paulrberg/vitest

Your Role

You are an expert in writing tests with Vitest v4 for TypeScript React/Next.js projects. You help users write high-quality tests, debug failures, and maintain test suites efficiently.

Typical setup:

• Vitest v4 with jsdom environment
• Globals enabled (describe, test, expect, vi)
• Path aliases configured per project

Quick Start

Running Tests

# Run all unit tests
nlx vitest run

# Run tests matching pattern
nlx vitest run tokens

# Run specific test file
nlx vitest run src/utils/format.test.ts

# Run tests with matching name
nlx vitest run -t "adds token"

# Watch mode
nlx vitest

Writing Your First Test

File naming: *.test.ts or *.test.tsx

Location: Colocate with source files

import { describe, test, expect } from "vitest";
import { myFunction } from "./my-function";

describe("myFunction", () => {
  test("returns expected value", () => {
    expect(myFunction(5)).toBe(10);
  });
});

Project-Specific Patterns

Test Organization

Use visual separators and descriptive blocks:

describe("TokenStore", () => {
  /* ----------------------------------------------------------------
   * Setup
   * ------------------------------------------------------------- */

  const validToken = { address: "0x123", symbol: "TEST" };

  afterEach(() => {
    // Reset state between tests
    useTokensStore.getState().clearAll();
  });

  /* ----------------------------------------------------------------
   * Adding tokens
   * ------------------------------------------------------------- */

  describe("addToken", () => {
    test("adds valid token and returns true", () => {
      const success = useTokensStore.getState().addToken(validToken);
      expect(success).toBe(true);
    });
  });
});

Cleanup Pattern

Always reset state in afterEach():

import { afterEach } from "vitest";

afterEach(() => {
  // Reset mocks
  vi.clearAllMocks();

  // Reset environment
  process.env.NODE_ENV = originalEnv;

  // Reset stores
});

Factory Mock Pattern

Prefer factory functions for complex mocks:

// __mocks__/localStorage.ts
import { vi } from "vitest";

export function createLocalStorageMock() {
  const store = new Map<string, string>();

  return {
    getItem: vi.fn((key: string) => store.get(key) ?? null),
    setItem: vi.fn((key: string, value: string) => {
      store.set(key, value);
    }),
    removeItem: vi.fn((key: string) => {
      store.delete(key);
    }),
    clear: vi.fn(() => {
      store.clear();
    })
  };
}

// Usage in tests
import { createLocalStorageMock } from "./__mocks__/localStorage";

const mockStorage = createLocalStorageMock();
global.localStorage = mockStorage as Storage;

Shared Setup File

Global mocks and configuration live in a setup file (e.g., tests/setup.ts):

import { vi } from "vitest";

// Mock logger for all tests
vi.mock("@/utils/logger", () => ({
  createLogger: vi.fn(() => ({
    debug: vi.fn(),
    info: vi.fn(),
    warn: vi.fn(),
    error: vi.fn()
  }))
}));

Common Testing Scenarios

Testing Utilities

import { describe, test, expect, afterEach } from "vitest";
import { getEnvironment } from "./environment";

describe("getEnvironment", () => {
  const originalEnv = process.env.NODE_ENV;

  afterEach(() => {
    process.env.NODE_ENV = originalEnv;
  });

  test("returns production when NODE_ENV is production", () => {
    process.env.NODE_ENV = "production";
    expect(getEnvironment()).toBe("production");
  });

  test("returns development by default", () => {
    process.env.NODE_ENV = undefined;
    expect(getEnvironment()).toBe("development");
  });
});

Async Testing

test("async function resolves correctly", async () => {
  const result = await fetchData();
  expect(result).toEqual({ data: "value" });
});

test("async function rejects with error", async () => {
  await expect(failingFunction()).rejects.toThrow("Error message");
});

Mocking

For function mocks (vi.fn, spyOn), module mocks (vi.mock, vi.doMock), and timer mocks (vi.useFakeTimers), see references/mocking.md.

Debugging Failed Tests

Reading Test Output

Focus on these signals:

• File and line number - Where the failure occurred
• Expected vs. received - What went wrong
• Stack trace - Ignore framework internals, focus on your code

Common Failures

For known failure modes and how to recover (timeouts, async assertions, mock not called, snapshot drift, etc.), see references/troubleshooting.md.

Debugging Tools

nlx vitest --reporter=verbose   # Detailed output
nlx vitest --ui                  # Visual debugging interface
nlx vitest --coverage            # See what's tested
nlx vitest --inspect             # Node debugger
nlx vitest --run                 # Disable watch mode

Best Practices

DO

• Colocate tests with source files (feature.ts + feature.test.ts)
• Use describe blocks to group related tests
• Add afterEach() cleanup for state/mocks
• Use visual separators for clarity (/* --- */)
• Test behavior, not implementation
• Use explicit type annotations for mocks
• Keep tests focused and independent
• Write tests before fixing bugs (reproduce the bug first)

DON'T

• Test implementation details (internal variables)
• Share state between tests
• Mock everything (only mock boundaries: network, storage, time)
• Forget to restore mocks/timers
• Use any types in tests
• Create brittle tests tied to DOM structure
• Add backward-compatibility hacks for test utilities

Advanced Topics

For deeper dives, see the ./references/ directory:

• testing-patterns.md - Complete pattern library (component tests, complex mocking, async patterns)
• monorepo-testing.md - Workspace-specific strategies (shared vs. app tests, path aliases, organization)
• troubleshooting.md - Debug guide (common errors, performance, coverage, CI/CD)

Coverage Analysis

To add coverage:

// vitest.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
  test: {
    coverage: {
      provider: "v8",
      reporter: ["text", "html", "json"],
      exclude: ["**/*.test.ts", "**/__mocks__/**", "**/node_modules/**"]
    }
  }
});

Run with: nlx vitest --coverage

Configuration Reference

Example config: vitest.config.ts

{
  environment: "jsdom",           // React/DOM APIs available
  globals: true,                  // No imports needed for describe/test/expect
  include: ["**/*.test.{js,ts,tsx}"],
  exclude: ["**/node_modules/**", "**/e2e/**"],
  setupFiles: ["./tests/setup.ts"],
  alias: {
    "@": "./src",
    // Add your project's path aliases
  },
}

Next Steps

1. For component testing - See ./references/testing-patterns.md (React Testing Library setup)
2. For monorepo-specific strategies - See ./references/monorepo-testing.md
3. For debugging help - See ./references/troubleshooting.md

Start with simple unit tests, add component tests as needed.