The JVM Test Suite plugin (plugin id: jvm-test-suite) provides a DSL and API to model multiple groups of automated tests into test suites in JVM-based projects. Tests suites are intended to grouped by their purpose and can have separate dependencies and use different testing frameworks.

For instance, this plugin can be used to define a group of Integration Tests, which might run much longer than unit tests and have different environmental requirements.

The JVM Test Suite plugin is an incubating API and is subject to change in a future release.

Usage

This plugin is applied automatically by the java plugin but can be additionally applied explicitly if desired. The plugin cannot be used without a JVM language plugin applied as it relies on several conventions of the java plugin.

Example 1. Applying the JVM Test Suite plugin
build.gradle.kts
plugins {
    java
    `jvm-test-suite`
}
build.gradle
plugins {
    id 'java'
    id 'jvm-test-suite'
}

The plugins adds the following objects to the project:

  • A testing extension (type: TestingExtension) to the project used to configure test suites.

When used with the Java Plugin:

  • A test suite named test (type: JvmTestSuite).

  • A test SourceSet.

  • Several configurations derived from the test SourceSet name: testImplementation, testCompileOnly, testRuntimeOnly

  • A single test suite target backed by a task named test.

The test task, SourceSet and derived configurations are identical in name and function to those used in prior Gradle releases.

Tasks

The JVM Test Suite plugin adds the following task to the project:

test — Test

Depends on: testClasses from the java plugin, and all tasks which produce the test runtime classpath

Runs the tests using the framework configured for the default test suite.

Additional instances of Test tasks will be automatically created for each test suite added via the testing extension.

Configuration

See the TestingExtension class in the API documentation.

Terminology and Modeling

The JVM Test Suite Plugin introduces some modeling concepts backed by new APIs. Here are their definitions.

Test Suite

A test suite is a collection of JVM-based tests.

Test Suite Target

For the initial release of this plugin, each test suite has a single target. This results in a 1:1:1 relationship between test suite, test suite target and a matching Test task. The name of the Test task is derived from the suite name. Future iterations of the plugin will allow defining multiple targets based other attributes, such as a particular JDK/JRE runtime.

Each test suite has some configuration that is common across for all tests contained in the suite:

  • Testing framework

  • Sources

  • Dependencies

In the future, other properties may be specified in the test suite which may influence the toolchains selected to compile and run tests.

The Test task associated with the target inherits its name from the suite. Other properties of the Test task are configurable.

Test Suite Type

Each test suite must be assigned a type. Types can be used to group related test suites across multiple Gradle projects within a build.

The type of a test suite can be configured using the suites’s test type property. The type must be unique across all test suites in the same Gradle project. By convention, the type is set to the name of the test suite, converted to dash-case - with the exception of the built-in test suite, which uses the value 'unit-test'.

Common values are available as constants in TestSuiteType.

Configuration Examples

Here are several examples to illustrate the configurability of test suites.

Declare an additional test suite

build.gradle.kts
testing {
    suites { (1)
        val test by getting(JvmTestSuite::class) { (2)
            useJUnitJupiter() (3)
        }

        register<JvmTestSuite>("integrationTest") { (4)
            dependencies {
                implementation(project()) (5)
            }

            targets { (6)
                all {
                    testTask.configure {
                        shouldRunAfter(test)
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

tasks.named("check") { (7)
    dependsOn(testing.suites.named("integrationTest"))
}
build.gradle
testing {
    suites { (1)
        test { (2)
            useJUnitJupiter() (3)
        }

        integrationTest(JvmTestSuite) { (4)
            dependencies {
                implementation project() (5)
            }

            targets { (6)
                all {
                    testTask.configure {
                        shouldRunAfter(test)
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

tasks.named('check') { (7)
    dependsOn(testing.suites.integrationTest)
}
1 Configure all test suites for this project.
2 Configure the built-in test suite. This suite is automatically created for backwards compatibility. You must specify a testing framework to use in order to run these tests (e.g. JUnit 4, JUnit Jupiter). This suite is the only suite that will automatically have access to the production source’s implementation dependencies, all other suites must explicitly declare these.
3 Declare this test suite uses JUnit Jupiter. The framework’s dependencies are automatically included. It is always necessary to explicitly configure the built-in test suite even if JUnit4 is desired.
4 Define a new suite called integrationTest. Note that all suites other than the built-in test suite will by convention work as if useJUnitJupiter() was called. You do not have to explicitly configure the testing framework on these additional suites, unless you wish to change to another framework.
5 Add a dependency on the production code of the project to the integrationTest suite targets. By convention, only the built-in test suite will automatically have a dependency on the production code of the project.
6 Configure all targets of this suite. By convention, test suite targets have no relationship to other Test tasks. This example shows that the slower integration test suite targets should run after all targets of the test suite are complete.
7 Configure the check task to depend on all integrationTest targets. By convention, test suite targets are not associated with the check task.

Invoking the check task on the above configured build should show output similar to:

> Task :compileJava
> Task :processResources NO-SOURCE
> Task :classes
> Task :jar
> Task :compileTestJava
> Task :processTestResources NO-SOURCE
> Task :testClasses
> Task :test
> Task :compileIntegrationTestJava
> Task :processIntegrationTestResources NO-SOURCE
> Task :integrationTestClasses
> Task :integrationTest
> Task :check

BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 0s
6 actionable tasks: 6 executed

Note that the integrationTest test suite does not run until after the test test suite completes.

Configure the built-in test suite

build.gradle.kts
testing {
    suites {
        val test by getting(JvmTestSuite::class) {
            useTestNG() (1)

            targets {
                all {
                    testTask.configure { (2)
                        // set a system property for the test JVM(s)
                        systemProperty("some.prop", "value")
                        options { (3)
                            val options = this as TestNGOptions
                            options.preserveOrder = true
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
build.gradle
testing { (1)
    suites {
        test {
            useTestNG() (1)

            targets {
                all {
                    testTask.configure { (2)
                        // set a system property for the test JVM(s)
                        systemProperty 'some.prop', 'value'
                        options { (3)
                            preserveOrder = true
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
1 Declare the test test suite uses the TestNG test framework.
2 Lazily configure the test task of all targets of the suite; note the return type of testTask is TaskProvider<Test>.
3 Configure more detailed test framework options. The options will be a subclass of org.gradle.api.tasks.testing.TestFrameworkOptions, in this case it is org.gradle.api.tasks.testing.testng.TestNGOptions.

Configure dependencies of a test suite

build.gradle.kts
testing {
    suites {
        val test by getting(JvmTestSuite::class) { (1)
            dependencies {
                // Note that this is equivalent to adding dependencies to testImplementation in the top-level dependencies block
                implementation("org.assertj:assertj-core:3.21.0") (2)
                annotationProcessor("com.google.auto.value:auto-value:1.9") (3)
            }
        }
    }
}
build.gradle
testing {
    suites {
        test { (1)
            dependencies {
                // Note that this is equivalent to adding dependencies to testImplementation in the top-level dependencies block
                implementation 'org.assertj:assertj-core:3.21.0' (2)
                annotationProcessor 'com.google.auto.value:auto-value:1.9' (3)
            }
        }
    }
}
1 Configure the built-in test test suite.
2 Add the assertj library to the test’s compile and runtime classpaths. The dependencies block within a test suite is already scoped for that test suite. Instead of having to know the global name of the configuration, test suites have a consistent name that you use in this block for declaring implementation, compileOnly, runtimeOnly and annotationProcessor dependencies.
3 Add the Auto Value annotation processor to the suite’s annotation processor classpath so that it will be run when compiling the tests.

Configure dependencies of a test suite to reference project outputs

build.gradle.kts
dependencies {
    api("com.google.guava:guava:30.1.1-jre") (1)
    implementation("com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind:2.13.3") (2)
}

testing {
    suites {
        val integrationTest by registering(JvmTestSuite::class) {
            dependencies {
                implementation(project()) (3)
            }
        }
    }
}
build.gradle
dependencies {
    api 'com.google.guava:guava:30.1.1-jre' (1)
    implementation 'com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind:2.13.3' (2)
}

testing {
    suites {
        integrationTest(JvmTestSuite) {
            dependencies {
                implementation project() (3)
            }
        }
    }
}
1 Add a production dependency which is used as part of the library’s public API.
2 Add a production dependency which is only used internally and is not exposed as part of this project’s public classes.
3 Configure a new test suite which adds a project() dependency to the suite’s compile and runtime classpaths. This dependency provides access to the project’s outputs as well as any dependencies declared on its api and compileOnlyApi configurations.

Configure source directories of a test suite

build.gradle.kts
testing {
    suites {
        val integrationTest by registering(JvmTestSuite::class) { (1)
            sources { (2)
                java { (3)
                    setSrcDirs(listOf("src/it/java")) (4)
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
build.gradle
testing {
    suites {
        integrationTest(JvmTestSuite) { (1)
            sources { (2)
                java { (3)
                    srcDirs = ['src/it/java'] (4)
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
1 Declare and configure a suite named integrationTest. The SourceSet and synthesized Test tasks will be based on this name.
2 Configure the sources of the test suite.
3 Configure the java SourceDirectorySet of the test suite.
4 Overwrite the srcDirs property, replacing the conventional src/integrationTest/java location with src/it/java.

Configure the type of a test suite

build.gradle.kts
testing {
    suites {
        val secondaryTest by registering(JvmTestSuite::class) {
            testType = TestSuiteType.INTEGRATION_TEST (1)
        }
    }
}
build.gradle
testing {
    suites {
        secondaryTest(JvmTestSuite) {
            testType = TestSuiteType.INTEGRATION_TEST (1)
        }
    }
}
1 This suite would use a type value of 'secondary-test' by default. This explicitly sets the type to 'integration-test'.

Configure the Test task for a test suite

build.gradle.kts
testing {
    suites {
        val integrationTest by getting(JvmTestSuite::class) {
            targets {
                all { (1)
                    testTask.configure {
                        setMaxHeapSize("512m") (2)
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
build.gradle
testing {
    suites {
        integrationTest {
            targets {
                all { (1)
                    testTask.configure {
                        maxHeapSize = '512m' (2)
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
1 Configure the integrationTest task created by declaring a suite of the same name.
2 Configure the Test task properties.

Test tasks associated with a test suite target can also be configured directly, by name. It is not necessary to configure via the test suite DSL.

Sharing configuration between multiple test suites

There are several ways to share configuration between multiple test suites to avoid the duplication of dependencies or other configuration. Each method is a tradeoff between flexibility and the use of a declarative vs. imperative configuration style.

  1. Use the configureEach method on the suites container to configure every test suite the same way.

  2. Use withType and matching with configureEach to filter test suites and configure a subset of them.

  3. Extract the configuration block to a local variable and apply it only to the desired test suites.

Method 1: Use configureEach

This is the most straightforward way to share configuration across every test suite. The configuration is applied to each test suite.

build.gradle.kts
testing {
    suites {
        withType<JvmTestSuite> { (1)
            useJUnitJupiter()
            dependencies { (2)
                implementation("org.mockito:mockito-junit-jupiter:4.6.1")
            }
        }
        (3)
        val integrationTest by registering(JvmTestSuite::class)
        val functionalTest by registering(JvmTestSuite::class) {
            dependencies { (4)
                implementation("org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.11")
            }
        }
    }
}
build.gradle
testing {
    suites {
        configureEach { (1)
            useJUnitJupiter()
            dependencies { (2)
                implementation('org.mockito:mockito-junit-jupiter:4.6.1')
            }
        }
        (3)
        integrationTest(JvmTestSuite)
        functionalTest(JvmTestSuite) {
            dependencies { (4)
                implementation('org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.11')
            }
        }
    }
}
1 Configure every JVM test suite
2 Provide the dependencies to be shared by all test suites
3 Define the additional test suites which will be configured upon creation
4 Add dependencies specific to the functionalTest test suite

Method 2: Use withType, matching and configureEach

This method adds filtering commands to only apply the configuration to a subset of the test suites, as identified by name.

build.gradle.kts
testing {
    suites {
        withType(JvmTestSuite::class).matching { it.name in listOf("test", "integrationTest") }.configureEach { (1)
            useJUnitJupiter()
            dependencies {
                implementation("org.mockito:mockito-junit-jupiter:4.6.1")
            }
        }
        val integrationTest by registering(JvmTestSuite::class)
        val functionalTest by registering(JvmTestSuite::class) {
            useJUnit() (2)
            dependencies { (3)
                implementation("org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.11")
            }
        }
    }
}
build.gradle
testing {
    suites {
        withType(JvmTestSuite).matching { it.name in ['test', 'integrationTest'] }.configureEach { (1)
            useJUnitJupiter()
            dependencies {
                implementation('org.mockito:mockito-junit-jupiter:4.6.1')
            }
        }

        integrationTest(JvmTestSuite)
        functionalTest(JvmTestSuite) {
            useJUnit() (2)
            dependencies { (3)
                implementation('org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.11')
            }
        }
    }
}
1 Configure every JVM test suite matching the given criteria
2 Use a different testing framework for the functionalTest test suite
3 Add dependencies specific to the functionalTest test suite

Method 3: Extract a custom configuration block

This method is the most flexible, but also the most imperative.

build.gradle.kts
testing {
    suites {
        val applyMockito = { suite: JvmTestSuite -> (1)
            suite.useJUnitJupiter()
            suite.dependencies {
                implementation("org.mockito:mockito-junit-jupiter:4.6.1")
            }
        }

        /* This is the equivalent of:
            val test by getting(JvmTestSuite::class) {
                applyMockito(this)
            }
         */
        val test by getting(JvmTestSuite::class, applyMockito)  (2)

        /* This is the equivalent of:
            val integrationTest by registering(JvmTestSuite::class)
            applyMockito(integrationTest.get())
         */
        val integrationTest by registering(JvmTestSuite::class, applyMockito) (3)

        val functionalTest by registering(JvmTestSuite::class) {
            useJUnit()
            dependencies {
                implementation("org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.11")
            }
        }
    }
}
build.gradle
testing {
    suites {
        def applyMockito = { suite -> (1)
            suite.useJUnitJupiter()
            suite.dependencies {
                implementation('org.mockito:mockito-junit-jupiter:4.6.1')
            }
        }

        /* This is the equivalent of:
            test {
                applyMockito(this)
            }
         */
        test(applyMockito) (2)

        /* This is the equivalent of:
            integrationTest(JvmTestSuite)
            applyMockito(integrationTest)
         */
        integrationTest(JvmTestSuite, applyMockito) (3)

        functionalTest(JvmTestSuite) {
            useJUnit()
            dependencies {
                implementation('org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.11')
            }
        }
    }
}
1 Define a closure which takes a single JvmTestSuite parameter and configures it
2 Apply the closure to a test suite, using the default (test) test suite
3 Alternate means of applying a configuration closure to a test suite outside of its declaration, using the integrationTest test suite

Differences between the test suite dependencies and the top-level dependencies blocks

Gradle 7.6 changed the API of the test suite’s dependencies block to be more strongly-typed.

Each dependency scope returns a DependencyAdder that provides strongly-typed methods to add and configure dependencies.

There is also a DependencyFactory with factory methods to create new dependencies from different notations. Dependencies can be created lazily using these factory methods, as shown below.

This API differs from the top-level dependencies block in the following ways:

  • Dependencies must be declared using a String, an instance of Dependency, a FileCollection, a Provider of Dependency, or a ProviderConvertible of MinimalExternalModuleDependency.

  • Outside of Gradle build scripts, you must explicitly call a getter for the DependencyAdder and add.

    • dependencies.add("implementation", x) becomes getImplementation().add(x)

  • You cannot declare dependencies with the Map notation from Kotlin and Java. Use multi-argument methods instead in Kotlin and Java.

    • Kotlin: compileOnly(mapOf("group" to "foo", "name" to "bar")) becomes compileOnly(module(group = "foo", name = "bar"))

    • Java: compileOnly(Map.of("group", "foo", "name", "bar")) becomes getCompileOnly().add(module("foo", "bar", null))

  • You cannot add a dependency with an instance of Project. You must turn it into a ProjectDependency first.

  • You cannot add version catalog bundles directly. Instead, use the bundle method on each configuration.

    • Kotlin and Groovy: implementation(libs.bundles.testing) becomes implementation.bundle(libs.bundles.testing)

  • You cannot use providers for non-Dependency types directly. Instead, map them to a Dependency using the DependencyFactory.

    • Kotlin and Groovy: implementation(myStringProvider) becomes implementation(myStringProvider.map { dependencyFactory.create(it) })

    • Java: implementation(myStringProvider) becomes getImplementation().add(myStringProvider.map(getDependencyFactory()::create)

The dependencies block within a test suite may not provide access to the same methods as the top-level dependencies block. To access these methods, you need to use the top-level dependencies block.

Adding dependencies via the test suite’s own dependencies block is the preferred and recommended way. You can also access the configurations of a test suite in a top-level dependencies block after creating the test suite, but the exact names of the configurations used by test suites should be considered an implementation detail subject to change.

Differences between similar methods on JvmTestSuite and Test task types

Instances of JvmTestSuite have methods useJUnit() and useJUnitJupiter(), which are similar in name to methods on the Test task type: useJUnit() and useJUnitPlatform(). However, there are important differences.

Unlike the methods on the Test task, JvmTestSuite methods perform two additional pieces of configuration:

  1. JvmTestSuite#useJUnit(), #useJUnitJupiter() and other framework-specific methods automatically apply the relevant testing framework libraries to the compile and runtime classpaths of the suite targets. Note the overloaded methods like JvmTestSuite#useJUnit(String) and #useJUnitJupiter(String) allow you to provide specific versions of the framework dependencies.

  2. JvmTestSuite#useJUnit() and #useJUnitJupiter() automatically configure the suite targets' Test tasks to execute using the specified framework.

An example of this behavior is shown in the first configuration example above, Configuring the built-in test suite.

Note that unlike the Test task, the aforementioned methods on JvmTestSuite do not accept a closure or action for configuring the framework. These framework configuration options can be set on the individual targets.

Outgoing Variants

Each test suite creates an outgoing variant containing its test execution results. These variants are designed for consumption by the Test Report Aggregation Plugin.

The attributes will resemble the following. User-configurable attributes are highlighted below the sample.

outgoingVariants task output
--------------------------------------------------
Variant testResultsElementsForTest (i)
--------------------------------------------------
Description = Directory containing binary results of running tests for the test Test Suite's test target.

Capabilities
    - org.gradle.sample:list:1.0.2 (default capability)
Attributes
    - org.gradle.category              = verification
    - org.gradle.testsuite.name        = test           (1)
    - org.gradle.testsuite.target.name = test           (2)
    - org.gradle.testsuite.type        = unit-test      (3)
    - org.gradle.verificationtype      = test-results

Artifacts
    - build/test-results/test/binary (artifactType = directory)
1 TestSuiteName attribute; value is derived from JvmTestSuite#getName().
2 TestSuiteTargetName attribute; value is derived from JvmTestSuiteTarget#getName().
3 TestSuiteType attribute; value is derived from JvmTestSuite#getTestType().