plugins.rst

Plug-ins

Coverage.py's behavior can be extended with third-party plug-ins. A plug-in is a separately installed Python class that you register in your .coveragerc. Plugins can alter a number of aspects of coverage.py's behavior, including implementing coverage measurement for non-Python files.

Information about using plug-ins is on this page. To write a plug-in, see api_plugin.

4.0

Using plug-ins

To use a coverage.py plug-in, you install it and configure it. For this example, let's say there's a Python package called something that provides a coverage.py plug-in called something.plugin.

1. Install the plug-in's package as you would any other Python package:

   pip install something

2. Configure coverage.py to use the plug-in. You do this by editing (or creating) your .coveragerc file, as described in config. The plugins setting indicates your plug-in. It's a list of importable module names of plug-ins:

   [run]
   plugins =
       something.plugin

3. If the plug-in needs its own configuration, you can add those settings in the .coveragerc file in a section named for the plug-in:

   [something.plugin]
   option1 = True
   option2 = abc.foo

   Check the documentation for the plug-in for details on the options it takes.

4. Run your tests with coverage.py as you usually would. If you get a message like "Plugin file tracers (something.plugin) aren't supported with PyTracer," then you don't have the C extension <install_extension> installed. The C extension is needed for certain plug-ins.

Available plug-ins

Some coverage.py plug-ins you might find useful:

• Django template coverage.py plug-in__: for measuring coverage in Django templates.
• Mako template coverage plug-in__: for measuring coverage in Mako templates. Doesn't work yet, probably needs some changes in Mako itself.