CLI

Pytest · Reference cheat sheet

📋 Overview

The pytest CLI selects tests, controls verbosity, stops on failure, and passes plugin options. Learn a small set of flags for daily use and CI.

🔧 Core concepts

Node id: path/test_file.py::TestClass::test_name.

💡 Examples

Selection:

pytest tests/test_api.py
pytest tests/test_api.py::test_health
pytest -k "user and not slow"
pytest -m "not integration"

Debugging:

pytest -x --pdb
pytest --lf
pytest -vv -s
pytest --trace   # break at start of each test

Output & reports:

pytest -ra
pytest --tb=short
pytest --junitxml=report.xml

Useful combos:

pytest -q --cov=myapp --cov-report=term-missing
pytest -n auto -m "not slow"
pytest --durations=10

Collect only:

pytest --collect-only -q

⚠️ Pitfalls

• -s flooding CI logs.
• Overusing -k strings that silently match nothing useful.
• Forgetting quotes around mark expressions in shells.
• Running from the wrong cwd so testpaths miss files.
• Passing pytest args after -- incorrectly in some wrappers.

🔗 Related

• Configuration
• Markers
• Coverage
• xdist
• Install
• Asserts