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test‑runner‑lite logo

test-runner-lite

Ultra‑small, dependency‑free test runner for Node.js modules.
Minimal API, CLI‑friendly, and ideal for embedding in any module’s test suite.

📚 Table of Contents

✨ Features

  • 📦 Single‑file, zero dependencies
  • 🖥️ CLI support: --json, --raw, --bail, --timeout, --testIDs, --workers
  • ✅ Works with sync, async, and Promise‑based tests
  • 📊 Summary with per‑test timings
  • 🎨 Color output (falls back gracefully if unsupported)
  • 🌍 Cross‑platform: Windows, macOS, Linux
  • ⚙️ onComplete callback for programmatic integration

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📦 Installation

Available on npm

From npm public registry:

npm install --save-dev test-runner-lite

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🚀 Usage

Used to import a module:

import testRunner from 'test-runner-lite';
// or
const testRunner = require('test-runner-lite');

Create a test file, e.g. index.test.js:

const testRunner = require('test-runner-lite');

testRunner("My Module Tests", {}, (test) => {
  test("Example test", (check, done) => {
    check("sum", 1 + 1).mustBe(2).done();
  });

  test("Async test", async (check, done) => {
    const val = await Promise.resolve("nano");
    check("value", val).mustInclude("nano").done();
  });
});

Run:

node index.test.js

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🖥️ CLI Options

Option Description
--help Show help
--testIDs=... Space‑separated list of test IDs to run
--timeout=ms Timeout per test in milliseconds (default: 3000)
--bail Stop on first failure
--json Output machine‑readable JSON
--raw Disable ANSI colors and formatting
--silent Suppress human output (for programmatic usage)
--workers Run tests in both primary and worker processes

Example:

node index.test.js --json --bail --timeout=2000
node index.test.js --testIDs=1 3

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📡 API

testRunner(runnerName, [options], suiteFn)
  • runnerName string – Name shown in test output.
  • options object (optional) – Supports:
    • timeout (ms)
    • bail, json, raw, silent, noExit, workers
    • testIDs (array of string IDs)
    • onComplete (function receiving the full summary object)
  • suiteFn function(testFn, isPrimary, isWorker) – Receives the test() registrar.
    • testFn - The function that starts the test
    • isPrimary - True if the process is a primary
    • isWorker - True if the process is not a primary (it is the negation of isPrimary).
testFn(name, [opts], fn)
  • name string – Test description
  • opts object (optional) - Supports:
    • timeout (ms) – Override default for this test
    • skip boolean – Skip this test
    • off boolean – Skip this test and don't report it in the results
  • fn function(check, done) – Test body:
    • check(label, value) returns a chainable validator:
      • .mustBe(val)
      • .mustNotBe(val)
      • .mustInclude(substr)
      • .truthy()
      • .falsy()
      • .done()– end test
    • done([error]) – Explicitly end test; passing a non‑empty error marks failure

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🛠 CI/CD and integrations

test-runner-lite is designed so that its output is well suited for automation environments (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, etc.) and for internal use in other CLI tools.

JSON output for CI

Run the tests with the --json flag to get structured machine-readable output:

node test/index.test.js --json > test-report.json

Example of a JSON report:

{
  "runner": "My Module Tests",
  "ok": true,
  "total": 3,
  "passed": 3,
  "failed": 0,
  "skipped": 0,
  "turned_off": 0,
  "time_ms": 12.34,
  "results": [
    { "id": 1, "name": "Example test", "status": "OK", "time_ms": 1.23 },
    { "id": 2, "name": "Async test", "status": "OK", "time_ms": 5.67 },
    { "id": 3, "name": "Another test", "status": "OK", "time_ms": 2.45 }
  ]
}

You can use this file:

  • CI in reporting
  • When starting ongoing workflows (e.g. when tests fail)
  • When generating reports

Integration with CLIs and other modules

If you have your own CLI command (e.g. my-module test), you can bind test-runner-lite to it so that the CLI queries the results and formats them as needed.

