow <ms>                         "slow" test threshold in milliseconds [75]
    -t, --timeout <ms>                      set test-case timeout in milliseconds [2000]
    -u, --ui <name>                         specify user-interface (bdd|tdd|qunit|exports)
    -w, --watch                             watch files for changes
    --check-leaks                           check for global variable leaks
    --full-trace                            display the full stack trace
    --compilers <ext>:<module>,...          use the given module(s) to compile files
    --debug-brk                             enable node's debugger breaking on the first line
    --globals <names>                       allow the given comma-delimited global [names]
    --es_staging                            enable all staged features
    --harmony<_classes,_generators,...>     all node --harmony* flags are available
    --preserve-symlinks                     Instructs the module loader to preserve symbolic links when resolving and caching modules
    --icu-data-dir                          include ICU data
    --inline-diffs                          display actual/expected differences inline within each string
    --inspect                               activate devtools in chrome
    --inspect-brk                           activate devtools in chrome and break on the first line
    --interfaces                            display available interfaces
    --no-deprecation                        silence deprecation warnings
    --exit                                  force shutdown of the event loop after test run: mocha will call process.exit
    --no-timeouts                           disables timeouts, given implicitly with --debug
    --no-warnings                           silence all node process warnings
    --opts <path>                           specify opts path
    --perf-basic-prof                       enable perf linux profiler (basic support)
    --napi-modules                          enable experimental NAPI modules
    --prof                                  log statistical profiling information
    --log-timer-events                      Time events including external callbacks
    --recursive                             include sub directories
    --reporters                             display available reporters
    --retries <times>                       set numbers of time to retry a failed test case
    --throw-deprecation                     throw an exception anytime a deprecated function is used
    --trace                                 trace function calls
    --trace-deprecation                     show stack traces on deprecations
    --trace-warnings                        show stack traces on node process warnings
    --use_strict                            enforce strict mode
    --watch-extensions <ext>,...            additional extensions to monitor with --watch
    --delay                                 wait for async suite definition
    --allow-uncaught                        enable uncaught errors to propagate
    --forbid-only                           causes test marked with only to fail the suite
    --forbid-pending                        causes pending tests and test marked with skip to fail the suite
    -h, --help                              output usage information


  Commands:

    init <path>  initialize a client-side mocha setup at <path>

-w, --watch

Executes tests on changes to JavaScript in the CWD, and once initially.

--exit / --no-exit

Updated in Mocha v4.0.0

Prior to version v4.0.0, by default, Mocha would force its own process to exit once it was finished executing all tests. This behavior enables a set of potential problems; it's indicative of tests (or fixtures, harnesses, code under test, etc.) which don't clean up after themselves properly. Ultimately, "dirty" tests can (but not always) lead to false positive or false negative results.

"Hanging" most often manifests itself if a server is still listening on a port, or a socket is still open, etc. It can also be something like a runaway setInterval(), or even an errant Promise that never fulfilled.

The default behavior in v4.0.0 is --no-exit, where previously it was --exit.

The easiest way to "fix" the issue is to simply pass --exit to the Mocha process. It can be time-consuming to debug--because it's not always obvious where the problem is--but it is recommended to do so.

To ensure your tests aren't leaving messes around, here are some ideas to get started:

--compilers

Updated in Mocha v4.0.0

--compilers is deprecated as of Mocha v4.0.0. See further explanation and workarounds.

CoffeeScript is no longer supported out of the box. CS and similar transpilers may be used by mapping the file extensions (for use with --watch) and the module name. For example --compilers coffee:coffee-script with CoffeeScript 1.6- or --compilers coffee:coffee-script/register with CoffeeScript 1.7+.

About Babel

If your ES6 modules have extension .js, you can npm install --save-dev babel-register and use mocha --require babel-register; --compilers is only necessary if you need to specify a file extension.

-b, --bail

Only interested in the first exception? use --bail!

-d, --debug

Enables node's debugger support, this executes your script(s) with node debug <file ...> allowing you to step through code and break with the debugger statement. Note the difference between mocha debug and mocha --debug: mocha debug will fire up node's built-in debug client, mocha --debug will allow you to use a different interface — such as the Blink Developer Tools.

