js node test use before outside of describe

Question

as you can see from the before image, out of the describe it is not called, but all the others are.

There's a reason or it doesn't work, that's it.

If I put it in describe it works.

import {
  before,
  beforeEach,
  after,
  afterEach,
  describe,
  it,
  test,
} from "node:test";
import assert from "node:assert";

import { add, subtract } from "../index.js";

before(function () {
  console.log("before");
});
beforeEach(function () {
  console.log("beforeEach");
});
afterEach(function () {
  console.log("afterEach");
});
after(function () {
  console.log("after");
});

describe("Arithmetic Operations", () => {
  it("should correctly add two numbers", () => {
    const result = add(2, 3);
    assert.strictEqual(result, 5);
  });

  it("should correctly subtract two numbers", () => {
    const result = subtract(5, 3);
    assert.strictEqual(result, 2);
  });
});

Answer 1

This seems like a bug in the Node.js test runner, which isn't completely surprising given that you're using Node.js 18.17.1 and the test runner was only declared stable in Node.js 20.0.0.

With Node.js 18.17.1, I was able to consistently reproduce this behavior:

➜  nvm use 18.17.1
Now using node v18.17.1 (npm v9.6.7)
➜  node node.test.js 
beforeEach
afterEach
beforeEach
afterEach
▶ Arithmetic Operations
  ✔ should correctly add two numbers (0.834959ms)
  ✔ should correctly subtract two numbers (0.168333ms)
▶ Arithmetic Operations (1.795125ms)

after
ℹ tests 2
ℹ suites 1
ℹ pass 2
ℹ fail 0
ℹ cancelled 0
ℹ skipped 0
ℹ todo 0
ℹ duration_ms 0.213542

However, once I switched to the latest Node.js version (22.3.0 at the time of writing), this code indeed works as expected:

➜  nvm use 22.3.0
Now using node v22.3.0 (npm v10.8.1)
➜  node node.test.js
before
beforeEach
afterEach
beforeEach
afterEach
after
▶ Arithmetic Operations
  ✔ should correctly add two numbers (0.517375ms)
  ✔ should correctly subtract two numbers (0.674292ms)
▶ Arithmetic Operations (1.538292ms)
ℹ tests 2
ℹ suites 1
ℹ pass 2
ℹ fail 0
ℹ cancelled 0
ℹ skipped 0
ℹ todo 0
ℹ duration_ms 6.906708