Usage
Nightwatch includes a command-line test runner which makes it easy to run tests and generate useful output. Please refer to the Installation section for details on how to get the runner installed. There are a few different options on how to use the test runner, depending on your installation type.
Global
If you have installed Nightwatch globally (with -g option), the binary nightwatch will be available anywhere:
nightwatch [source] [options]
Project specific
If you have Nightwatch installed as a dependency of your project, you can refer the binary from the node_modules/.bin folder or use the npx command which is provided by NPM.
npx nightwatch [source] [options]
Or directly:
./node_modules/.bin/nightwatch [source] [options]
on Windows:
node node_modules/.bin/nightwatch [source] [options]
Tests source
The optional source argument can be either one or more files, or an entire folder. This will overwrite the value set in the src_folders setting.
Run a single test:
nightwatch tests/one/firstTest.js
Run 2 individual tests:
nightwatch tests/one/firstTest.js tests/secondTest.js
Run 1 individual test and 1 folder:
nightwatch tests/one/test.js tests/utils
Runner options
The test runner supports a number of CLI arguments. To display all, run:
nightwatch --help
Usage: ./node_modules/.bin/nightwatch [source] [options]
Main options:
--env, -e ........ Specify the testing environment to use. [default: "default"]
--config, -c ..... Path to configuration file; nightwatch.conf.js or nightwatch.json are read by default if present. [required] [default: "./nightwatch.json"]
--test, -t ....... Runs a single test.
--testcase ....... Used only together with --test. Runs the specified testcase from the current suite/module.
--mocha .......... Set the test runner to use Mocha.
--timeout ........ Set the global timeout for assertion retries before an assertion fails.
--reuse-browser .. Use the same browser session to run the individual test suites
--parallel ....... Enable running the tests in parallel mode, via test workers; can also specify de desired workers count (e.g. --parallel=4)
--headless ....... Launch the browser (Chrome, Edge or Firefox) in headless mode.
--devtools ....... Automatically open devtools when launching the browser (Chrome, Edge, or Safari).
--verbose ........ Displays extended HTTP command logging during the test run.
--fail-fast ...... Run in "fail-fast" mode: if a test suite cannot be started, the rest will be aborted
--list-files ..... Shows list of files present in the project.
Tags & filtering:
--group, -g ...... Runs a group of tests (i.e. a folder)
--skipgroup, -s .. Skips one or several (comma separated) group of tests.
--filter, -f ..... Specify a filter (glob expression) as the file name format to use when loading the files.
--tag, -a ........ Only run tests with the given tag.
--skiptags ....... Skips tests that have the specified tag or tags (comma separated).
Test Filters – Mocha only:
--grep ........... Only run tests matching this string or regexp.
--fgrep .......... Only run tests containing this string.
--invert ......... Inverts --grep and --fgrep matches.
Retrying:
--retries ........ Retries failed or errored testcases up <n> times.
--suiteRetries ... Retries failed or errored testsuites up <n> times.
Reporting:
--output, -o ..... Where to save the (JUnit XML) test reports.
--reporter, -r ... Name of a predefined reporter (e.g. junit) or path to a custom reporter file to use. [default: ["junit","json","html"]]
--open ........... Opens the HTML report generated in the default browser at the end of test run
Component Tests:
--debug .......... Automatically pause the test execution after mounting the component and open the Nightwatch debug REPL interface.
--story .......... Allows to specify which story to run from the current file (when using Storybook or JSX written in component story format)
--preview ........ Used to preview a component story/test; automatically pause the test execution after mounting the component.
Info & help:
--help, -h ....... Shows this help (pass COLORS=0 env variable to disable colors).
--info ........... Shows environment info, i.e. OS, cpu, Node.js and installed browsers.
--version, -v .... Shows version information.
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