Changelog

All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.

The format is based on Keep a Changelog, and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning.

Unreleased

v6.0.0 - 2026-10-05

💥 BREAKING CHANGES 💥

In this release, we eliminate interactions between commands. Previously, you could only have one of the (s)tale, (f)ailed, or (p)attern options enabled at the same time. We now eliminate that restriction, so you can now run all stale tests matching a filename pattern, for example. Note that mix test itself currently does not allow --failed and --stale to be provided together, but we don't implement that restriction in mix test.interactive. Instead, we allow mix test to report the issue itself. (#155, #158, #159)
The (a)ll tests command now also clears any (i)nclude, e(x)clude, or (o)nly tags in addition to clearing the (s)tale, (f)ailed, and (p)attern options. (#155)
We change how we process the arguments to interactive commands. In order to properly support filename patterns, tags, and name patterns that might have embedded spaces or other special characters, we now respect quoting of the arguments using single- or double-quotes, or backslash escapes before whitespace characters. While this is an improvement in functionality, it is a change to how argument parsing used to work. (#162)
We are now strict about the number of arguments passed to the various commands. Previously, some commands would accept any number of arguments while others would crash and restart the interactive loop when given the wrong number of arguments. We now report an error when any command is given an incorrect number of arguments and no longer crash. (#163)
We remove most of the modules from the public API, leaving only the mix task, the TestRunner behaviour and the Config struct that is used by that behaviour. This library is primarily intended as a mix task and there should be no need to interact with its internals. (#164)
This release drops support for Elixir 1.14 and 1.15. We officially support the same versions as Elixir itself, so support for Elixir 1.14 and 1.15 is no longer provided. (#156)

Updated

(Elixir 1.19 and above) We now support and allow adjustments to the new -n/--name-pattern option to mix test. You can specify a name pattern on the command line when starting mix test.interactive. You can later use the n <name pattern> command to specify or change the name pattern or the n command to clear the name pattern. Name patterns allow you to run only tests whose names match the pattern. These are similar to the filename patterns we already supported (via the p command), which do the same kind of matching on test filenames. We update the API and documentation to better distinguish between filename patterns and (test) name patterns. (#160, #161)
We now recognize the --max-requires (Elixir 1.18 and later) and --dry-run (Elixir 1.19 and later) command-line options and pass them along to mix test on every test run. We do not support managing them via mix test.interactive commands, however. (#157)
We now allow the --failed or --stale options to co-exist with filename patterns as well as name patterns and tags. See above for more details. (#155, #158, #159)
The (a)ll tests command now also clears any (i)nclude, e(x)clude, or (o)nly tags in addition to clearing the (s)tale, (f)ailed, and (p)attern options. (#155)
We now respect quoting of command arguments using single- or double-quotes, or backslash escapes before whitespace characters. See above for more details. (#162)

Bug Fixes

We no longer crash when additional arguments are passed to commands which only allow a single argument. See above for more details. (#163)

v5.2.0 - 2026-09-30

Updated

We now allow relative pathnames (e.g. ./test/foo_test.exs) as patterns, both on the command-line and passed to the p command. This more closely matches mix test's behavior. (#143 - Thanks @pauldemarco for the suggestion!)
Update hexdocs link to use new per-package subdomains. (#150)

v5.1.0 - 2025-12-29

Updated

Loosen the version spec on process_tree. We now allow for any version > v0.1.3. (#147)

v5.0.0 - 2025-06-09

💥 BREAKING CHANGE 💥

This release drops support for Elixir 1.13. We officially support the same versions as Elixir itself, so support for Elixir 1.13 is no longer provided. (#137)

There are no actual breaking changes in the code itself, so as long as you're on Elixir 1.14 or later, you should have no problems upgrading to this version.

Updated

We address new deprecations and compiler warnings in Elixir 1.19. There are no user-visible changes. (#137 - Thanks @frankdugan3 for contributing to the fixes!)
We upgrade to the newest version of ex_docs to get the latest improvements. (#137)

v4.3.0 - 2025-03-21

Added

Add a new verbose configuration setting and command-line option, disabled by default. When enabled, mix test.interactive will print the command it is about to run just before running the tests. (#135)

v4.2.0 - 2025-03-19

Fixed

On Unix-like system we no longer start the client application prematurely. Previously, we'd run (essentially) mix do run -e 'Application.put_env(:elixir, :ansi_enabled, true)', test in order to enable ANSI control codes/colors when running tests. However, mix run by default starts the application. Normally this would be fine, but in some cases it can cause problems. We now use mix do eval 'Application.put_env(:elixir, :ansi_enabled, true)', test instead, which delays starting the application until the mix test task runs. (#132)
Properly handle the --no-start option to mix test on Unix-like systems. Previously, we were using that option for the mix run -e command we were using to enable ANSI output, but not passing it through to mix test itself. (#132)

