Live Test Runner
Why Live Test Runner?Most test runners make you switch context — open a terminal, run a command, scroll through output. Live Test Runner brings tests into the editor. Save a file and your results update instantly. Click a line and jump straight to the failure. Everything is one panel away. No configuration required for standard Jest projects. No dependency on the VS Code Test Explorer API. FeaturesAlways-on test watchingTests re-run automatically on every save. A status bar badge gives you a one-glance pass/fail count without opening the panel.
Custom Test ExplorerA sidebar panel shows your full test suite as a file → suite → test tree. Every row has live status icons and color-coded duration badges. |
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Tests | The same file → suite → test tree, with search and filters |
| Output | Console logs for the selected test, tabbed by level (All / Logs / Info / Warn / Error) |
| Errors | Failure messages and stack traces for the selection |
Editor decorations & CodeLens
Every it() and test() line gets:
- Gutter icon — ✓ pass (green) · ✗ fail (red) · ⟳ running (amber) · ○ pending (grey)
- Inline duration — muted label after the closing paren, color-coded by threshold
▶ Run— rerun just this test (or suite, or file) without touching anything else▷ Debug— launch Jest under the debugger, scoped to this test via--testNamePattern◈ Results— jump straight to this test in the Results panel
Smart Jest detection
Automatically detects:
- Standard
jestinnode_modules/.bin - Create React App /
react-scripts test - Custom commands via the
liveTestRunner.jestCommandsetting
Quick Start
- Open a Jest project in VS Code
- Click the beaker icon in the Activity Bar to open Live Test Runner
- Click ▶ Start Testing — the extension discovers test files, runs them all, and starts watching
- Edit any source or test file, save, and watch results update in real time
No
jest.configchanges needed. No extra dependencies to install.
Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
Live Test Runner: Start Testing |
Discover and run all tests, then start watching for saves |
Live Test Runner: Stop Testing |
End the current session |
Live Test Runner: Select Project Root |
Pick a root in a multi-folder workspace |
Live Test Runner: Show Raw Output |
Open the raw Jest output channel for debugging |
Configuration
All settings are under liveTestRunner.* in VS Code settings.
General
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
liveTestRunner.projectRoot |
"" |
Project root (auto-detected for single-folder workspaces) |
liveTestRunner.runMode |
"auto" |
"auto": extension calls Jest directly for full structured output. "npm": delegates to your npm test script — useful when Jest is wrapped or non-standard, but per-test durations and gutter icons may be limited. |
liveTestRunner.jestCommand |
"" |
Override the Jest command (e.g. node_modules/.bin/jest). Only used when runMode is "auto". |
liveTestRunner.onSaveDebounceMs |
300 |
Milliseconds to wait after a save before triggering a run |
Duration thresholds
Control when duration badges switch from green → amber → red. Separate thresholds per level so suite and file budgets aren't judged by the same bar as individual tests.
| Setting | Default | Level |
|---|---|---|
liveTestRunner.durationThresholds.testAmberMs |
100 |
Test turns amber |
liveTestRunner.durationThresholds.testRedMs |
500 |
Test turns red |
liveTestRunner.durationThresholds.suiteAmberMs |
500 |
Suite turns amber |
liveTestRunner.durationThresholds.suiteRedMs |
2000 |
Suite turns red |
liveTestRunner.durationThresholds.fileAmberMs |
1000 |
File turns amber |
liveTestRunner.durationThresholds.fileRedMs |
5000 |
File turns red |
Status Bar
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
Live Tests: Off |
No session active |
Live Tests: Discovering… |
Finding test files |
Live Tests: Running… N/M |
Run in progress |
Live Tests: ✅ N passed |
All tests passed |
Live Tests: ❌ N failed, M passed |
Failures present |
Supported Frameworks
| Framework | Status |
|---|---|
| Jest | Fully supported |
| Create React App (react-scripts) | Fully supported |
| Vitest | Planned |
Known Limitations
- Rerunning an individual test uses
--testNamePattern, which may match multiple tests if names overlap - Logs only get capured at file level.
- Live run only works on test file for the moment.
About
This software is built by EshLabs (Eshan Dias). I’m a software engineer who was tired of paying for third-party tools, so I decided to create my own tools to help streamline development.
I built this tool because during development, we often forget about test cases, and running them after completing a project to find errors can take a lot of time. With this tool, I can immediately see if any test cases fail as I code, making the debugging process faster and more efficient.
If this tool helps you as much as it helps me, please give it a ⭐ on GitHub!
Contributing
Bug reports, feature requests, and pull requests are welcome at github.com/eshandias/live-test-runner.
License
MIT