pytest-beacon 0.5.0

Highly customizable pytest reporting plugin combining AI-optimized CTRF reports and rich test metrics

Pytest Beacon

Pytest Beacon is a highly customizable pytest reporting plugin. Generates CTRF 1.0.0 reports with rich test metadata — marks, parameters, Allure IDs, environment — and exports them to a local file and/or a remote HTTP service.

Why you might need this

• You want machine-readable test results that CI/CD pipelines can consume
• Your test suite is large and you need token-efficient reports (passed tests excluded by default)
• You send test metrics to a remote service or dashboard for trend analysis
• You run tests in parallel with pytest-xdist and need a unified report
• You need collection errors (import errors, syntax errors) tracked alongside test results
• You want captured log output split by test phase (setup / call / teardown) directly in the report
• You want optional captured stdout/stderr in reports without mixing it into log records

---

✨ Features

• CTRF 1.0.0 compliance: JSON/YAML reports following the Common Test Results Format standard
• Token-efficient by default: Passed tests excluded from output; summary counters are always accurate
• Independent output filtering: Separate exclude rules for local file and HTTP export
• Rich metadata: Marks, parametrized params, Allure IDs, and environment name per test
• HTTP export: POST reports to a remote metrics service after each run
• xdist support: Full pytest-xdist compatibility for parallel execution
• Collection error tracking: Import errors and syntax errors appear in the report
• Direct log capture: Structured per-phase stdlib logging and Loguru records with level filtering and entry capping
• Optional console output capture: Captured stdout/stderr per phase, keeping the last N lines with truncation metadata
• Flexible configuration: CLI flags, environment variables, and .env file support

🚀 Installation

uv add pytest-beacon
# or
pip install pytest-beacon

⚡ Quick Start

1. Generate a local report Writes to beacon_reports/report-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.json by default:

pytest --beacon

2. Custom file and format

pytest --beacon --beacon-file=results.json --beacon-format=yaml

3. Send to a remote service

pytest --beacon --beacon-url=http://localhost:8000/api/v1/metrics

4. Include all statuses and captured output

pytest --beacon --beacon-file-exclude-status='' --beacon-verbose

5. Send all statuses to HTTP but keep local file lean

pytest --beacon --beacon-url=http://localhost:8000/api/v1/metrics --beacon-http-exclude-status=''

6. Parallel execution with xdist

pytest --beacon -n auto

7. Attach arbitrary metadata

pytest --beacon --beacon-meta build=123 --beacon-meta branch=main --beacon-meta triggered_by=ci

8. Capture logs per test phase

pytest --beacon --beacon-logs

9. Capture DEBUG-and-above logs, capped at 50 entries per phase

pytest --beacon --beacon-logs --beacon-logs-level=DEBUG --beacon-logs-max=50

10. Capture stdout/stderr per test phase, keeping the last 50 lines

pytest --beacon --beacon-console-output

11. Capture stdout/stderr, keeping the last 20 lines per stream per phase

pytest --beacon --beacon-console-output --beacon-console-lines=20

🛠 CLI Options

Option	Default	Description
--beacon	off	Enable reporting
--beacon-file PATH	beacon_reports/report-<ts>.json	Output file. Bare filename → placed in beacon_reports/ with timestamp.
--beacon-url URL	—	Full URL to POST the report to.
--beacon-format json|yaml	json	Report serialisation format
--beacon-verbose	off	Include captured stdout/stderr for passed tests
--beacon-file-exclude-status STATUSES	passed	Comma-separated statuses to omit from the local file report. Empty string includes all.
--beacon-http-exclude-status STATUSES	passed	Comma-separated statuses to omit from the HTTP export. Empty string includes all.
--beacon-meta KEY=VALUE	—	Arbitrary metadata pair added to the report environment. Repeatable.
--beacon-logs	off	Enable direct log capture. Stdlib logging and Loguru records are split into setup / call / teardown phases per test. Logs from the collection phase appear as generalLogs in extra.
--beacon-logs-level LEVEL	WARNING	Minimum log level to include. Valid values: DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL.
--beacon-logs-max N	unlimited	Maximum log entries per phase per test (and for general logs). The last entries are kept when the cap is reached.
--beacon-console-output	off	Include captured stdout/stderr in consoleOutput per test and test_console_output in HTTP metrics.
--beacon-console-lines N	50	Number of last stdout/stderr lines to keep per stream per phase. Includes truncation metadata when lines are omitted.

