nestjs-jest-testing

name	NestJS Jest Testing
description	Complete guide for setting up Jest unit tests, e2e tests, Stryker mutation testing, jest-it-up coverage bumping, tsx smoke tests, and reusable GitHub Actions verify workflows in NestJS TypeScript projects.

NestJS Jest Testing

Overview

This skill covers the full test setup for NestJS TypeScript projects using Jest + ts-jest, with separate configs for unit and e2e tests, Stryker for mutation coverage (80% break threshold), jest-it-up for auto-bumping coverage thresholds.

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Key Concepts

• ts-jest: Transforms TypeScript for Jest without a separate compile step; uses the project's tsconfig.json
• Unit tests: Use constructor injection mocks — no import mocking, dependencies passed via DI
• E2e tests: Boot the full NestJS module with Test.createTestingModule({ imports: [AppModule] }) + supertest
• Stryker: Runs Jest on mutated code; break: 80 exits with code 1 if mutation score drops below 80%
• jest-it-up: Reads coverage/coverage-summary.json after tests and bumps jest.config thresholds upward

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Documentation & References

Resource	Description	Link
Jest Configuration	coverageThreshold, collectCoverageFrom, reporters	https://jestjs.io/docs/configuration
ts-jest Getting Started	Installation, preset options, tsconfig	https://kulshekhar.github.io/ts-jest/docs/getting-started/installation
NestJS Testing Guide	createTestingModule, overrideProvider, e2e setup	https://docs.nestjs.com/fundamentals/testing
Stryker Configuration	testRunner, checkers, thresholds, mutate	https://stryker-mutator.io/docs/stryker-js/configuration/
Stryker Jest Runner	Jest-specific config options	https://stryker-mutator.io/docs/stryker-js/jest-runner/
Stryker TypeScript Checker	Type-safe mutation filtering	https://stryker-mutator.io/docs/stryker-js/typescript-checker/
jest-it-up	Auto-bumping coverage thresholds	https://github.com/rbardini/jest-it-up

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Recommended Libraries & Tools

Name	Purpose	Maturity	Notes
jest	Test runner	Stable (v29.7)	Core testing framework
ts-jest	TS transformer for Jest	Stable (v29.2)	CommonJS preset for this project
@types/jest	Type declarations for Jest	Stable (v29.5)	Required for TypeScript tests
@nestjs/testing	NestJS test module	Stable (v11)	createTestingModule, overrideProvider
supertest	HTTP assertions for e2e	Stable (v7)	Works with NestJS app instance
@types/supertest	Type declarations	Stable (v6)	Required for TypeScript e2e tests
jest-it-up	Auto-bump coverage thresholds	Stable (v4.0.1)	Requires json-summary coverageReporter
@stryker-mutator/core	Mutation testing engine	Stable (v8)	Core package
@stryker-mutator/jest-runner	Jest integration for Stryker	Stable (v8)	Matches project's jest setup
@stryker-mutator/typescript-checker	Type-safe mutation filtering	Stable (v8)	Filters type-invalid mutants before test run

Recommended Stack

Use jest + ts-jest (CommonJS preset) for both unit and e2e tests, with separate config files. Use @nestjs/testing for all test modules. Add jest-it-up as a posttest script for unit tests only. Use @stryker-mutator with jest runner and TypeScript checker for mutation testing.

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Patterns & Best Practices

Pattern 1: Unit Test with Constructor Injection Mocks

When to use: Testing any NestJS service with injected dependencies. No import mocking — pass fake implementations via constructor.

Trade-offs: Requires services to be refactored to inject external clients (Pool, GraphQLClient) if they create them internally.

// src/consent/__tests__/queue-processor.service.spec.ts
import { QueueProcessorService } from '../queue-processor.service'

const mockPgmqService = {
  readMessage: jest.fn(),
  deleteMessage: jest.fn(),
}

const mockConsentClient = {
  saveConsent: jest.fn(),
}

describe('QueueProcessorService', () => {
  let service: QueueProcessorService

  beforeEach(() => {
    jest.clearAllMocks()
    service = new QueueProcessorService(
      mockPgmqService as any,
      mockConsentClient as any,
    )
  })

  it('processes a message successfully', async () => {
    mockPgmqService.readMessage.mockResolvedValueOnce({ msg_id: '1', message: {} })
    // ...assert saveConsent and deleteMessage called
  })
})

Pattern 2: E2e Test with AppModule and supertest

When to use: Integration testing the full NestJS application over HTTP.

Critical: Set process.env vars in a setupFiles script before the module boots — configify validates at init time, before overrideProvider() takes effect. See E2E Testing with Configify in the configify skill.

// tests/app.e2e.spec.ts
import { Test, TestingModule } from '@nestjs/testing'
import { INestApplication } from '@nestjs/common'
import * as request from 'supertest'
import { AppModule } from '../src/app.module'

describe('AppController (e2e)', () => {
  let app: INestApplication

  beforeAll(async () => {
    const moduleFixture: TestingModule = await Test.createTestingModule({
      imports: [AppModule],
    })
      .overrideProvider(SomeService)
      .useValue(mockSomeService)
      .compile()

    app = moduleFixture.createNestApplication()
    await app.init()
  })

  afterAll(async () => {
    await app.close()
  })

  it('/health (GET)', () =>
    request(app.()).().())
})

Pattern 4: Separate Jest Configs (Unit vs E2e)

When to use: Always — unit and e2e tests have different roots, patterns, setup files, and timeouts.

// jest.config.ts (unit)
import type { Config } from 'jest'

const config: Config = {
  preset: 'ts-jest',
  testEnvironment: 'node',
  testMatch: ['**/__tests__/**/*.spec.ts'],
  collectCoverage: true,
  collectCoverageFrom: [
    'src/**/*.ts',
    '!src/**/__tests__/**',
    '!src/generated/**',
    '!src/main.ts',
    '!src/**/*.module.ts',
  ],
  coverageDirectory: 'coverage',
  coverageReporters: ['text', 'lcov', 'html', 'json-summary'],
  coverageProvider: 'v8',
  coverageThreshold: {
    global: { branches: 80, functions: 80, lines: 80, statements: 80 },
  },
}

export default config

// jest.e2e.config.ts (e2e)
import type { Config } from 'jest'

const config: Config = {
  preset: 'ts-jest',
  testEnvironment: 'node',
  testMatch: ['**/tests/**/*.spec.ts'],
  setupFiles: ['./tests/e2e-env-setup.ts'],
  testTimeout: 30000,
}

export default config

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Stryker Configuration

// stryker.config.json
{
  "testRunner": "jest",
  "coverageAnalysis": "perTest",
  "jest": {
    "projectType": "custom",
    "configFile": "jest.config.ts"
  },
  "checkers": ["typescript"],
  "tsconfigFile": "tsconfig.json",
  "mutate": [
    "src/**/*.ts",
    "!src/**/__tests__/**/*.ts",
    "!src/generated/**",
    "!src/main.ts",
    "!src/**/*.module.ts"
  ],
  "reporters": ["html", "text", "progress"],
  "thresholds"        

break: 80 means Stryker exits with code 1 if mutation score drops below 80%, blocking CI.

---

Package.json Scripts

{
  "scripts": {
    "test:unit": "jest --config jest.config.ts",
    "posttest:unit": "jest-it-up",
    "test:e2e": "jest --config jest.e2e.config.ts",
    "test:mutation": "stryker run",
    "test:smoke-local": "bash smoke-tests/run-smoke-tests-local.sh",
    "test": "npm run test:unit && npm run test:e2e && npm run test:smoke-local"
  }
}

Note: jest-it-up runs as posttest:unit (not posttest) to avoid running after e2e/smoke.

Similar Implementations

NestJS official CLI generated test setup

• Source: NestJS CLI nest new scaffold
• Approach: Separate jest (unit) and jest-e2e.json (e2e) configs, test/ folder for e2e
• Applicability: Direct match — this skill follows the same conventions

Stryker Node.js guide

• Source: https://stryker-mutator.io/docs/stryker-js/guides/nodejs/
• Approach: npx stryker init generates config, jest runner with ts-jest preset
• Applicability: High — this project is a Node.js/NestJS service

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Sources & Verification

Source	Type	Last Verified
https://jestjs.io/docs/configuration	Official	2026-04-23
https://kulshekhar.github.io/ts-jest/docs/getting-started/installation	Official	2026-04-23
https://docs.nestjs.com/fundamentals/testing	Official	2026-04-23
https://stryker-mutator.io/docs/stryker-js/configuration/	Official	2026-04-23
https://stryker-mutator.io/docs/stryker-js/jest-runner/	Official	2026-04-23
https://github.com/rbardini/jest-it-up	Official	2026-04-23

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Changelog

Date	Changes
2026-04-23	Initial creation for task: Add unit tests and smoke tests