Added

We make the use of ANSI control code output configurable by adding the --(no-)ansi-enabled command-line option and ansi_enabled configuration setting. Previously, we'd enable ANSI output automatically on Unix-like systems and not on Windows. This is still the default, but now Windows users can opt into ANSI output. Since Windows 10, ANSI support has been available if the appropriate registry key is set. Additional, users on Unix-like systems can opt out of ANSI output if desired. (#133)

v4.1.2 - 2024-12-14

Updated

Update README with instructions for running mix test.interactive as an independent script that doesn't require installing as a dependency in your application. (#127 - Thanks @andyl!)
Allow process_tree versions v0.1.3 and v0.2.0 to provide more flexibility for upstream projects (#128)

v4.1.1 - 2024-09-28

Fixed

Properly handle mix test.interactive <files_or_patterns...> case. The new command-line parsing added in v4.0 was not properly capturing the filenames/patterns and passing them on to mix test. (#123 - Thanks @jfpedroza for finding and reporting the bug!)

v4.1.0 - 2024-09-21

Added

This version adds a number of new commands for controlling additional mix test options interactively:
- d <seed>/d: Set or clear the seed to use when running tests (mix test --seed <seed>). (#112)
- i <tags...>/i: Set or clear tags to include (mix test --include <tag1> --include <tag2>...). (#113)
- o <tags...>/o: Set or clear "only" tags (mix test --only <tag1> --only <tag2>...). (#113)
- x <tags...>/x: Set or clear tags to exclude (mix test --exclude <tag1> --exclude <tag2>...). (#113)
- m <max>/m: Set or clear the maximum number of failures to allow (mix test --max-failures <max>). (#116)
- r <count>//r: Set or clear the maximum number of repeated runs until a test failure (mix test --repeat-until-failure <count>). NOTE: mix test only supports this option in v1.17.0 and later. (#118)
- t: Toggle test tracing on/off (mix test --trace). (#117)
There is now a MixTestInteractive.TestRunner behaviour for use in custom test runners. Up until now, custom test runners needed to implement a single run/2 function. This release adds a behaviour that custom test runners can implement to ensure that they've correctly conformed to the interface. Custom test runners don't have to explicitly implement the behaviour, but must implicitly do so as before. (#115)

v4.0.0 - 2024-09-13

💥 BREAKING CHANGE 💥

This version introduces the option of "config-less" operation. All configuration settings can now be supplied on the command-line instead. To avoid confusion and clashes with mix test's command-line options, it is now necessary to separate mix test.interactive's options from mix test's options with -- separator.

For example, to use the new --clear option as well as mix test's --stale option, it is necessary to use:

mix test.interactive --clear -- --stale

This affects two of the command-line options that were available in previous versions:

mix test.interactive's --no-watch flag. Previously, you could run (for example) mix test.interactive --no-watch --stale. This will no longer work. You must now use mix test.interactive --no-watch -- --stale instead.
mix test's --exclude option. mix test.interactive now has its own --exclude option. Previously, you could run (for example) mix test.interactive --exclude some_test_tag and that argument would be forwarded on to mix test. Now you must use mix test.interactive -- --exclude some_test_tag instead.

If you don't use either of these two options, everything should work as before.

To upgrade to this version, you'll need to update any mix aliases or other scripts you may have defined for mix test.interactive. In addition, you and everyone who works in your codebase will need to update any shell aliases they have defined.

Added

This version introduces the option of "config-less" operation. All configuration settings can now be supplied on the command-line instead. See the README or run mix help test.interactive for more information. Also, see the 💥 BREAKING CHANGE 💥 section above. (#108)

Changed

The Running tests... message that mix test.interactive displays before each test run is displayed in color. This makes it easier to find the most recent test run when scrolling back in your shell. (#109)

v3.2.1 - 2024-09-07

Fixed

Fixed handling of custom command/args on Unix-like systems. mix_test_interactive was not correctly ordering the various arguments. (#105 - Thanks @callmiy!)

v3.2.0 - 2024-08-24

Changed

Made pattern matching more flexible. Previously, when given multiple patterns, we would not do any file filtering if any of the patterns was a file:line-style pattern. Instead, we'd pass all of the patterns to mix test literally. Now, we run normal file filtering for any non-file:line-style patterns and concatenate the results with any file:line-style patterns. (#99)
Added documentation for missing configuration options in the mix task's module documentation. (#100)

v3.1.0 - 2024-08-24

Added

Add a new command configuration option that allows use of a custom command instead of mix for running tests. See the README for more details. (#96)

Changed

Added documentation for missing configuration options in the README. (#96)

v3.0.0 - 2024-07-13

💥 BREAKING CHANGE 💥

This release drops support for Elixir 1.12. We officially support the same versions as Elixir itself, so support for Elixir 1.12. (#94)

There are no actual breaking changes in the code itself, so as long as you're on Elixir 1.13 or later, you should have no problems upgrading to this version.