Environment Variables

All variables use the PYTEST_BEACON__ prefix. Can also be set in a .env file at the project root.

Variable	Default	Description
PYTEST_BEACON__REPORT_FORMAT	json	Default report format
PYTEST_BEACON__FILE_EXCLUDE_STATUSES	passed	Statuses to omit from local file report
PYTEST_BEACON__HTTP_EXCLUDE_STATUSES	passed	Statuses to omit from HTTP export
PYTEST_BEACON__HTTP_TIMEOUT	10.0	HTTP export timeout in seconds
PYTEST_BEACON__HTTP_MAX_RETRIES	3	HTTP export retry attempts
PYTEST_BEACON__LOGS_ENABLED	false	Enable log capture (equivalent to --beacon-logs)
PYTEST_BEACON__LOGS_LEVEL	WARNING	Minimum log level to capture
PYTEST_BEACON__LOGS_MAX_PER_CATEGORY	—	Max log entries per phase per test
PYTEST_BEACON__CONSOLE_OUTPUT_ENABLED	false	Enable console output capture (equivalent to --beacon-console-output)
PYTEST_BEACON__CONSOLE_OUTPUT_LINES	50	Number of last stdout/stderr lines to keep per stream per phase

Logs vs Console Output

--beacon-logs captures log records from the logging system itself. It does not depend on pytest's rendered log-line format, so changing console log formatting does not break log capture. Standard-library logging is captured directly, and Loguru is captured directly when Loguru is installed. Pytest captured-log sections are still used as a fallback.

--beacon-console-output captures raw stdout/stderr separately. Plain print() output is stored under consoleOutput, not under logs.

📊 Report Format

Summary counters always reflect all tests regardless of --beacon-file-exclude-status or --beacon-http-exclude-status.

Beacon also stores a pytest-style summary in results.extra.pytestSummary when pytest's terminal reporter is available. This mirrors pytest's own terminal categories as closely as possible, which makes it easy to compare beacon output with the pytest final line.

The local console output includes this as an extra line, for example:

Pytest:  79 failed, 759 passed, 123 skipped, 3 xfailed, 57 warnings, 12 errors, 4 rerun in 1211.04s

📄 Example CTRF JSON Report (click to expand)

{
  "results": {
    "tool": { "name": "pytest", "version": "9.0.0" },
    "summary": {
      "tests": 12,
      "passed": 9,
      "failed": 2,
      "pending": 0,
      "skipped": 1,
      "error": 0,
      "other": 0,
      "start": 1700000000000,
      "stop": 1700000005000
    },
    "tests": [
      {
        "name": "tests/test_api.py::test_login[admin]",
        "status": "failed",
        "duration": 142,
        "filePath": "tests/test_api.py",
        "line": 34,
        "message": "AssertionError: expected 200, got 401",
        "trace": "Traceback (most recent call last):\n  ...",
        "failureLocation": { "file": "tests/test_api.py", "line": 38 },
        "marks": ["smoke", "auth"],
        "params": { "role": "admin" },
        "allureId": "TC-42",
        "stdout": "setting up admin session\n",
        "stderr": "",
        "logs": {
          "setup": [
            {
              "level": "WARNING",
              "message": "slow fixture detected",
              "logger": "app.fixtures",
              "timestamp": "2026-05-08T10:00:00+00:00",
              "data": {
                "filename": "conftest.py",
                "lineno": 12,
                "extra": { "fixture": "admin_session" }
              }
            }
          ],
          "call": [
            { "level": "ERROR", "message": "unexpected response code 401", "logger": "app.api" }
          ]
        },
        "consoleOutput": {
          "call": {
            "stdout": {
              "lines": ["request id: abc-123", "response code: 401"],
              "truncated": false,
              "omittedLines": 0
            },
            "stderr": {
              "lines": ["retry exhausted"],
              "truncated": false,
              "omittedLines": 0
            }
          },
          "teardown": {
            "stdout": {
              "lines": ["cleanup complete"],
              "truncated": true,
              "omittedLines": 3
            }
          }
        }
      }
    ],
    "environment": {
      "pythonVersion": "3.12.0",
      "pytestVersion": "9.0.0",
      "xdistWorkers": 4,
      "build": "123",
      "branch": "main"
    },
    "extra": {
      "pluginName": "pytest-beacon",
      "pluginVersion": "0.5.0",
      "ctrf": "1.0.0",
      "generatedAt": 1700000005000,
      "pytestSummary": {
        "failed": 2,
        "passed": 9,
        "skipped": 1,
        "deselected": 0,
        "xfailed": 0,
        "xpassed": 0,
        "warnings": 3,
        "error": 0,
        "rerun": 0
      },
      "generalLogs": [
        { "level": "WARNING", "message": "deprecated import path used", "logger": "app.compat", "timestamp": "2026-05-08T10:00:00+00:00" }
      ]
    }
  }
}

