Getting Started
Install Jest using your favorite package manager:
- npm
- Yarn
- pnpm
- Bun
npm install --save-dev jest
yarn add --dev jest
pnpm add --save-dev jest
bun add --dev jest
Let's get started by writing a test for a hypothetical function that adds two numbers. First, create a sum.js file:
function sum(a, b) {
return a + b;
}
module.exports = sum;
Then, create a file named sum.test.js. This will contain our actual test:
const sum = require('./sum');
test('adds 1 + 2 to equal 3', () => {
expect(sum(1, 2)).toBe(3);
});
Add the following section to your package.json:
{
"scripts": {
"test": "jest"
}
}
Finally, run yarn test or npm test and Jest will print this message:
PASS ./sum.test.js
✓ adds 1 + 2 to equal 3 (5ms)
You just successfully wrote your first test using Jest!
This test used expect and toBe to test that two values were exactly identical. To learn about the other things that Jest can test, see Using Matchers.
Running from command line
You can run Jest directly from the CLI (if it's globally available in your PATH, e.g. by yarn global add jest or npm install jest --global) with a variety of useful options.
Here's how to run Jest on files matching my-test, using config.json as a configuration file and display a native OS notification after the run:
jest my-test --notify --config=config.json
If you'd like to learn more about running jest through the command line, take a look at the Jest CLI Options page.
Additional Configuration
Generate a basic configuration file
Based on your project, Jest will ask you a few questions and will create a basic configuration file with a short description for each option:
- npm
- Yarn
- pnpm
- Bun
npm init jest@latest
yarn create jest
pnpm create jest
bunx create-jest
Using Babel
To use Babel, install required dependencies:
- npm
- Yarn
- pnpm
- Bun
npm install --save-dev babel-jest @babel/core @babel/preset-env
yarn add --dev babel-jest @babel/core @babel/preset-env
pnpm add --save-dev babel-jest @babel/core @babel/preset-env
bun add --dev babel-jest @babel/core @babel/preset-env
Configure Babel to target your current version of Node by creating a babel.config.js file in the root of your project:
module.exports = {
presets: [['@babel/preset-env', {targets: {node: 'current'}}]],
};
The ideal configuration for Babel will depend on your project. See Babel's docs for more details.
Making your Babel config jest-aware
Jest will set process.env.NODE_ENV to 'test' if it's not set to something else. You can use that in your configuration to conditionally setup only the compilation needed for Jest, e.g.
module.exports = api => {
const isTest = api.env('test');
// You can use isTest to determine what presets and plugins to use.
return {
// ...
};
};
babel-jest is automatically installed when installing Jest and will automatically transform files if a babel configuration exists in your project. To avoid this behavior, you can explicitly reset the transform configuration option:
module.exports = {
transform: {},
};
Using with bundlers
Most of the time you do not need to do anything special to work with different bundlers - the exception is if you have some plugin or configuration which generates files or have custom file resolution rules.
Using webpack
Jest can be used in projects that use webpack to manage assets, styles, and compilation. webpack does offer some unique challenges over other tools. Refer to the webpack guide to get started.
Using Vite
Jest is not supported by Vite due to incompatibilities with the Vite plugin system.
There are examples for Jest integration with Vite in the vite-jest library. However, this library is not compatible with versions of Vite later than 2.4.2.
One alternative is Vitest which has an API that is compatible with Jest.