Django test runner not finding tests

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.

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

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 *

Worked it out.

It turns out I had done django-admin.py startproject pyDietTracker but not python manage.py startapp myApp. After going back and doing this, it did work as documented. It would appear I have a lot to learn about reading and the difference between a site and an app in Django.

Thank you for your help S.Lott and Emil Stenström. I wish I could accept both your answers because they are both helped alot.

Most important lesson Tests only work at the app level not the site level

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'...

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).

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

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 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 )

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>

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.

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.