📐 CTRF JSON Report Schema (click to expand)

{
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "title": "CTRF Report",
  "type": "object",
  "required": ["results"],
  "properties": {
    "results": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": ["tool", "summary", "tests", "environment", "extra"],
      "properties": {
        "tool": {
          "type": "object",
          "required": ["name", "version"],
          "properties": {
            "name":    { "type": "string", "example": "pytest" },
            "version": { "type": "string", "example": "9.0.0" }
          }
        },
        "summary": {
          "type": "object",
          "required": ["tests", "passed", "failed", "pending", "skipped", "error", "other", "start", "stop"],
          "properties": {
            "tests":   { "type": "integer", "description": "Total number of collected tests" },
            "passed":  { "type": "integer" },
            "failed":  { "type": "integer" },
            "pending": { "type": "integer" },
            "skipped": { "type": "integer" },
            "error":   { "type": "integer" },
            "other":   { "type": "integer" },
            "start":   { "type": "integer", "description": "Session start time (epoch ms)" },
            "stop":    { "type": "integer", "description": "Session stop time (epoch ms)" }
          }
        },
        "tests": {
          "type": "array",
          "description": "Test results; statuses in --beacon-file-exclude-status are omitted",
          "items": {
            "type": "object",
            "required": ["name", "status", "duration"],
            "properties": {
              "name":     { "type": "string", "description": "Full pytest node ID" },
              "status":   { "type": "string", "enum": ["passed", "failed", "skipped", "error", "other"] },
              "duration": { "type": "number", "description": "Test duration in milliseconds" },
              "filePath": { "type": "string", "description": "Source file path" },
              "line":     { "type": "integer", "description": "Line number of the test function" },
              "message":  { "type": "string", "description": "Short failure or skip reason" },
              "trace":    { "type": "string", "description": "Full traceback string" },
              "failureLocation": {
                "type": "object",
                "description": "Exact location of the assertion / exception that caused the failure",
                "required": ["file", "line"],
                "properties": {
                  "file": { "type": "string" },
                  "line": { "type": "integer" }
                }
              },
              "marks":    { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" }, "description": "pytest marks applied to the test" },
              "params":   { "type": "object", "description": "Parametrize parameters (key → value)" },
              "allureId": { "type": "string", "description": "Value of the @allure.id marker" },
              "stdout":   { "type": "string", "description": "Captured stdout; present only with --beacon-verbose" },
              "stderr":   { "type": "string", "description": "Captured stderr; present only with --beacon-verbose" },
              "logs": {
                "type": "object",
                "description": "Captured stdlib logging / Loguru records grouped by phase; present only with --beacon-logs. Only non-empty phases are included.",
                "properties": {
                  "setup":    { "$ref": "#/$defs/logEntryArray" },
                  "call":     { "$ref": "#/$defs/logEntryArray" },
                  "teardown": { "$ref": "#/$defs/logEntryArray" }
                }
              },
              "consoleOutput": {
                "type": "object",
                "description": "Captured stdout/stderr grouped by phase; present only with --beacon-console-output. Only phases/streams with retained or truncated output are included.",
                "properties": {
                  "setup":    { "$ref": "#/$defs/consolePhaseOutput" },
                  "call":     { "$ref": "#/$defs/consolePhaseOutput" },
                  "teardown": { "$ref": "#/$defs/consolePhaseOutput" }
                }
              }
            }
          }
        },
        "environment": {
          "type": "object",
          "required": ["pythonVersion", "pytestVersion"],
          "properties": {
            "pythonVersion": { "type": "string" },
            "pytestVersion": { "type": "string" },
            "xdistWorkers":  { "type": "integer", "description": "Number of xdist workers; present only when pytest-xdist is active" }
          },
          "additionalProperties": { "description": "Extra key/value pairs injected via --beacon-meta" }
        },
        "extra": {
          "type": "object",
          "required": ["pluginName", "pluginVersion", "ctrf", "generatedAt"],
          "properties": {
            "pluginName":    { "type": "string", "example": "pytest-beacon" },
            "pluginVersion": { "type": "string" },
            "ctrf":          { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" },
            "generatedAt":   { "type": "integer", "description": "Report generation time (epoch ms)" },
            "pytestSummary": {
              "type": "object",
              "description": "Mirrors pytest terminal summary counters; present only when the terminal reporter is available",
              "required": ["failed", "passed", "skipped", "deselected", "xfailed", "xpassed", "warnings", "error", "rerun"],
              "properties": {
                "failed":     { "type": "integer" },
                "passed":     { "type": "integer" },
                "skipped":    { "type": "integer" },
                "deselected": { "type": "integer" },
                "xfailed":    { "type": "integer" },
                "xpassed":    { "type": "integer" },
                "warnings":   { "type": "integer" },
                "error":      { "type": "integer" },
                "rerun":      { "type": "integer" }
              }
            },
            "generalLogs": {
              "$ref": "#/$defs/logEntryArray",
              "description": "Log entries captured during the collection phase; present only with --beacon-logs when collection-phase logs exist."
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "$defs": {
    "logEntry": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": ["level", "message"],
      "properties": {
        "level":     { "type": "string", "description": "Log level name, e.g. WARNING, ERROR" },
        "message":   { "type": "string", "description": "Formatted log message" },
        "logger":    { "type": "string", "description": "Logger name (dotted module path)" },
        "timestamp": { "type": "string", "description": "ISO-8601 timestamp if available" },
        "data":      { "type": "object", "description": "Structured logging metadata captured from the underlying log record" }
      }
    },
    "logEntryArray": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": { "$ref": "#/$defs/logEntry" }
    },
    "consoleStream": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": ["lines", "truncated", "omittedLines"],
      "properties": {
        "lines":        { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Retained output lines" },
        "truncated":    { "type": "boolean", "description": "True when earlier lines were omitted" },
        "omittedLines": { "type": "integer", "description": "Number of omitted earlier lines" }
      }
    },
    "consolePhaseOutput": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "stdout": { "$ref": "#/$defs/consoleStream" },
        "stderr": { "$ref": "#/$defs/consoleStream" }
      }
    }
  }
}

📤 Remote HTTP Export

When --beacon-url is set, a POST request with a JSON body is sent to the specified URL after the run. Export errors are logged and never interrupt test execution.

📄 Example HTTP Request Body (click to expand)

{
  "metrics": [
    {
      "test_nodeid": "tests/test_api.py::test_login[admin]",
      "test_name": "test_login[admin]",
      "test_result": "failed",
      "test_duration": 0.142,
      "test_marks": ["smoke", "auth"],
      "test_params": { "role": "admin" },
      "test_stacktrace": "Traceback (most recent call last):\n  ...",
      "test_message": "AssertionError: expected 200, got 401",
      "test_allure_id": "TC-42",
      "test_logs": {
        "setup": [
          {
            "level": "WARNING",
            "message": "slow fixture detected",
            "logger": "app.fixtures",
            "timestamp": "2026-05-08T10:00:00+00:00",
            "data": { "filename": "conftest.py", "lineno": 12 }
          }
        ],
        "call": [
          { "level": "ERROR", "message": "unexpected response code 401", "logger": "app.api" }
        ]
      },
      "test_console_output": {
        "call": {
          "stdout": {
            "lines": ["request id: abc-123", "response code: 401"],
            "truncated": false,
            "omittedLines": 0
          },
          "stderr": {
            "lines": ["retry exhausted"],
            "truncated": false,
            "omittedLines": 0
          }
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "environment": {
    "pythonVersion": "3.12.0",
    "pytestVersion": "9.0.0",
    "xdistWorkers": 4,
    "build": "123",
    "branch": "main"
  }
}

