mocha "describe" is not defined

Question

I read all the related mocha "describe" is not defined posts but none of them seem to be suitable for my situation.

I use meteor and installed the "mocha": "^3.5.0" package by npm

I have created a /testfolder in my meteor root directory. and a sample test mochatest.js

var assert = require("assert"); // node.js core module

describe('Array', function(){
  describe('#indexOf()', function(){
    it('should return -1 when the value is not present', function(){
      assert.equal(-1, [1,2,3].indexOf(4)); // 4 is not present in this array so indexOf returns -1
    })
  })
});

When i run mocha the test passes.

But when i start my normal server i get: ReferenceError: describe is not defined

.meteor/packages/meteor-tool/.1.3.5_1.1wj76e8++os.linux.x86_64+web.browser+web.cordova/mt-os.linux.x86_64/dev_bundle/server-lib/node_modules/fibers/future.js:280 throw(ex); ^ ReferenceError: describe is not defined at meteorInstall.test.mochatest.js (test/mochatest.js:3:1) at fileEvaluate (packages/modules-runtime/.npm/package/node_modules/install/install.js:153:1) at require (packages/modules-runtime/.npm/package/node_modules/install/install.js:82:1) at project-i18n.js:6:1 at .meteor/local/build/programs/server/boot.js:297:10 at Array.forEach (native) at Function._.each._.forEach (.meteor/packages/meteor-tool/.1.3.5_1.1wj76e8++os.linux.x86_64+web.browser+web.cordova/mt-os.linux.x86_64/dev_bundle/server-lib/node_modules/underscore/underscore.js:79:11) at .meteor/local/build/programs/server/boot.js:133:5

I have a feeling that meteor wants to run the test on startup but can't find mocha stuff.

So what to do?

Answer 1

You need to rename the /test folder to /tests.

From the official Meteor Testing Guide:

The Meteor build tool and the meteor test command ignore any files located in any tests/ directory. This allows you to put tests in this directory that you can run using a test runner outside of Meteor’s built-in test tools and still not have those files loaded in your application.

You could also consider renaming your test files with extensions like:

*.test[s].*, or *.spec[s].* -- So your file could be named mocha.test.js.

Such files are ignored by Meteor build tool as well.