Testing

Testing

TypeNode has two testing approaches: hardware-in-the-loop tests that boot real Renode instances, and snapshot tests that verify the generated .repl output without running anything.

Hardware-in-the-loop tests (@typenode/vitest)

@typenode/vitest wraps @typenode/runtime with a Vitest fixture that boots a fresh Renode process per test and kills it on teardown — even if the test throws.

Setup

import { createTest, describe, expect } from "@typenode/vitest";

const test = createTest({ rescPath: ".typenode/my-board.resc" });

createTest returns a Vitest test function extended with a machine fixture.

Writing tests

describe("my-board", () => {
  test("boots and prints READY", async ({ machine }) => {
    const uart = await machine.uart("uart0");
    await machine.start();
    await uart.expect(/READY/, { timeout: 5_000 });
  });

  test("responds to ping", async ({ machine }) => {
    const uart = await machine.uart("uart0");
    await machine.start();
    await uart.expect(/READY/);
    await uart.write("ping\n");
    await uart.expect(/pong/);
  });
});

Each test gets its own machine — a fresh Machine instance from Machine.create(). The fixture handles machine.quit() automatically after the test, passing or failing.

Parallel tests

Because each machine gets its own OS-allocated Monitor port, tests can run in parallel across Vitest workers without conflict.

vitest.config.ts

Generate the .resc before your test run by adding the typenode generate step, or run it once manually. A minimal config:

import { defineConfig } from "vitest/config";

export default defineConfig({
  test: {
    testTimeout: 30_000,  // hardware tests can be slow
  },
});

---

Snapshot tests

If you just want to verify that a machine description emits the expected .repl without actually booting Renode, use emitRepl from @typenode/emit directly in a plain Vitest test:

import { test, expect } from "vitest";
import { emitRepl } from "@typenode/emit";
import machine from "./machine.ts";

test("repl snapshot", () => {
  expect(emitRepl(machine)).toMatchSnapshot();
});

This runs instantly (no Renode required) and is a good sanity check for peripheral wiring changes.

---

CI setup

Run with --headless to avoid Renode trying to open a GUI:

typenode generate machine.ts && npx vitest run

Or generate inside a globalSetup file so it runs once before all tests:

// vitest.global-setup.ts
import { runGenerate } from "@typenode/cli/commands/generate";

export async function setup() {
  await runGenerate({ file: "machine.ts", outDir: ".typenode" });
}

// vitest.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
  test: {
    globalSetup: "./vitest.global-setup.ts",
  },
});