Mockery
View SourceSimple mocking library for asynchronous testing in Elixir.
Readme and documentation for last stable version are available on hex
Advantages
- Mockery does not override your modules
- Mockery does not replace modules by aliasing
- Mockery does not require to pass modules as function parameter
- Mockery does not require to create callbacks or wrappers around libraries
- Mockery does not create modules during runtime (neither by
defmodule/2
norModule.create/3
) - Mockery does not allow to mock non-existent function
- Mockery does not share any data between test processes
Disadvantages
- Mockery is not designed for libraries as it would force end user to download Mockery as dependency of dependency
- Mockery can interfere with Dialyzer when run with Mockery enabled (warnings can be suppressed via
:suppress_dialyzer_warnings
— see the docs)
Getting started
Installation
def deps do
[
{:mockery, "~> 2.4", runtime: false}
]
end
Enabling mocking in test environment
Add the following line to your config/test.exs
file:
config :mockery, enable: true
After adding this setting, make sure to recompile your project.
Formatter Configuration
To help the Elixir formatter recognize Mockery-specific macros (such as defmock
, assert_called!
, and refute_called!
) without requiring parentheses, you should import the locals without parens configuration from Mockery in your .formatter.exs
file:
[
inputs: ["{mix,.formatter}.exs", "{config,lib,test}/**/*.{ex,exs}"],
import_deps: [:mockery]
]
Preparation of the module for mocking
# lib/my_app/foo.ex
defmodule MyApp.Foo do
use Mockery.Macro
alias MyApp.Bar
def baz, do: mockable(Bar).function()
end
Basic usage
Static value mock
defmodule MyApp.Controller do
# ...
use Mockery.Macro
def all do
mockable(MyApp.UserService).users()
end
def filtered do
mockable(MyApp.UserService).users("filter")
end
end
# tests
defmodule MyApp.ControllerTest do
# ...
import Mockery
test "mock any function :users from MyApp.UserService" do
mock MyApp.UserService, :users, "mock"
assert all() == "mock"
assert filtered() == "mock"
end
test "mock MyApp.UserService.users/0" do
mock MyApp.UserService, [users: 0], "mock"
assert all() == "mock"
refute filtered() == "mock"
end
test "mock MyApp.UserService.users/0 with default value" do
mock MyApp.UserService, users: 0
assert all() == :mocked
refute filtered() == :mocked
end
test "chaining multiple mocks for same module" do
UserService
|> mock([users: 0], "mock value")
|> mock([users: 1], "mock value")
# ...
end
end
Dynamic mock
Instead of using a static value, you can use a function with the same arity as original one.
defmodule Foo do
def bar(value), do: value
end
# prepare tested module
defmodule Other do
use Mockery.Macro
def parse(value) do
mockable(Foo).bar(value)
end
end
# tests
defmodule OtherTest do
# ...
import Mockery
test "with dynamic mock" do
mock Foo, [bar: 1], fn(value)-> String.upcase(value) end
assert parse("test") == "TEST"
end
end
Using defmock
For cleaner code, you can use the defmock/2
or defmock/3
macro to define a private macro
that expands to mockable/1
or mockable/2
. This way, you can call the macro instead of using
mockable
directly.
Example:
defmodule Foo do
use Mockery.Macro
defmock :bar, Bar, by: BarGlobalMock
def call_bar do
bar().function_call()
end
end
This is equivalent to:
defmodule Foo do
use Mockery.Macro
def call_bar do
mockable(Bar, by: BarGlobalMock).function_call()
end
end
Checking if function was called
# prepare tested module
defmodule Tested do
use Mockery.Macro
def call(value, opts) do
mockable(Foo).bar(value)
end
end
# tests
defmodule TestedTest do
# ...
import Mockery.Assertions
# use Mockery # when you need to import both Mockery and Mockery.Assertions
test "assert any function bar from module Foo was called" do
Tested.call(1, %{})
assert_called! Foo, :bar
end
test "assert Foo.bar/2 was called" do
Tested.call(1, %{})
assert_called! Foo, :bar, arity: 2
end
test "assert Foo.bar/2 was called with given args" do
Tested.call(1, %{})
assert_called! Foo, :bar, args: [1, %{}]
end
test "assert Foo.bar/1 was called with given arg (using variable)" do
params = %{a: 1, b: 2}
Tested.call(params)
assert_called! Foo, :bar, args: [^params]
# we need to use pinning here since assert_called!/3 is a macro
# and not a regular function call and it gets expanded accordingly
end
test "assert Foo.bar/2 was called with 1 as first arg" do
Tested.call(1, %{})
assert_called! Foo, :bar, args: [1, _]
end
test "assert Foo.bar/2 was called with 1 as first arg 5 times" do
# ...
assert_called! Foo, :bar, args: [1, _], times: 5
end
test "assert Foo.bar/2 was called with 1 as first arg from 3 to 5 times" do
# ...
assert_called! Foo, :bar, args: [1, _], times: {:in, 3..5}
end
test "assert Foo.bar/2 was called with 1 as first arg 3 or 5 times" do
# ...
assert_called! Foo, :bar, args: [1, _], times: {:in, [3, 5]}
end
end
Refute
Mockery.Assertions.assert_called!/3
macro has its Mockery.Assertions.refute_called!/3
counterpart.
For more information see docs
History

Mockery.History module provides more descriptive failure messages for Mockery.Assertions.assert_called!/3
and Mockery.Assertions.refute_called!/3
that includes a colorized list of arguments passed to a given function.
Disabled by default. For more information see docs
Global mock
Useful when you need to use the same mock many times across different tests
defmodule Foo do
def bar, do: 1
def baz, do: 2
end
defmodule FooGlobalMock do
def bar, do: :mocked
end
# prepare tested module
defmodule Other do
use Mockery.Macro
def bar, do: mockable(Foo, by: FooGlobalMock).bar()
def baz, do: mockable(Foo, by: FooGlobalMock).baz()
end
# tests
defmodule OtherTest do
# ...
test "with global mock" do
assert Other.bar == :mocked
assert Other.baz == 2
end
end
Restrictions
Global mock module doesn't have to contain every function exported by the original module, but it cannot contain a function which is not exported by the original module.
It means that:
- when you remove a function from the original module, you have to remove it from global mock module or Mockery will raise exception
- when you change a function name in the original module, you have to change it in global mock module or Mockery will raise exception
- when you change a function arity in the original module, you have to change it in global mock module or Mockery will raise exception
Advanced examples
For advanced usage examples see EXAMPLES.md
External resources
License
Copyright 2017-2025 Tobiasz Małecki tobiasz.malecki@appunite.com
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.