Changed

Update to the latest version of ex_doc. The documentation reflects these changes. (#93)

v2.1.0 - 2024-07-13

Fixed

Fix compiler warnings on Elixir 1.17. (#89 - Thanks @jfpedroza!)

v2.0.4 - 2024-03-04

Fixed

Ignore some filesystem events emitted by inotify. Some events are triggered later than others and end up causing the tests to run twice for a single file change. (#86 - Thanks @jwilger!)

v2.0.3 - 2024-01-27

Changed

Update file_system dependency to allow versions 0.2 and 1.0 to avoid dependency conflicts with popular libraries like phoenix_live_reload. Previously, we'd specified v0.3, but there is no such version of file_system. (#83)

v2.0.2 - 2024-01-25

Changed

Allow file_system versions 0.3 and 1.0 to avoid dependency conflicts with popular libraries like phoenix_live_reload. (#81)

v2.0.1 - 2024-01-25

Fixed

Make the styler dependency a dev-only dependency to avoid pulling it into client projects with a potential version conflict. (#79)

v2.0.0 - 2024-01-22

💥 BREAKING CHANGES 💥

This release drops support for older Elixir versions. We officially support the same versions as Elixir itself, so support for Elixir 1.11 and prior has been dropped. (#67, #75)
Upgrade file_system dependency to version 1.0. This appears to be a simple bump to 1.0 with no breaking changes, so should be safe to upgrade to. It might break dependency resolution if you're locked to a pre-1.0 version, so it's noted here. (#72 - Thanks @andyl!)

There are no actual breaking changes, so as long as you're on Elixir 1.12 or later and aren't depending on a pre-1.0 version of file_system, you should have no problems upgrading to this version.

Added

Add full task documentation. mix help test.interactive will now show a summary of usage and configuration information (#70)
Add support for newer mix test options (#71)

v1.2.2 - 2022-11-15

No functional changes; purely administrative.

Changed

Migrated repository ownership from @influxdata to @randycoulman (#60)

v1.2.1 - 2022-06-01

Fixed

Include .heex in list of watched file extensions (#57 - Thanks @juddey!)

v1.2.0 - 2022-04-07

Changed

Now tested against Elixir 1.12 and 1.13. (#55)
Misc. dependency upgrades. (#55)

Documentation

Include proper source ref in the generated documentation so that it now points at the correct version of the source code. (#51 - Thanks @kianmeng!)
Include license and changelog in generated documentation. (#51 - Thanks @kianmeng!)

v1.1.0 - 2021-10-08

Fixed

The p (pattern) command now works properly in umbrella projects. Previously, it was unable to find any test files in order to filter the pattern and would therefore not run any tests. Now, in an umbrella project, mix test.interactive looks for test files in apps/*/test by default, but still respects the :test_paths config option used by mix test. (#48)

Documentation

Fixed the spelling of Louis Pilfold's name in the README. Sorry, Louis! 🤦‍♂️ (#49)

v1.0.1 - 2021-03-09

Fixed

Eliminates a GenServer call timeout that can occur if a command is typed while a long-running test run is in progress. (#44).

v1.0.0 - 2021-02-18

🎉 Happy Birthday!

The following sections describe changes from mix-test.watch, which served as the basis of this project.

Added

Interactive mode allows dynamically filtering test files based on a substring pattern or switching to run only failed or stale tests without having to restart.
File-watching mode can be turned on and off, either by passing --no-watch on the command line, or by using the w command to dynamically toggle watch mode on and off. When file-watching mode is on, tests will be run in response to file changes as with mix-test.watch. When off, tests must be run explicitly using the Enter key or by using another command that changes the set of tests to be run.

Removed

It is no longer possible to customize the CLI executable. We always use mix. Previously, this allowed the use of iex -S mix instead, but that doesn't work well with interactive mode.
It is no longer possible to specify multiple tasks to run on file changes. This ability added complexity and the feature didn't work very well because it assumed that all tasks would take the exact same set of command-line arguments. It is still possible to specify a different task name than test, but mix test.interactive assumes that the custom task accepts the same command-line arguments as mix test.

Fixed

On Windows, mix test.interactive runs the correct mix task, including a custom task provided in the configuration, rather than always running mix test. It also passes along other provided command-line arguments as well as those injected by mix test.interactive.

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