Example inside the module:

const testRunner = require('test-runner-lite');

function runModuleTests(sendJson) {
 testRunner("My module Tests", {
   json: true,
   silent: true,
   noExit: true,
   onComplete: report => sendJson(report)
 }, (test) => {
   test("Module loads", (check, done) => {
     const mod = require('../index');
     check("type", typeof mod).mustBe("object").done();
   });

   // add your tests here...
 });
}

// In the CLI:
if (process.argv.includes('test')) {
 runModuleTests(report => {
   console.log(JSON.stringify(report, null, 2));
 });
}

This is how you can use the same engine:

  • Directly from the terminal (node ​​test/index.test.js)
  • Via CLI (my-module test)
  • In CI scripts (node ​​test/index.test.js --json)

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📌 Snapshot usage

Install a specific version:

  1. Install desired package version:
npm install test-runner-lite

  1. Copy node_modules/test-runner-lite/index.js into your test/testRunner.js folder.

  2. Change import:

const testRunner = require('./testRunner');

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🧵 Cluster Mode and --workers Flag

test-runner-lite can run tests in Node.js cluster mode. In this mode, the Primary process can fork one or more Worker processes, and each process will execute the same test file.

How it works

  • Primary process parses CLI arguments and sets environment variables (process.env) for workers.
  • Workers inherit those environment variables when forked.
  • Both Primary and Workers run test-runner-lite independently.
  • You can use isPrimary/isWorker checks to control which tests run in which process.
  • Output can be prefixed (e.g., pTEST / wTEST) so you can tell which process produced which log line.
  • If you do not pass --workers, tests run only in the Primary process.

⚠️ Writing cluster‑aware tests requires a solid understanding of Node.js’s process model and the cluster module. Plan tests so that repeated execution in workers does not cause conflicts or side effects.

Example: Cluster‑aware test file

const testRunner = require('test-runner-lite');

testRunner("test-runner-lite sample tests", {
    workers: true,       // Enables worker processes to run tests as well
    timeout: 2000,       // default timeout
    json: process.argv.includes('--json'),
    raw: process.argv.includes('--raw'),
    silent: false,
    bail: false,
    noExit: false
}, (test, isPrimary, isWorker) => {

    // Primary-only test
    test("Primary Process: Loading module", { off: !isPrimary }, (check, done) => {
        const mod = require('./cluster'); // your module
        check("typeof", typeof mod).mustBe("object").done();
    });

    // Worker-only test
    test("Worker: process is worker", { off: !isWorker }, (check, done) => {
        check("isWorker", isWorker).mustBe(true).done();
    });

    // Runs in both
    test("Universal test", (check, done) => {
        check("platform", process.platform).mustInclude("linux").done();
    });

});

Cluster Mode Flow – test-runner-lite

┌───────────────────────┐
│    Primary process    │
│  (isPrimary = true)   │
└───────────┬───────────┘
            │ runs
            ▼
    ┌─────────────────┐
    │ testRunner(...) │
    └───────┬─────────┘
            │
            ├──► pTEST: "Primary Process: Loading module"
            │       (off if !isPrimary)
            │
            ├──► "Universal test"
            │       (runs in both)
            │
            └── cluster.fork()  ────┐
                                    │
                                    ▼
                         ┌─────────────────────┐
                         │   Worker process    │
                         │  (isWorker = true)  │
                         └──────────┬──────────┘
                                    │ runs
                                    ▼
                            ┌─────────────────┐
                            │ testRunner(...) │
                            └───────┬─────────┘
                                    │
                                    ├──► wTEST: "Worker: process is worker"
                                    │       (off if !isWorker)
                                    │
                                    └──► "Universal test"
                                            (runs in both)

Legend:

  • pTEST – Primary‑only test (off: !isPrimary)
  • wTEST – Worker‑only test (off: !isWorker)
  • Universal test – runs in both roles
  • cluster.fork() – spawns worker(s) that execute the same test file
  • isPrimary / isWorker – booleans passed into your test suite callback so you can branch logic

Running the example

# Primary only
node cluster.test.js

# Primary + Worker
node cluster.test.js --workers

# With JSON output
node cluster.test.js --workers --json

# With custom timeout
node cluster.test.js --workers --timeout 5000

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🛠 Stability Tips

  • Included as a file: If you want testRunner to not change with dependency updates, copy index.js to test/testRunner.js in your project.
  • Version lock: In public npm, set the exact version under devDependency, e.g.:
"devDependencies": {
 "test-runner-lite": "1.0.0"
}
  • Standard structure: Keep all tests in the test/ folder and give them .test.js extensions — this will make CI setup easier.

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📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.
Copyright © Manuel Lõhmus

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