2 Methods for Running Multiple Jest Suites in the Same Project

I’ve come across two primary methods for running subsets of Jest tests within a single project. Let’s take a look.

Why Run Multiple Test Suites Separately

First, why would you do this? I’ve run into a number of scenarios in which I want to run a certain set of tests. Here are a few examples:

• Run a single test while I’m developing (typically the --watch option takes care of this)
• The test suite is large and I only want to run a subset of tests
• Tests should be run in a specific context/configuration — e.g. visual regression tests likely require a different config than unit tests

Fortunately, Jest makes this a super simple process.

The Scenario

Let’s demonstrate this with a super simple project. Say I have a single index.js file with two functions — method1() returns true and method2() returns false.

index.js

exports.method1 = function () {
  return true;
};

exports.method2 = function () {
  return false;
};

And (for whatever reason) I want to test these methods in isolation in two different test suites, like this:

__tests__/suite1/index.test.js

const { method1 } = require("../../index.js");

describe("method1()", () => {
  it("returns true", () => {
    expect(method1()).toEqual(true);
  });
});

__tests__/suite2/index.test.js

const { method2 } = require("../../index.js");

describe("method2()", () => {
  it("returns false", () => {
    expect(method2()).toEqual(false);
  });
});

Now let’s look at how we could run these in isolation, assuming Jest is installed.

Method #1: CLI Arguments

The more flexible approach is to use the CLI. Assuming you have a test string in your package.json:

{
  // ...
  "scripts": {
    "test": "jest"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "jest": "^27.0.6"
  }
}

You can target a single file or directory as the first argument with the jest command. If using an npm script, that looks like this:

npm test -- __tests__/suite1

That will run only tests found within that path, returning something like the following output:

$ jest __tests__/suite1/
 PASS  __tests__/suite1/index.test.js
  method1()
    ✓ returns true (28 ms)

Test Suites: 1 passed, 1 total
Tests:       1 passed, 1 total
Snapshots:   0 total
Time:        0.212 s, estimated 1 s
Ran all test suites matching /__tests__\/suite1\//i.

When to Use the CLI

This method is really great for being quick and flexible. If you aren’t running the same grouping of tests repeatedly, this is a good approach.

Method #2: Dynamic Configuration with Environment Variables

A more permanent option is to build a dynamic configuration file that looks for an environment variable to determine which suites to run.

Let’s say we were looking for an environment variable called JEST_SUITE and it should be set to 1 or 2. We could do something like this:

jest.config.js

module.exports = {
  testMatch: [
    `<rootDir>/__tests__/suite${process.env.JEST_SUITE}/*.(spec|test).[jt]s`,
  ],
};

Now you can run the second test suite like this:

$ jest
 PASS  __tests__/suite2/index.test.js
  method2()
    ✓ returns false (28 ms)

Test Suites: 1 passed, 1 total
Tests:       1 passed, 1 total
Snapshots:   0 total
Time:        0.227 s
Ran all test suites.

When Dynamic Config is Better

Dynamic config is a more permanent solution. This is best used when you are intentionally splitting up tests for a specific purpose and for an extended period of time.

Playground

I’ve set up a playground that includes both scenarios within the same project. Take a look below: