Jest

Jest

Standard test runner for JS/TS projects with built-in mocking, assertions, and coverage.

When to Use

• Unit, integration, or snapshot testing
• Testing JS/TS codebases
• Mocking dependencies and external modules

Don't use for:

• E2E browser testing (use Playwright or Cypress)
• React component queries (use react-testing-library skill)

Critical Patterns

✅ REQUIRED: describe/it Structure

Group related tests with describe; name individual cases with it.

// CORRECT: grouped, descriptive names
describe('UserService', () => {
  it('should return created user with an id', async () => {
    const user = await service.createUser({ name: 'Ada' });
    expect(user.id).toBeDefined();
  });
});
// WRONG: flat, vague names
test('test1', () => { /* ... */ });

Setup and Teardown

// CORRECT: fresh instance per test
let service: UserService;
beforeEach(() => { service = new UserService(mockRepo); });
afterEach(() => { jest.restoreAllMocks(); });
// WRONG: shared mutable state across tests
const service = new UserService(mockRepo);

jest.mock and jest.spyOn

// jest.mock: replace entire module
jest.mock('../repositories/userRepo');
const mockRepo = jest.mocked(userRepo);
mockRepo.save.mockResolvedValue({ id: '1', name: 'Ada' });

// jest.spyOn: spy on one method, keep the rest real
const spy = jest.spyOn(logger, 'warn').mockImplementation();
expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalledWith('Empty input');

Async Patterns

// CORRECT: awaited rejects matcher
it('should reject on failure', async () => {
  mockFetch.mockRejectedValue(new Error('timeout'));
  await expect(service.fetchData()).rejects.toThrow('timeout');
});
// WRONG: missing await causes silent pass
it('silent', () => { expect(service.fetchData()).rejects.toThrow(); });

Assertion Matchers

Jest matchers cover both sides: what MUST be true (positive) and what MUST NOT be true (negative). This is the API layer — see unit-testing skill for the philosophy of when to write each.

// ── Positive matchers (value, shape, behavior) ──
expect(user.id).toBeDefined();
expect(user.role).toBe('member');
expect(users).toContain(newUser);
expect(mockRepo.save).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.objectContaining({ name: 'Ada' }));

// ── Negative matchers (.not modifier) ──
expect(result.errors).not.toContain('email');
expect(spy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();

// ── Throw / reject matchers ──
expect(() => parse(null)).toThrow('Input required');
expect(() => parse(null)).toThrow(TypeError);
await expect(service.fetch('bad-id')).rejects.toThrow('Not found');
await expect(service.fetch('bad-id')).rejects.toBeInstanceOf(NotFoundError);

Decision Tree

New test file?
  → name it module.test.ts next to source

Replace a whole module?
  → jest.mock('./path')

Spy on one method?
  → jest.spyOn(object, 'method')

Async code?
  → async/await in the it callback

Error paths?
  → await expect(...).rejects.toThrow()

Shared setup?
  → beforeEach + afterEach cleanup

Example

import { OrderService } from './orderService';
import { paymentGateway } from '../gateways/paymentGateway';
import { orderRepo } from '../repositories/orderRepo';
jest.mock('../gateways/paymentGateway');
jest.mock('../repositories/orderRepo');
const mockPay = jest.mocked(paymentGateway);
const mockRepo = jest.mocked(orderRepo);

describe('OrderService.placeOrder', () => {
  beforeEach(() => { jest.resetAllMocks(); });
  it('should charge and save', async () => {
    mockPay.charge.mockResolvedValue({ status: 'ok' });
    mockRepo.save.mockResolvedValue({ id: '42', total: 100 });
    const order = await new OrderService().placeOrder({ items: ['A'], total: 100 });
    expect(mockPay.charge).toHaveBeenCalledWith(100);
    expect(order.id).toBe('42');
  });
});

Edge Cases

• ES module mocking: jest.unstable_mockModule for ESM; jest.mock is CommonJS only
• Flaky async: Always await assertions; use jest.useFakeTimers() for time-dependent logic
• Snapshot drift: Review diffs carefully; update with --updateSnapshot intentionally
• Timer leaks: Call jest.useRealTimers() in afterEach to prevent bleed
• Global state: Use jest.resetModules() if module caches state at import

Checklist

• Each describe groups a single unit (class, function, or module)
• Each it tests one behavior with a descriptive name
• beforeEach resets state; afterEach restores mocks
• All async tests use async/await
• No test depends on execution order of other tests
• Coverage thresholds configured in jest.config.ts

Resources

• Jest Documentation
• Jest Mock Function API