2. Installing

Kaocha is distributed through Clojars, with the identifier lambdaisland/kaocha. You can find version information for the latest release at https://clojars.org/lambdaisland/kaocha.

The main namespace for use at the command line is kaocha.runner, regardless of which tool you're using to invoke Clojure.

For example:

clojure -Sdeps '{:deps {lambdaisland/kaocha {:mvn/version "1.87.1366"}}}' -m kaocha.runner --test-help

Below are instructions on the recommended way to set things up for various build tools.

Clojure CLI / deps.edn

In deps.edn, create a test "alias" (profile) that loads the lambdaisland/kaocha dependency.

;; deps.edn
{:deps { ,,, }
 :aliases
 {:test {:main-opts ["-m" "kaocha.runner"]
         :extra-deps {lambdaisland/kaocha {:mvn/version "1.87.1366"}}}}}

Other dependencies that are only used for tests, like test framework or assertion libraries, can also go here.

Next create a bin/kaocha wrapper script. Having it in this location is strongly recommended, as it's where developers coming from other projects will expect to find it.

In it invoke clojure with the :test alias and the kaocha.runner main namespace. This is what bin/kaocha by default looks like. Make sure to add "$@" so that any arguments to bin/kaocha are passed on to kaocha.runner.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

clojure -M:test "$@"

Make sure the script is executable:

chmod +x bin/kaocha

This script provides a useful place to encode extra flags or setup that is needed in order for tests to run correctly.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

. secrets.env
clojure -J-Xmx512m -M:dev:test --config-file test/tests.edn "$@"

This version also sets an alternative location for Kaocha's configuration file: tests.edn. It is generally recommended to leave it at the root of the project, but if you do want to move or rename it this is the way to go.

--config-file is the only Kaocha option that makes sense in this script, other Kaocha configuration should be done through tests.edn.

Now you can invoke Kaocha as such:

bin/kaocha --version

Alternative method: :exec-fn

We also support using the Clojure CLI :exec-fn/-X. However, we recommend the binstub approach above because it allows you to use traditional long and short options. If you nonetheless prefer :exec-fn/-X, you can set up deps.edn:

;; deps.edn
{:deps { ,,, }
 :aliases 
 {:test {:extra-deps {lambdaisland/kaocha {:mvn/version "1.87.1366"}}
         :exec-fn kaocha.runner/exec-fn
         :exec-args {}}}}

And then Kaocha can be invoked this way: clojure -X:test

Generally speaking, we recommend using tests.edn for all of your configuration rather than putting it in exec-args unless there's an alternative combination of options you frequently run.

In that case, you can put configuration options :exec-args as though it were tests.edn. Let's say you frequently use watch with :fail-fast and a subset of tests skipped. You could save that configuration with an additional alias: clojure -X:watch-test like so:

;; deps.edn
{:deps { ,,, }
 :aliases 
 {:test {:extra-deps {lambdaisland/kaocha {:mvn/version "1.87.1366"}}
         :exec-fn kaocha.runner/exec-fn
         :exec-args {}}
 :watch-test {:extra-deps {lambdaisland/kaocha {:mvn/version "1.87.1366"}}
         :exec-fn kaocha.runner/exec-fn
         :exec-args {:watch? true
	 :skip-meta :slow
	 :fail-fast? true }}}}

If you wanted to turn off fail-fast temporarily, you could run clojure -X:watch-test :fail-fast? false.

Leiningen

Add Kaocha to your :dev profile, then add an alias that invokes lein run -m kaocha.runner:

(defproject my-proj "0.1.0"
  :dependencies [,,,]
  :profiles {:dev {:dependencies [,,, [lambdaisland/kaocha "1.87.1366"]]}}
  :aliases {"kaocha" ["run" "-m" "kaocha.runner"]})

Now you can invoke Kaocha as such:

lein kaocha --version

It is still recommeded to create a bin/kaocha wrapper for consistency among projects. The rest of the documentation assumes you can invoke Kaocha with bin/kaocha.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

lein kaocha "$@"

For more information on :dev, see the Leiningen docs.

Alternative method: separate :kaocha profile

If you want to use Kaocha only in certain circumstances, say when profiling tests, you may not want to add it to your :dev profile.

Instead, add a :kaocha profile with the Kaocha dependency, then add an alias that activates the profile and invokes lein run -m kaocha.runner:

(defproject my-proj "0.1.0"
  :dependencies [,,,]
  :profiles {:kaocha {:dependencies [[lambdaisland/kaocha "1.87.1366"]]}}
  :aliases {"kaocha" ["with-profile" "+kaocha" "run" "-m" "kaocha.runner"]})

Invoking Kaocha and creating bin/kaocha will work the same way. However, Kaocha will not be available in your REPL by default.

Boot

See kaocha-boot for instructions.

Babashka

Kaocha is compatible with Babashka. The main reason to run tests under Babashka is to validate your library or application is compatible with Babashka. It may also be faster for some test suites because of a reduced start-up time. (If you don't care about Babashka compatibility and just want to improve the start-up time, consider using the --watch feature or running tests from a REPL instead.)

You can create a bb.edn file:

{:paths ["src" "test"]
 :deps {lambdaisland/kaocha {:mvn/version "1.87.1366"}}}

Then you can create a bin stub:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
bb -m kaocha.runner/-main  $@