---

name: creating-julia-test-env description: Use when you add tests for Julia packages

creating-julia-test-env

A minimal Julia package layout looks like this:

$ tree
.
├── Project.toml
└── src
    └── MyPkg.jl # Assume the package is named MyPkg for this example.

To add software tests for this package, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Create the test directory, runtests.jl, and a Project.toml for the test environment.

mkdir test
touch test/runtests.jl
touch test/Project.toml

Step 2: Add a [workspace] section to ./Project.toml (not test/Project.toml):

name = "MyPkg"

...
...<omitted>
...

# Add this section
[workspace]
projects = ["test"]

---

Note: If you are on Julia 1.11 or older, do not use [workspace]. Instead, add [extras] and [targets]:

[extras]
Test = "8dfed614-e22c-5e08-85e1-65c5234f0b40"

[targets]
test = ["Test"]

Step 3: Set up ./test/Project.toml as follows:

$ cd test
$ ls
runtests.jl Project.toml
$ julia --project -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.add("Test")'
$ julia --project -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.develop(path="../")'
$ cat Project.toml
[deps]
MyPkg = <UUID for MyPkg goes here>
Test = "8dfed614-e22c-5e08-85e1-65c5234f0b40"

[sources]
MyPkg = {path = ".."}

Step 4: Put a simple sample test in test/runtests.jl (replace MyPkg with your actual package name).

using Test

using MyPkg

@testset "sample" begin
    @test 1 + 1 == 2
end

Step 5: Run the following to verify:

$ julia --project -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.test()'