Test Loop — Automatic Test Execution for VS Code

Test Loop is a Visual Studio Code extension that automatically re-runs your unit tests whenever you modify your source code or test files.
It is designed for an efficient Test‑Driven Development (TDD) workflow and is inspired by the Live Unit Testing feature available in Visual Studio 2022.

Test Loop works with most programming languages and testing frameworks by letting you define the command used to run your tests.

Quick highlights

• Status bar item: shows Test Loop: On/Off and toggles the watcher.
• Commands: run via the Command Palette: Test Loop: Toggle
• Configurable: full control via test-loop.ignorePatterns, test-loop.cooldownMs, and test-loop.debounceMs.
• Smart filtering: ignores common build/cache folders by default to avoid loops (configurable).

Note: Test Loop relies on VS Code's testing commands (testing.runAll / testing.run) and the installed test adapters. If those are not available the extension will show a warning.

Table of contents

• Usage — how to start and stop the watcher
• Configuration — settings you can tune
• How it works — internal behavior and tips
• Troubleshooting — common issues (hot reload / loops)

Usage

• Toggle the watcher from the status bar item (Test Loop: Off / On) or open the Command Palette and run Test Loop: Toggle.
• The extension is activated at startup and will create the status bar item disabled by default. Use the toggle or the command to start watching.

Start the Extension Development Host (for testing)

• Press F5 to start an Extension Development Host where you can test the watcher.

Configuration

All options are configurable in your User or Workspace settings.json. The main settings are:

• test-loop.ignorePatterns (array[string]) — Default list of folders/subpaths to ignore (OS, build and cache directories). Example defaults include node_modules, .dart_tool, build, .git, .vscode, .DS_Store, etc.
• test-loop.cooldownMs (number) — Milliseconds to wait after a run finishes before accepting new events (default: 200). Helps avoid runs triggered by generated artifacts.
• test-loop.debounceMs (number) — Debounce time after a file change before starting a run (default: 300).

Example settings.json snippet:

{
  "test-loop.ignorePatterns": ["node_modules", ".dart_tool", "build"],
  "test-loop.cooldownMs": 500,
  "test-loop.debounceMs": 300
}

Troubleshooting

• If tests are triggered too often, add additional entries to test-loop.ignorePatterns.
• If cancellations do not stop the running test process, that is likely an adapter limitation; consider increasing cooldownMs to reduce churn.

Contributing

Contributions and issues are welcome. Please open issues or pull requests on the repository.