Django test runner not finding tests

See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.11/topics/testing/overview/

The most common reason for tests not running is that your settings aren’t right, and your module is not in INSTALLED_APPS.

We use django.test.TestCase instead of unittest.TestCase. It has the Client bundled in.

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.11/topics/testing/tools/#django.test.TestCase

I had the same issue but my root cause was different.

I was getting Ran 0 tests, as OP.

But it turns out the test methods inside your test class must start with keyword test to run.

Example:

from django.test import TestCase


class FooTest(TestCase):
    def setUp(self):
        pass

    def tearDown(self):
        pass

    def this_wont_run(self):
        print 'Fail'

    def test_this_will(self):
        print 'Win'

Also the files with your TestCases in them have to start with test.

I had this happen when I had a test.py file, and a test/ subdirectory, in the same Django app directory. I guess I’m confusing python or the test runner whether I’m looking for a test module (in test.py) or a test package (in test/ subdir).

If you are trying to run a test in your main app, such as my_app/my_app/ make sure you have the following checked:

1. App name is listed in INSTALLED_APPS inside settings.py
2. Make sure your DATABASES['default'] inside settings.py is set properly
3. The App has a models.py (even if you are not using one, at least an empty one is required to be there)

This also happens if you have a syntax error in your tests.py.

If you’re using a yourapp/tests package/style for unittests, make sure there’s a __init__.py in your tests folder (since that’s what makes it a Python module!).

Here’s another one that I’ve just had: Check your test files are not executable. My virtualbox auto-mounted them as executable so the test discover missed them completely. I had to add them into the relevant __init__.py files before someone told me what the issue was as a work around, but now they are removed, and non-executable and everything _just_works.

In my case, I typed def instead of class. Instead of

class TestDisplayWeight(TestCase): # correct!

I had

def TestDisplayWeight(TestCase): # wrong!

I can run test for specific apps e.g.

python project/manage.py test app_name

but when I run

python project/manage.py test

0 tests was found

Figure out I need to run this in the same directory as manage.py

so the solution would be, cd to project directory and run

python manage.py test

This may also happen when you are using a tests module instead of a tests.py. In this case you need to import all the test classes into the __init__.py of your tests module, e.g.

tests/
    __init__.py
    somemodule.py

In your __init__.py you now need to import the somemodule like this:

from .somemodule import *

Using this syntax

python manage.py test

instead of ./manage.py test solved this problem for me.

In the same file, I had two test classes with the SAME NAME, and of course this prevented all tests from running.

I created a method called run in my test class which turned out to be a very bad idea. Python could see that I wanted to run tests, but was unable to. This problem is slightly different, but the result is the same – it made it seem as if the tests couldn’t be found.

Note that the following message was displayed:

You want to run the existing test: <unittest.runner.TextTestResult run=0 errors=0 failures=0>


In my case, the app folder itself was missing an __init__.py. This results in the behaviour that the test will be run with python manage.py test project.app_name but not with python manage.py test.

project/
  app_name/
    __init__.py   # this was missing

in my case, I miss starting my functions name with test_
and when run my test with :

python manage.py test myapp

result was :

Creating test database for alias 'default'...
System check identified no issues (0 silenced).

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 0 tests in 0.000s

OK
Destroying test database for alias 'default'...

it seems Django cannot recognize my tests!

then i change myproject/myapp/test.py file like this :

from django.test import TestCase
# Create your tests here.
class apitest(TestCase):

    def test_email(self):
        pass
    def test_secend(self):
        pass

after that result is:

Creating test database for alias 'default'...
System check identified no issues (0 silenced).
..
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 2 tests in 2.048s

OK
Destroying test database for alias 'default'...

Run --help and look for verbose. Crank it to max.

I ran manage.py test --verbose and found this debug output right at the top:

>nosetests --with-spec --spec-color --verbose --verbosity=2.

Oh look! I had installed and forgotten about nosetests. And it says --verbosity=2. I figured out that 3 is the max and running it with 3 I found lots of these:

nose.selector: INFO: /media/sf_C_DRIVE/Users/me/git/django/app/tests/test_processors.py is executable; skipped

That gave me the right hint. It indeed has problems with files having the x-bit set. However, I was thrown off the track as it had run SOME of the tests – even though it explicitly said it would skip them. Changing bits is not possible, as I run the tests in a VM, sharing my Windows NTFS-disk. So adding --exe fixed it.

Had the same issue and it was because my filename had a - char in its name.
My filename was route-tests.py and changed it to route_tests.py

If you encounter this error after upgrading to Django 3, it might be because the -k parameter changed meaning from:

-k, --keepdb          Preserves the test DB between runs.

to

-k TEST_NAME_PATTERNS   Only run test methods and classes that match the pattern or substring. Can be used multiple times. Same as unittest -k option.

So just replace -k with --keepdb to make it work again.

Django engine searches files and folders with test_ prefix (inside of a tests folder). In my case it was simple solution.

So, be sure to checkout file/folder name starts with it.

I had the same problem, it was caused by init.py at the project root – deleted that, all tests ran fine again.

I know I am late at this point but I also had trouble with

Found 0 test(s).
System check identified no issues (1 silenced).

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 0 tests in 0.000s

OK

I have followed all the steps still I was facing the same issue. My fix was I missed __init__.py file in the test directory. Adding the file and re-running the command solved my issue.

HIGHLIGHTING IT A BIT:

Make sure you have __init__.py file

I had the same problem, turns out I saved the __init__ as a python file but it did not put .py at the end of its name. I added .py at the end of file’s name. it was ok afterwards

(in other words, I had created __init__ instead of __init__.py )

This is late. but you can simply add your app name in front of importing models. like

    from myapp.models import something

This works for Me.

In Django, methods in test classes must start with "test" keyword. for example test_is_true(). methods name like is_true() will not execute.