cypress-grep

cypress-grep

Filter tests using substring

# run only tests with "hello" in their names
npx cypress run --env grep=hello

  ✓ hello world
  - works
  - works 2 @tag1
  - works 2 @tag1 @tag2

  1 passing (38ms)
  3 pending

All other tests will be marked pending, see why in the Cypress test statuses blog post.

If you have multiple spec files, all specs will be loaded, and every test will be filtered the same way, since the grep is run-time operation and cannot eliminate the spec files without loading them. If you want to run only specific tests, use the built-in --spec CLI argument.

Watch the video intro to cypress-grep plugin

Install and use

Assuming you have Cypress installed, add this module as a dev dependency

# using NPM
npm i -D cypress-grep
# using Yarn
yarn add -D cypress-grep

required: load this module from the support file or at the top of the spec file if not using the support file.

// cypress/support/index.js
// load and register the grep feature
// https://github.com/bahmutov/cypress-grep
require('cypress-grep')()

Plugin file

optional: load and register this module from the plugin file

// cypress/plugins/index.js
module.exports = (on, config) => {
  // optional: register cypress-grep plugin code
  // https://github.com/bahmutov/cypress-grep
  require('cypress-grep/src/plugin')(config)
}

By loading this module from the plugin file, it allows the cypress-grep to print a little message on load, for example

$ npx cypress run --env grep=hello
cypress-grep: tests with "hello" in their names

Use

Start grepping by title and tags:

# run only the tests with "auth user" in the title
$ npx cypress run --env grep="auth user"
# run tests tagged @fast
$ npx cypress run --env grepTags=@fast
# run only the tests tagged "smoke"
# that have "login" in their titles
$ npx cypress run --env grep=login,grepTags=smoke

Videos

Watch the video intro to cypress-grep which shows how this repository tags tests, uses cypress-grep plugin, and sets up the TypeScript intelligent code completion.

You can also watch How I organize pull request workflows where I show how the GitHub workflows in .github/workflows are organized to run the smoke tests first on pull request.

Filters

You can filter tests to run using part of their title via grep, and via explicit tags via grepTags Cypress environment variables.

Most likely you will pass these environment variables from the command line. For example, to only run tests with "login" in their title and tagged "smoke", you would run:

$ npx cypress run --env grep=login,grepTags=smoke

You can use any way to modify the environment values grep and grepTags, except the run-time Cypress.env('grep') (because it is too late at run-time). You can set the grep value in the cypress.json file to run only tests with the substring viewport in their names

{
  "env": {
    "grep": "viewport"
  }
}

You can also set the env.grep object in the plugin file, but remember to return the changed config object:

// cypress/plugin/index.js
module.exports = (on, config) => {
  config.env.grep = 'viewport'
  return config
}

You can also set the grep and grepTags from the DevTools console while running Cypress in the interactive mode cypress open, see DevTools Console section.

grep by test title

# run all tests with "hello" in their title
$ npx cypress run --env grep=hello
# run all tests with "hello world" in their title
$ npx cypress run --env grep="hello world"
# run all tests WITHOUT "hello world" in their title
$ npx cypress run --env grep="-hello world"

Filter with tags

You can select tests to run or skip using tags by passing --env grepTags=... value.

# enable the tests with tag "one" or "two"
--env grepTags="one two"
# enable the tests with both tags "one" and "two"
--env grepTags="one+two"
# enable the tests with "hello" in the title and tag "smoke"
--env grep=hello,grepTags=smoke

Tags in the test config object

Cypress tests can have their own test config object, and when using this plugin you can put the test tags there, either as a single tag string or as an array of tags.

it('works as an array', { tags: ['config', 'some-other-tag'] }, () => {
  expect(true).to.be.true
})

it('works as a string', { tags: 'config' }, () => {
  expect(true).to.be.true
})

You can run both of these tests using --env grepTags=config string.

TypeScript users

Because the Cypress test config object type definition does not have the tags property we are using above, the TypeScript linter will show an error. Just add an ignore comment above the test:

// @ts-ignore
it('runs on deploy', { tags: 'smoke' }, () => {
  ...
})

This package comes with src/index.d.ts definition file that adds the property tags to the Cypress test overrides interface. Include this file in your specs or TS config settings. For example, you can load it using a reference comment

// cypress/integration/my-spec.js
/// <reference types="cypress-grep" />

Test suites

The tags are also applied to the "describe" blocks with some limitations:

• you can only use the config object tags

describe('block with config tag', { tags: '@smoke' }, () => {
})

• currently only the invert tag to skip the blog has meaningful effect. For example you can skip the above suite of tests by using --env grepTags=-@smoke value. Keep an eye on issue #22 for the full support implementation.

See the cypress/integration/describe-tags-spec.js file.

AND tags

Use + to require both tags to be present

--env grepTags=@smoke+@fast

Invert tag

You can skip running the tests with specific tag using the invert option: prefix the tag with the character -.

# do not run any tests with tag "@slow"
--env grepTags=-@slow

OR tags

You can run tests that match one tag or another using spaces. Make sure to quote the grep string!

# run tests with tags "@slow" or "@critical" in their names
--env grepTags='@slow @critical'

General advice

• keep it simple.
• I like using @ as tag prefix to make the tags searchable

// ✅ good practice
describe('auth', { tags: '@critical' }, () => ...)
it('works', { tags: '@smoke' }, () => ...)
it('works quickly', { tags: ['@smoke', '@fast'] }, () => ...)

// 🚨 NOT GOING TO WORK
// ERROR: treated as a single tag,
// probably want an array instead
it('works', { tags: '@smoke @fast' }, () => ...)

Grepping the tests

# run the tests by title
$ npx cypress run --env grep="works quickly"
# run all tests tagged @smoke
$ npx cypress run --env grepTags=@smoke
# run all tests except tagged @smoke
$ npx cypress run --env grepTags=-@smoke

DevTools console

You can set the grep string from the DevTools Console. This plugin adds method Cypress.grep and Cypress.grepTags to set the grep strings and restart the tests

// filter tests by title substring
Cypress.grep('hello world')
// filter tests by tag string
// in this case will run tests with tag @smoke OR @fast
Cypress.grep(null, '@smoke @fast')
// run tests tagged @smoke AND @fast
Cypress.grep(null, '@smoke+@fast')
// run tests with title containing "hello" and tag @smoke
Cypress.grep('hello', '@smoke')

• to remove the grep strings enter Cypress.grep()

Debugging

This module uses debug to log verbose messages. To enable debug console messages, from the DevTools console set localStorage.debug='cypress-grep' and run the tests again.

Examples

• cypress-grep-example

See also

• cypress-select-tests
• cypress-skip-test

Migration guide

from v1 to v2

In v2 we have separated grepping by part of the title string from tags.

v1

--env grep="one two"

The above scenario was confusing - did you want to find all tests with title containing "one two" or did you want to run tests tagged one or two?

v2

# enable the tests with string "one two" in their titles
--env grep="one two"
# enable the tests with tag "one" or "two"
--env grepTags="one two"
# enable the tests with both tags "one" and "two"
--env grepTags="one+two"
# enable the tests with "hello" in the title and tag "smoke"
--env grep=hello,grepTags=smoke

Small print

Author: Gleb Bahmutov <[e-mail]> © 2021

• @bahmutov
• glebbahmutov.com
• blog

License: MIT - do anything with the code, but don't blame me if it does not work.

Support: if you find any problems with this module, email / tweet / open issue on Github

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2021 Gleb Bahmutov <[e-mail]>

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.