--globals <names>

Accepts a comma-delimited list of accepted global variable names. For example, suppose your app deliberately exposes a global named app and YUI, you may want to add --globals app,YUI. It also accepts wildcards. You could do --globals '*bar' and it would match foobar, barbar, etc. You can also simply pass in '*' to ignore all globals.

--check-leaks

By default, Mocha will not check for global variables leaked while running tests, to enable this pass --check-leaks, to specify globals that are acceptable use --globals, for example --globals jQuery,MyLib.

-r, --require <module-name>

The --require option is useful for libraries such as should.js, so you may simply --require should instead of manually invoking require('should') within each test file. Note that this works well for should as it augments Object.prototype, however if you wish to access a module's exports you will have to require them, for example var should = require('should'). Furthermore, it can be used with relative paths, e.g. --require ./test/helper.js

-u, --ui <name>

The --ui option lets you specify the interface to use, defaulting to "bdd".

-R, --reporter <name>

The --reporter option allows you to specify the reporter that will be used, defaulting to "spec". This flag may also be used to utilize third-party reporters. For example if you npm install mocha-lcov-reporter you may then do --reporter mocha-lcov-reporter.

-t, --timeout <ms>

Specifies the test-case timeout, defaulting to 2 seconds. To override you may pass the timeout in milliseconds, or a value with the s suffix, ex: --timeout 2s or --timeout 2000 would be equivalent.

-s, --slow <ms>

Specify the "slow" test threshold, defaulting to 75ms. Mocha uses this to highlight test-cases that are taking too long.

-g, --grep <pattern>

The --grep option when specified will trigger mocha to only run tests matching the given pattern which is internally compiled to a RegExp.

Suppose, for example, you have "api" related tests, as well as "app" related tests, as shown in the following snippet; One could use --grep api or --grep app to run one or the other. The same goes for any other part of a suite or test-case title, --grep users would be valid as well, or even --grep GET.

describe('api', function() {
  describe('GET /api/users', function() {
    it('respond with an array of users', function() {
      // ...
    });
  });
});

describe('app', function() {
  describe('GET /users', function() {
    it('respond with an array of users', function() {
      // ...
    });
  });
});

Interfaces

Mocha's "interface" system allows developers to choose their style of DSL. Mocha has BDD, TDD, Exports, QUnit and Require-style interfaces.

BDD

The BDD interface provides describe(), context(), it(), specify(), before(), after(), beforeEach(), and afterEach().

context() is just an alias for describe(), and behaves the same way; it just provides a way to keep tests easier to read and organized. Similarly, specify() is an alias for it().

All of the previous examples were written using the BDD interface.

  describe('Array', function() {
    before(function() {
      // ...
    });

    describe('#indexOf()', function() {
      context('when not present', function() {
        it('should not throw an error', function() {
          (function() {
            [1,2,3].indexOf(4);
          }).should.not.throw();
        });
        it('should return -1', function() {
          [1,2,3].indexOf(4).should.equal(-1);
        });
      });
      context('when present', function() {
        it('should return the index where the element first appears in the array', function() {
          [1,2,3].indexOf(3).should.equal(2);
        });
      });
    });
  });

TDD

The TDD interface provides suite(), test(), suiteSetup(), suiteTeardown(), setup(), and teardown():

suite('Array', function() {
  setup(function() {
    // ...
  });

  suite('#indexOf()', function() {
    test('should return -1 when not present', function() {
      assert.equal(-1, [1,2,3].indexOf(4));
    });
  });
});

Exports

The Exports interface is much like Mocha's predecessor expresso. The keys before, after, beforeEach, and afterEach are special-cased, object values are suites, and function values are test-cases:

module.exports = {
  before: function() {
    // ...
  },

  'Array': {
    '#indexOf()': {
      'should return -1 when not present': function() {
        [1,2,3].indexOf(4).should.equal(-1);
      }
    }
  }
};

QUnit

The QUnit-inspired interface matches the "flat" look of QUnit, where the test suite title is simply defined before the test-cases. Like TDD, it uses suite() and test(), but resembling BDD, it also contains before(), after(), beforeEach(), and afterEach().

function ok(expr, msg) {
  if (!expr) throw new Error(msg);
}

suite('Array');

test('#length', function() {
  var arr = [1,2,3];
  ok(arr.length == 3);
});

test('#indexOf()', function() {
  var arr = [1,2,3];
  ok(arr.indexOf(1) == 0);
  ok(arr.indexOf(2) == 1);
  ok(arr.indexOf(3) == 2);
});

suite('String');

test('#length', function() {
  ok('foo'.length == 3);
});

Require

The require interface allows you to require the describe and friend words directly using require and call them whatever you want. This interface is also useful if you want to avoid global variables in your tests.

