AVA is a test runner for Node.js with a concise API, detailed error output, embrace of new language features and process isolation that lets you develop with confidence 🚀

Follow the AVA Twitter account for updates.

Read our contributing guide if you're looking to contribute (issues / PRs / etc).

Translations: Español, Français, Italiano, 日本語, 한국어, Português, Русский, 简体中文

Why AVA?

• Minimal and fast
• Simple test syntax
• Runs tests concurrently
• Enforces writing atomic tests
• No implicit globals
• Includes TypeScript definitions
• Magic assert
• Isolated environment for each test file
• Promise support
• Async function support
• Observable support
• Enhanced assertion messages
• Automatic parallel test runs in CI
• TAP reporter

Usage

To install and set up AVA, run:

npm init ava

Your package.json will then look like this (exact version notwithstanding):

{
	"name": "awesome-package",
	"type": "module",
	"scripts": {
		"test": "ava"
	},
	"devDependencies": {
		"ava": "^5.0.0"
	}
}

Or if you prefer using Yarn:

yarn add ava --dev

Alternatively you can install ava manually:

npm install --save-dev ava

Make sure to install AVA locally. As of AVA 4 it can no longer be run globally.

Don't forget to configure the test script in your package.json as per above.

Create your test file

Create a file named test.js in the project root directory.

Note that AVA's documentation assumes you're using ES modules.

import test from 'ava';

test('foo', t => {
	t.pass();
});

test('bar', async t => {
	const bar = Promise.resolve('bar');
	t.is(await bar, 'bar');
});

Running your tests

npm test

Or with npx:

npx ava

Run with the --watch flag to enable AVA's watch mode:

npx ava --watch

Supported Node.js versions

AVA supports the latest release of any major version that is supported by Node.js itself. Read more in our support statement.

Highlights

Magic assert

AVA adds code excerpts and clean diffs for actual and expected values. If values in the assertion are objects or arrays, only a diff is displayed, to remove the noise and focus on the problem. The diff is syntax-highlighted too! If you are comparing strings, both single and multi line, AVA displays a different kind of output, highlighting the added or missing characters.

Clean stack traces

AVA automatically removes unrelated lines in stack traces, allowing you to find the source of an error much faster, as seen above.

Parallel runs in CI

AVA automatically detects whether your CI environment supports parallel builds. Each build will run a subset of all test files, while still making sure all tests get executed. See the ci-parallel-vars package for a list of supported CI environments.

Documentation

Please see the files in the docs directory:

• Writing tests
• Execution context
• Assertions
• Snapshot testing
• Command line (CLI)
• Configuration
• Test timeouts

Common pitfalls

We have a growing list of common pitfalls you may experience while using AVA. If you encounter any issues you think are common, comment in this issue.

Recipes

• Test setup
• TypeScript
• Shared workers
• Watch mode
• When to use t.plan()
• Passing arguments to your test files
• Splitting tests in CI
• Code coverage
• Endpoint testing
• Browser testing
• Testing Vue.js components
• Debugging tests with Chrome DevTools
• Debugging tests with VSCode
• Debugging tests with WebStorm
• Isolated MongoDB integration tests
• Testing web apps using Puppeteer
• Testing web apps using Selenium WebDriverJS

FAQ

Why not mocha, tape, tap?

Mocha requires you to use implicit globals like describe and it with the default interface (which most people use). It's not very opinionated and executes tests serially without process isolation, making it slow.

Tape and tap are pretty good. AVA is highly inspired by their syntax. They too execute tests serially. Their default TAP output isn't very user-friendly though so you always end up using an external tap reporter.

In contrast AVA is highly opinionated and runs tests concurrently, with a separate process for each test file. Its default reporter is easy on the eyes and yet AVA still supports TAP output through a CLI flag.

How is the name written and pronounced?

AVA, not Ava or ava. Pronounced /ˈeɪvə/: Ay (face, made) V (vie, have) A (comma, ago)

What is the header background?

It's the Andromeda galaxy.

What is the difference between concurrency and parallelism?

Concurrency is not parallelism. It enables parallelism.

Support

• GitHub Discussions

Related

• eslint-plugin-ava — Lint rules for AVA tests
• @ava/typescript — Test TypeScript projects
• @ava/cooperate — Low-level primitives to enable cooperation between test files
• @ava/get-port — Reserve a port while testing

Links

• AVA stickers, t-shirts, etc
• Awesome list
• Do you like AVA? Donate here!
• More…

Team

Mark Wubben	Sindre Sorhus

Former

• Kevin Mårtensson
• James Talmage
• Juan Soto
• Jeroen Engels
• Vadim Demedes