📐 HTTP Request Body Schema (click to expand)

{
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "title": "HTTP Export Payload",
  "type": "object",
  "required": ["metrics", "environment"],
  "properties": {
    "metrics": {
      "type": "array",
      "description": "One entry per test result; statuses in --beacon-http-exclude-status are omitted",
      "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "required": ["test_nodeid", "test_name", "test_result", "test_duration", "test_marks", "test_params"],
        "properties": {
          "test_nodeid":    { "type": "string",           "description": "Full pytest node ID" },
          "test_name":     { "type": "string",           "description": "Short test name (part after the last ::)" },
          "test_result":   { "type": "string",           "enum": ["passed", "failed", "skipped", "error", "other"] },
          "test_duration": { "type": "number",           "description": "Test duration in seconds" },
          "test_marks":    { "type": "array",            "items": { "type": "string" }, "description": "pytest marks applied to the test" },
          "test_params":   { "type": "object",           "description": "Parametrize parameters (key → value)" },
          "test_stacktrace": { "type": ["string", "null"], "description": "Full traceback string" },
          "test_message":  { "type": ["string", "null"], "description": "Short failure or skip reason" },
          "test_allure_id": { "type": ["string", "null"], "description": "Value of the @allure.id marker" },
          "test_logs": {
            "type": "object",
            "description": "Captured stdlib logging / Loguru records grouped by phase; present only with --beacon-logs. Only non-empty phases are included.",
            "properties": {
              "setup":    { "$ref": "#/$defs/logEntryArray" },
              "call":     { "$ref": "#/$defs/logEntryArray" },
              "teardown": { "$ref": "#/$defs/logEntryArray" }
            }
          },
          "test_console_output": {
            "type": "object",
            "description": "Captured stdout/stderr grouped by phase; present only with --beacon-console-output. Only phases/streams with retained or truncated output are included.",
            "properties": {
              "setup":    { "$ref": "#/$defs/consolePhaseOutput" },
              "call":     { "$ref": "#/$defs/consolePhaseOutput" },
              "teardown": { "$ref": "#/$defs/consolePhaseOutput" }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "environment": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": ["pythonVersion", "pytestVersion"],
      "properties": {
        "pythonVersion": { "type": "string" },
        "pytestVersion": { "type": "string" },
        "xdistWorkers":  { "type": "integer", "description": "Number of xdist workers; present only when pytest-xdist is active" }
      },
      "additionalProperties": { "description": "Extra key/value pairs injected via --beacon-meta" }
    }
  },
  "$defs": {
    "logEntry": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": ["level", "message"],
      "properties": {
        "level":     { "type": "string", "description": "Log level name, e.g. WARNING, ERROR" },
        "message":   { "type": "string", "description": "Formatted log message" },
        "logger":    { "type": "string", "description": "Logger name (dotted module path)" },
        "timestamp": { "type": "string", "description": "ISO-8601 timestamp if available" },
        "data":      { "type": "object", "description": "Structured logging metadata captured from the underlying log record" }
      }
    },
    "logEntryArray": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": { "$ref": "#/$defs/logEntry" }
    },
    "consoleStream": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": ["lines", "truncated", "omittedLines"],
      "properties": {
        "lines":        { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Retained output lines" },
        "truncated":    { "type": "boolean", "description": "True when earlier lines were omitted" },
        "omittedLines": { "type": "integer", "description": "Number of omitted earlier lines" }
      }
    },
    "consolePhaseOutput": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "stdout": { "$ref": "#/$defs/consoleStream" },
        "stderr": { "$ref": "#/$defs/consoleStream" }
      }
    }
  }
}

Local Development

Install dependencies:

uv sync

Run tests:

uv run pytest tests/

Run a quick smoke test against your own test suite:

uv run pytest your_tests/ --beacon --beacon-file-exclude-status=

⚖️ License

MIT