React Testing Library screenshot

React Testing Library

Author Avatar Theme by Testing library
Updated: 2 Apr 2025
19290 Stars

Simple and complete React DOM testing utilities that encourage good testing practices.

Overview:

The React Testing Library is a lightweight solution for testing React components, focusing on maintaining tests that avoid implementation details and instead provide confidence in the intended functionality. By encouraging better testing practices, this library aims to make test bases maintainable in the long run.

Features:

  • Lightweight Testing Solution: Provides utility functions on top of react-dom and react-dom/test-utils for testing React components.
  • Guiding Principle: Encourages tests to resemble the way software is used, enhancing the confidence they provide.
  • Compatibility: Supports React v18 and offers solutions for suppressing unnecessary warnings on React DOM 16.8.
  • Example Libraries: Recommends the use of the Mock Service Worker library for declaratively mocking API communication in tests.

Installation:

To install the React Testing Library, follow these steps:

  1. Ensure npm is bundled with Node.js and installed as a devDependency in your project.
  2. For RTL version 16 and above, install @testing-library/dom using npm or yarn.
  3. Make sure to have peerDependencies for react, react-dom, and @testing-library/dom.
  4. To use custom Jest matchers, consider installing @testing-library/jest-dom.

Summary:

The React Testing Library is a valuable tool for writing maintainable tests for React components. By focusing on best testing practices and avoiding implementation details, it helps in building confidence in the functionality of the components being tested. With features like lightweight utility functions and compatibility with different React versions, this library promotes efficient and reliable testing practices for React applications.