japa

Japa Testing Skill

AdonisJS uses Japa — a backend testing framework built and maintained by the AdonisJS team. Unlike Jest/Vitest, Japa runs natively in Node.js without transpilers and has plugins specifically designed for backend testing.

---

Suites and structure

tests/
├── bootstrap.ts          # plugins, hooks, suite config
├── unit/                 # fast in-process tests
└── browser/              # end-to-end with Playwright

Suites defined in adonisrc.ts:

tests: {
  suites: [
    { files: ['tests/unit/**/*.spec.ts'], name: 'unit', timeout: 2000 },
    { files: ['tests/browser/**/*.spec.ts'], name: 'browser', timeout: 300000 },
  ],
  forceExit: false,
}

---

bootstrap.ts

Hypermedia/Inertia starter kits (browser + unit suites):

import { assert } from '@japa/assert'
import app from '@adonisjs/core/services/app'
import type { Config } from '@japa/runner/types'
import { pluginAdonisJS } from '@japa/plugin-adonisjs'
import testUtils from '@adonisjs/core/services/test_utils'
import { browserClient } from '@japa/browser-client'
import { authBrowserClient } from '@adonisjs/auth/plugins/browser_client'
import { sessionBrowserClient } from '@adonisjs/session/plugins/browser_client'

export const plugins: Config['plugins'] = [
  assert(),
  pluginAdonisJS(app),
  browserClient({ runInSuites: ['browser'] }),
  sessionBrowserClient(app),
  authBrowserClient(app),
]

export const runnerHooks: Required<Pick<Config, 'setup' | 'teardown'>> = {
  setup: [() => testUtils.db().migrate()],
  teardown: [],
}

export const configureSuite: Config['configureSuite'] = (suite) => {
  if (['browser', 'functional', 'e2e'].includes(suite.name)) {
    return suite.setup(() => testUtils.httpServer().start())
  }
}

API starter kit (adds apiClient plugins):

import { apiClient } from '@japa/api-client'
import { authApiClient } from '@adonisjs/auth/plugins/api_client'
import { sessionApiClient } from '@adonisjs/session/plugins/api_client'
import type { Registry } from '../.adonisjs/client/registry/schema.d.ts'

declare module '@japa/api-client/types' {
  interface RoutesRegistry extends Registry {}
}

export const plugins: Config['plugins'] = [
  assert(),
  pluginAdonisJS(app),
  apiClient(),
  sessionApiClient(app),
  authApiClient(app),
]

.env.test — always required for auth in tests:

SESSION_DRIVER=memory

---

Running tests

node ace test                           # all suites
node ace test unit                      # specific suite
node ace test browser

node ace test --files="posts/index"     # specific file
node ace test --files="posts/*"         # folder wildcard
node ace test --tests="can list posts"  # exact test title
node ace test --groups="Posts index"    # group name

node ace test --watch                   # re-run on change
node ace test --bail                    # stop on first failure
node ace test --failed                  # re-run only failed tests

---

Database state — between each test

Choose one approach per group:

// Global transactions (faster — rolls back, nothing persisted)
group.each.setup(() => testUtils.db().withGlobalTransaction())

// Truncation (actual delete — slower but more compatible)
group.each.setup(() => testUtils.db().truncate())

Run migrations once before all tests in bootstrap.ts:

runnerHooks.setup = [
  () => testUtils.db().migrate(),
  () => testUtils.db().seed(),  // optional
]

Multiple connections:

() => testUtils.db().migrate()
() => testUtils.db('tenant').migrate()

---

References

Topic	File
API tests — client.visit(), assertions, auth	references/api-tests.md
Browser tests — Playwright, forms, loginAs, cookies	references/browser-tests.md
Console tests — Ace commands, raw mode, prompts	references/console-tests.md
Test doubles — fakes, swaps, time, sinon	references/test-doubles.md

---

Runbooks

Feature	File
Full test suite for a CRUD resource	runbooks/resource-tests.md

---

Anti-Patterns

Wrong	Correct
No DB cleanup between tests	withGlobalTransaction() or truncate() in group.each.setup
SESSION_DRIVER not set to memory	Required in .env.test for loginAs to work
Using fakes without using or .restore()	using fake = mail.fake() for auto-restore
sinon.restore() in group.each.setup	sinon.restore() in group.each.teardown
redis.flushdb() in group.each.setup	In group.each.teardown (clear after, not before)
Mocking DB queries	Hit the real test DB — mocks miss constraint errors
record() in committed test	Only for generating code — replace with visit()
Prompt trap without exact title match	Titles are case-sensitive — copy exactly from command