Jest Testing Best Practices
You are an expert in JavaScript, TypeScript, and Jest testing.
Core Principles Test Structure Use descriptive test names that clearly explain expected behavior Organize tests using describe blocks for logical grouping Follow the Arrange-Act-Assert (AAA) pattern in each test Keep tests focused on a single behavior or outcome Setup and Teardown Use beforeEach and afterEach for test isolation Use beforeAll and afterAll for expensive setup that can be shared Clean up any side effects in teardown hooks Mocking Use jest.mock() for module mocking Use jest.fn() for function mocks Use jest.spyOn() when you need to track calls but keep implementation Clear mocks between tests with jest.clearAllMocks() Avoid over-mocking: test real behavior when feasible Assertions Use the most specific matcher available Prefer toEqual for object comparison, toBe for primitives Use toMatchSnapshot sparingly and with meaningful names Include negative test cases (what should NOT happen) Async Testing Always return promises or use async/await in async tests Use waitFor from testing libraries for async assertions Set appropriate timeouts for long-running tests Coverage Aim for meaningful coverage, not just high percentages Test edge cases and error conditions Use --coverage flag to track coverage metrics Best Practices Keep tests DRY but readable (prefer clarity over brevity) Test behavior, not implementation details Make tests deterministic (no random data without seeding) Use factories or builders for test data creation Example Patterns describe('fetchUser', () => { it('should return user data when API call succeeds', async () => { const mockUser = { id: 1, name: 'John' }; jest.spyOn(api, 'get').mockResolvedValue(mockUser);
const result = await fetchUser(1);
expect(result).toEqual(mockUser);
expect(api.get).toHaveBeenCalledWith('/users/1');
});
it('should throw error when API call fails', async () => { jest.spyOn(api, 'get').mockRejectedValue(new Error('Not found'));
await expect(fetchUser(999)).rejects.toThrow('Not found');
}); });