Note: The require interface cannot be run via the node executable, and must be run via mocha.

var testCase = require('mocha').describe;
var pre = require('mocha').before;
var assertions = require('mocha').it;
var assert = require('chai').assert;

testCase('Array', function() {
  pre(function() {
    // ...
  });

  testCase('#indexOf()', function() {
    assertions('should return -1 when not present', function() {
      assert.equal([1,2,3].indexOf(4), -1);
    });
  });
});

Reporters

Mocha reporters adjust to the terminal window, and always disable ANSI-escape coloring when the stdio streams are not associated with a TTY.

Spec

This is the default reporter. The "spec" reporter outputs a hierarchical view nested just as the test cases are.

spec reporter spec reporter with failure

Dot Matrix

The dot matrix (or "dot") reporter is simply a series of characters which represent test cases. Failures highlight in red exclamation marks (!), pending tests with a blue comma (,), and slow tests as yellow. Good if you prefer minimal output.

dot matrix reporter

Nyan

The "nyan" reporter is exactly what you might expect:

js nyan cat reporter

TAP

The TAP reporter emits lines for a Test-Anything-Protocol consumer.

test anything protocol

Landing Strip

The Landing Strip (landing) reporter is a gimmicky test reporter simulating a plane landing :) unicode ftw

landing strip plane reporter landing strip with failure

List

The "list" reporter outputs a simple specifications list as test cases pass or fail, outputting the failure details at the bottom of the output.

list reporter

Progress

The "progress" reporter implements a simple progress-bar:

progress bar

JSON

The "JSON" reporter outputs a single large JSON object when the tests have completed (failures or not).

json reporter

JSON Stream

The "JSON stream" reporter outputs newline-delimited JSON "events" as they occur, beginning with a "start" event, followed by test passes or failures, and then the final "end" event.

json stream reporter

Min

The "min" reporter displays the summary only, while still outputting errors on failure. This reporter works great with --watch as it clears the terminal in order to keep your test summary at the top.

min reporter

Doc

The "doc" reporter outputs a hierarchical HTML body representation of your tests. Wrap it with a header, footer, and some styling, then you have some fantastic documentation!

doc reporter

For example, suppose you have the following JavaScript:

describe('Array', function() {
  describe('#indexOf()', function() {
    it('should return -1 when the value is not present', function() {
      [1,2,3].indexOf(5).should.equal(-1);
      [1,2,3].indexOf(0).should.equal(-1);
    });
  });
});

The command mocha --reporter doc array would yield:

<section class="suite">
  <h1>Array</h1>
  <dl>
    <section class="suite">
      <h1>#indexOf()</h1>
      <dl>
      <dt>should return -1 when the value is not present</dt>
      <dd><pre><code>[1,2,3].indexOf(5).should.equal(-1);
[1,2,3].indexOf(0).should.equal(-1);</code></pre></dd>
      </dl>
    </section>
  </dl>
</section>

The SuperAgent request library test documentation was generated with Mocha's doc reporter using this simple make target:

test-docs:
	$(MAKE) test REPORTER=doc \
		| cat docs/head.html - docs/tail.html \
		> docs/test.html

View the entire Makefile for reference.

Markdown

The "markdown" reporter generates a markdown TOC and body for your test suite. This is great if you want to use the tests as documentation within a Github wiki page, or a markdown file in the repository that Github can render. For example here is the Connect test output.

HTML

The "HTML" reporter is currently the only browser reporter supported by Mocha, and it looks like this:

HTML test reporter

Undocumented Reporters

The "XUnit" reporter is also available. By default, it will output to the console. To write directly to a file, use --reporter-options output=filename.xml.

