Release 0.2.1: quiet preload when Django not yet configured

Downgrade the rootdir-conftest preload error to DEBUG when the
exception chain contains ImproperlyConfigured — typical when a
conftest transitively imports model_bakery>=1.20 (which calls
apps.is_installed at module import). Tests still pass, only the
noisy traceback at the end of the run is gone. Unrelated conftest
errors keep the WARNING + traceback behaviour.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: mpasternak

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -7,6 +7,22 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.2.1] - 2026-05-09
+
+### Changed
+
+- The rootdir-conftest preload (the mechanism that lets `register()` calls
+  run before pytest-django's hook) now logs at DEBUG level — instead of
+  emitting a full WARNING-level traceback — when the import fails because
+  Django settings aren't configured yet.  This is the common case when a
+  conftest transitively imports `model_bakery >= 1.20`, which calls
+  `apps.is_installed(...)` at module import time.  The conftest is still
+  re-imported by pytest's normal trylast loader after our env injection
+  and pytest-django run, so tests work as before — only the noisy
+  traceback at the end of the run is gone.  Unrelated conftest errors
+  (anything not chaining to `ImproperlyConfigured`) keep the original
+  WARNING + traceback behaviour.
+
 ## [0.2.0] - 2026-05-08
 
 ### Added

pyproject.toml

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [project]
 name = "pytest-testcontainers-django"
-version = "0.2.0"
+version = "0.2.1"
 description = "Bridge between pytest-testcontainers and pytest-django: starts the DB container before Django imports settings."
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.10"

src/pytest_testcontainers_django/plugin.py

@@ -94,6 +94,23 @@ def _resolve_baseline_path(config: DjangoContainerConfig) -> DjangoContainerConf
     return replace(config, postgres=new_pg)
 
 
+def _is_django_not_configured(exc: BaseException) -> bool:
+    """Walk ``__cause__`` / ``__context__`` for Django's ``ImproperlyConfigured``.
+
+    Matched by type name to avoid importing Django from this plugin (preload
+    runs before Django is configured, and the plugin must work in setups
+    where Django is loaded lazily).
+    """
+    seen: set[int] = set()
+    cur: BaseException | None = exc
+    while cur is not None and id(cur) not in seen:
+        seen.add(id(cur))
+        if type(cur).__name__ == "ImproperlyConfigured":
+            return True
+        cur = cur.__cause__ or cur.__context__
+    return False
+
+
 def _preload_rootdir_conftest(early_config: pytest.Config) -> None:
     """Force-import the rootdir ``conftest.py`` so its ``register()`` calls run.
 
@@ -117,9 +134,28 @@ def _preload_rootdir_conftest(early_config: pytest.Config) -> None:
             rootpath,
             consider_namespace_packages=consider_namespace_packages,
         )
-    except Exception:
-        # Conftest import failure here would re-raise from pytest's own
-        # trylast loader anyway — we just preload, never swallow.
+    except Exception as exc:
+        if _is_django_not_configured(exc):
+            # Expected at preload time: the conftest transitively imports code
+            # that touches Django settings (e.g. model_bakery>=1.20 calls
+            # apps.is_installed() at module import). Our hook runs before
+            # pytest-django has configured DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE, so the
+            # import fails here.  Pytest's own trylast loader will re-import
+            # the conftest later (after Django is configured *and* after our
+            # env injection has populated DB host/port), where it will
+            # succeed.  Caveat: any register() calls *before* the failing
+            # import won't run early — users hitting this should configure
+            # via pyproject.toml's [tool.pytest-testcontainers-django]
+            # instead, or move the offending import.
+            logger.debug(
+                "preloading rootdir conftest.py deferred: Django settings "
+                "not configured yet (will be re-imported by pytest's normal "
+                "loader)"
+            )
+            return
+        # Real conftest error — pytest's trylast loader would re-raise it
+        # with a full traceback anyway; we surface it here too so users see
+        # it once even if something masks the later re-raise.
         logger.exception("preloading rootdir conftest.py raised; continuing")
 
 

tests/test_plugin.py

@@ -426,6 +426,58 @@ def test_invalid_init_script_path_fails_loudly(pytester: pytest.Pytester) -> Non
     assert result.ret != 0
 
 
+def test_preload_quiet_when_conftest_hits_django_not_configured(
+    pytester: pytest.Pytester,
+) -> None:
+    """Regression: when the user's conftest transitively imports code that
+    touches Django settings before they're configured (e.g. ``model_bakery``
+    >= 1.20 calling ``apps.is_installed`` at module import), our preload
+    fails.  That failure is benign — pytest's normal trylast loader will
+    re-import the conftest later, after our env injection and pytest-django
+    have run — so we should NOT print a full traceback for it.
+
+    The conftest below raises a locally-defined ``ImproperlyConfigured`` on
+    its first import and lets the second (pytest core's) import succeed,
+    matching the real-world flow.
+    """
+    sentinel = """
+import sys
+if not getattr(sys, "_ttd_preload_seen", False):
+    sys._ttd_preload_seen = True
+    class ImproperlyConfigured(Exception):
+        pass
+    raise ImproperlyConfigured(
+        "Requested setting INSTALLED_APPS, but settings are not configured."
+    )
+"""
+    _bootstrap(pytester, conftest_extra=sentinel)
+    pytester.makepyfile("def test_dummy(): pass")
+    result = pytester.runpytest_subprocess("-p", "no:cacheprovider")
+    result.assert_outcomes(passed=1)
+    combined = "\n".join([*result.outlines, *result.errlines])
+    assert "Traceback" not in combined, combined
+    assert "preloading rootdir conftest.py raised" not in combined, combined
+
+
+def test_preload_still_logs_traceback_for_unrelated_conftest_errors(
+    pytester: pytest.Pytester,
+) -> None:
+    """The quiet-on-ImproperlyConfigured shortcut must NOT swallow other
+    conftest import errors.  A plain ``ValueError`` should still surface
+    with a traceback (either from our own logger.exception during preload,
+    or from pytest's trylast loader when it re-imports and fails again).
+    """
+    sentinel = """
+raise ValueError("definitely not a django problem")
+"""
+    _bootstrap(pytester, conftest_extra=sentinel)
+    pytester.makepyfile("def test_dummy(): pass")
+    result = pytester.runpytest_subprocess("-p", "no:cacheprovider")
+    combined = "\n".join([*result.outlines, *result.errlines])
+    assert "definitely not a django problem" in combined, combined
+    assert result.ret != 0
+
+
 def test_hook_runs_before_pytest_django_default_priority(
     pytester: pytest.Pytester,
 ) -> None: