Version: 5.9 🚧

Lifecycle hooks

It is extremely common in tests to want to perform some action before and after a test, or before and after all tests in the same file. It is in these lifecycle hooks that you would perform any setup/teardown logic required for a test.

Kotest provides a rich assortment of hooks that can be defined directly inside a spec. For more advanced cases, such as writing distributable plugins or re-usable hooks, one can use extensions.

At the end of this section is a list of the available hooks and when they are executed.

There are several ways to use hooks in Kotest:

DSL Methods

The first and simplest, is to use the DSL methods available inside a Spec which create and register a TestListener for you. For example, we can invoke beforeTest or afterTest (and others) directly alongside our tests.

class TestSpec : WordSpec({
  beforeTest {
    println("Starting a test $it")
  }
  afterTest { (test, result) ->
    println("Finished spec with result $result")
  }
  "this test" should {
    "be alive" {
      println("Johnny5 is alive!")
    }
  }
})

Behind the scenes, these DSL methods will create an instance of TestListener, overriding the appropriate functions, and ensuring that this test listener is registered to run.

You can use afterProject as a DSL method which will create an instance of ProjectListener, but there is no beforeProject because by the time the framework is at this stage of detecting a spec, the project has already started!

DSL methods with functions

Since these DSL methods accept functions, we can pull out logic to a function and re-use it in several places. The BeforeTest type used on the function definition is an alias to suspend (TestCase) -> Unit to keep things simple. There are aliases for the types of each of the callbacks.

val startTest: BeforeTest = {
   println("Starting a test $it")
}

class TestSpec : WordSpec({

   // used once
   beforeTest(startTest)

   "this test" should {
      "be alive" {
         println("Johnny5 is alive!")
      }
   }
})

class OtherSpec : WordSpec({

   // used twice
   beforeTest(startTest)

   "this test" should {
      "fail" {
         fail("boom")
      }
   }
})

Overriding callback functions in a Spec

The second, related, method is to override the callback functions in the Spec. This is essentially just a variation on the first method.

class TestSpec : WordSpec() {
    override suspend fun beforeTest(testCase: TestCase) {
        println("Starting a test $testCase")
    }

    init {
        "this test" should {
            "be alive" {
                println("Johnny5 is alive!")
            }
        }
    }
}

To understand all callbacks correctly it's important to have a good understanding of possible TestType values:

Container - a container that can contain other tests,
Test - a leaf test that cannot contain nested tests,
Dynamic - can either be a container or a test and is used when tests are added dynamically via functionality such as property tests or data tests.

Callback	Description
beforeContainer	Invoked directly before each test with type `TestType.Container` is executed, with the `TestCase` instance as a parameter. If the test is marked as ignored / disabled / inactive, then this callback won't be invoked.
afterContainer	Invoked immediately after a `TestCase` with type `TestType.Container` has finished, with the `TestResult` of that test. If a test case was skipped (ignored / disabled / inactive) then this callback will not be invoked for that particular test case. The callback will execute even if the test fails.
beforeEach	Invoked directly before each test with type `TestType.Test` is executed, with the `TestCase` instance as a parameter. If the test is marked as ignored / disabled / inactive, then this callback won't be invoked.
afterEach	Invoked immediately after a `TestCase` with type `TestType.Test` has finished, with the `TestResult` of that test. If a test case was skipped (ignored / disabled / inactive) then this callback will not be invoked for that particular test case. The callback will execute even if the test fails.
beforeAny	Invoked directly before each test with any `TestType` is executed, with the `TestCase` instance as a parameter. If the test is marked as ignored / disabled / inactive, then this callback won't be invoked.
afterAny	Invoked immediately after a `TestCase` with any `TestType` has finished, with the `TestResult` of that test. If a test case was skipped (ignored / disabled / inactive) then this callback will not be invoked for that particular test case. The callback will execute even if the test fails.
beforeTest	Invoked directly before each test is executed with the `TestCase` instance as a parameter. If the test is marked as ignored / disabled / inactive, then this callback won't be invoked. This callback has the same behavior as `beforeAny`.
afterTest	Invoked immediately after a `TestCase` has finished with the `TestResult` of that test. If a test case was skipped (ignored / disabled / inactive) then this callback will not be invoked for that particular test case. The callback will execute even if the test fails. This callback has the same behavior as `afterAny`.
beforeSpec	Invoked after the Engine instantiates a spec to be used as part of a test execution. The callback is provided with the `Spec` instance that the test will be executed under. If a spec is instantiated multiple times - for example, if `InstancePerTest` or `InstancePerLeaf` isolation modes are used, then this callback will be invoked for each instance created, just before the first test (or only test) is executed for that spec. This callback should be used if you need to perform setup each time a new spec instance is created. If you simply need to perform setup once per class file, then use prepareSpec. This callback runs before any `beforeTest` functions are invoked. When running in the default `SingleInstance` isolation mode, then this callback and `prepareSpec` are functionally the same since all tests will run in the same spec instance.
afterSpec	Is invoked after the `TestCase`s that are part of a particular spec instance have completed. If a spec is instantiated multiple times - for example, if `InstancePerTest` or `InstancePerLeaf` isolation modes are used, then this callback will be invoked for each instantiated spec, after the tests that are applicable to that spec instance have returned. This callback should be used if you need to perform cleanup after each individual spec instance. If you need to perform cleanup once per class file, then use `finalizeSpec.` This callback runs after any `afterTest` callbacks have been invoked. When running in the default `SingleInstance` isolation mode, then this callback and `finalizeSpec` are functionally the same since all tests will run in the same spec instance. In case there is any exception in `beforeSpec`, `afterSpec` will be skipped
prepareSpec	Called once per spec, when the engine is preparing to execute the tests for that spec. The `KClass` instance of the spec is provided as a parameter. Regardless of how many times the spec is instantiated, for example, if `InstancePerTest` or `InstancePerLeaf` isolation modes are used, this callback will only be invoked once. If there are no active tests in a spec, then this callback will still be invoked. When running in the default `SingleInstance` isolation mode, then this callback and `beforeSpec` are functionally the same since all tests will run in the same spec instance.
finalizeSpec	Called once per `Spec`, after all tests have completed for that spec. Regardless of how many times the spec is instantiated, for example, if `InstancePerTest` or `InstancePerLeaf` isolation modes are used, this callback will only be invoked once. The results parameter contains every `TestCase`, along with the result of that test, including tests that were ignored (which will have a `TestResult` that has `TestStatus.Ignored`). When running in the default `SingleInstance` isolation mode, then this callback and `afterSpec` are functionally the same since all tests will run in the same spec instance.
beforeInvocation	Invoked before each 'run' of a test, with a flag indicating the iteration number. This callback is useful if you have set a test to have multiple invocations via config and want to do some setup / teardown between runs. If you are running a test with the default single invocation then this callback is effectively the same as `beforeTest`. Note: If you have set multiple invocations _and multiple threads, then these callbacks will be invoked concurrently._
afterInvocation	Invoked after each 'run' of a test, with a flag indicating the iteration number. This callback is useful if you have set a test to have multiple invocations via config and want to do some setup / teardown between runs. If you are running a test with the default single invocation then this callback is effectively the same as `afterTest`. Note: If you have set multiple invocations _and multiple threads, then these callbacks will be invoked concurrently._

Notice that as far as beforeAny and beforeTest are just another name for the same functionality, beforeEach is different. Each of beforeAny and beforeTest will be invoked before any TestType.Test, whereas beforeEach will be invoked before both TestType.Container and TestType.Test. The same applies to afterAny, afterTest and afterEach.

DSL Methods​

DSL methods with functions​

Overriding callback functions in a Spec​

DSL Methods

DSL methods with functions

Overriding callback functions in a Spec