Third party reporters

Mocha allows you to define custom third-party reporters. For more information see the wiki. An example is the TeamCity reporter.

Running Mocha in the Browser

Mocha runs in the browser. Every release of Mocha will have new builds of ./mocha.js and ./mocha.css for use in the browser.

Browser-specific methods

The following method(s) only function in a browser context:

mocha.allowUncaught() : If called, uncaught errors will not be absorbed by the error handler.

A typical setup might look something like the following, where we call mocha.setup('bdd') to use the BDD interface before loading the test scripts, running them onload with mocha.run().

<html>
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <title>Mocha Tests</title>
  <link href="https://cdn.rawgit.com/mochajs/mocha/2.2.5/mocha.css" rel="stylesheet" />
</head>
<body>
  <div id="mocha"></div>

  <script src="https://cdn.rawgit.com/jquery/jquery/2.1.4/dist/jquery.min.js"></script>
  <script src="https://cdn.rawgit.com/Automattic/expect.js/0.3.1/index.js"></script>
  <script src="https://cdn.rawgit.com/mochajs/mocha/2.2.5/mocha.js"></script>

  <script>mocha.setup('bdd')</script>
  <script src="test.array.js"></script>
  <script src="test.object.js"></script>
  <script src="test.xhr.js"></script>
  <script>
    mocha.checkLeaks();
    mocha.globals(['jQuery']);
    mocha.run();
  </script>
</body>
</html>

Grep

The browser may use the --grep as functionality. Append a query-string to your URL: ?grep=api.

Browser Configuration

Mocha options can be set via mocha.setup(). Examples:

// Use "tdd" interface.  This is a shortcut to setting the interface;
// any other options must be passed via an object.
mocha.setup('tdd');

// This is equivalent to the above.
mocha.setup({
  ui: 'tdd'
});

// Use "tdd" interface, ignore leaks, and force all tests to be asynchronous
mocha.setup({
  ui: 'tdd',
  ignoreLeaks: true,
  asyncOnly: true
});

Browser-specific Option(s)

The following option(s) only function in a browser context:

noHighlighting: If set to true, do not attempt to use syntax highlighting on output test code.

mocha.opts

Back on the server, Mocha will attempt to load ./test/mocha.opts as a configuration file of sorts. The lines in this file are combined with any command-line arguments. The command-line arguments take precedence. For example, suppose you have the following mocha.opts file:

  --require should
  --reporter dot
  --ui bdd

This will default the reporter to dot, require the should library, and use bdd as the interface. With this, you may then invoke mocha with additional arguments, here enabling Growl support, and changing the reporter to list:

$ mocha --reporter list --growl

The test/ Directory

By default, mocha looks for the glob ./test/*.js and ./test/*.coffee, so you may want to put your tests in test/ folder.

Editor Plugins

The following editor-related packages are available:

TextMate

The Mocha TextMate bundle includes snippets to make writing tests quicker and more enjoyable. To install the bundle, clone a copy of the Mocha repo, and run:

$ make tm

JetBrains

JetBrains provides a NodeJS plugin for its suite of IDEs (IntelliJ IDEA, WebStorm, etc.), which contains a Mocha test runner, among other things.

JetBrains Mocha Runner Plugin in Action

The plugin is titled NodeJS, and can be installed via Preferences > Plugins, assuming your license allows it.

Wallaby.js

Wallaby.js is a continuous testing tool that enables real-time code coverage for Mocha with any assertion library in JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ IDEA, WebStorm, etc.) and Visual Studio for both browser and node.js projects.

Wallaby.js in Action

Emacs

Emacs support for running Mocha tests is available via a 3rd party package mocha.el. The package is available on MELPA, and can be installed via M-x package-install mocha.

Emacs Mocha Runner in Action

Examples

Real live example code:

Testing Mocha

To run Mocha's tests, you will need GNU Make or compatible; Cygwin should work.

$ cd /path/to/mocha
$ npm install
$ npm test

To use a different reporter:

$ REPORTER=nyan npm test

More Information

In addition to chatting with us on Gitter, for additional information such as using spies, mocking, and shared behaviours be sure to check out the Mocha Wiki on GitHub. For discussions join the Google Group. For a running example of Mocha, view example/tests.html. For the JavaScript API, view the source.