pytest-glaze 0.1.0

A thin, transparent coat that makes your test output shine.

🏺 pytest-glaze

A thin, transparent coat that makes your test output shine.

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pytest-glaze is a drop-in pytest output formatter that replaces the default terminal reporter with a compact, color-semantic display. Failures surface inline — no scrolling to a deferred block — and every color carries a consistent meaning across every line type.

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Why pytest-glaze?

The default pytest reporter is designed for completeness. pytest-glaze is designed for reading speed. When you are deep in a debugging session the question is always the same: what failed, and what exactly was wrong?

	Default reporter	pytest-rich / pytest-pretty	pytest-glaze
Failures inline	✗ deferred block	Partial	✓
Consistent color semantics	✗	Partial	✓
Zero extra dependencies	✓	✗ Rich required	✓
Compact — one line per result	✗	✗	✓
Per-file summaries	✗	✗	✓

Color convention

Every color carries one meaning, applied consistently across every line type:

Badge	Color	Meaning	Where you see it
🟢	Bright green	Received ✓ / expected value	PASS badge, ---, assert right side, - diff, Expected: label
🔴	Bright red	Received ✗ / wrong value / expected failure	FAIL · XFAIL badge, ---, assert left side, + diff, Obtained: label
🟡	Yellow	Skipped / unexpected pass	SKIP · XPASS badge, ---, skip reason
🔴	Standard red	Collection / setup errors	ERROR badge, ---, collection error messages
🍑	Soft peach	Context / prose	Exception messages, diff context, E prefix, operator keywords
🔅	Dim	Metadata	Duration, collection count, Total: line

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Installation

pip install pytest-glaze

pytest-glaze registers itself automatically — no configuration required. Install and run.

Requirements

• Python ≥ 3.10
• pytest ≥ 7.0

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Usage

Automatic

Once installed, pytest-glaze activates for every pytest invocation:

pytest tests/

Makefile (strongly recommended)

A Makefile gives you precise control: glaze on by default, raw output available when you need to debug the formatter itself. This is the recommended setup for any project with a regular test workflow.

PYTHON := python
PYTEST := uv run pytest          # or: python -m pytest
TESTS  := tests/

# Core formatter flags
# -p no:terminal    silence the default reporter
# -p pytest_glaze   load our plugin (PYTHONPATH=. makes it importable)
FMT := -p no:terminal -p pytest_glaze

# Optional pass-through filters
SUITE ?=
CASE  ?=
K     ?=
ARGS  ?=

_PATH  := $(if $(SUITE),$(SUITE),$(TESTS))
_KFLAG := $(if $(K),-k "$(K)",$(if $(CASE),-k "$(CASE)",))

.PHONY: test test-fast test-unit test-raw

## test        Run suite with glaze output.
##             SUITE=, CASE=, K= for filtering. ARGS= for raw pytest flags.
##             Examples:
##               make test
##               make test SUITE=tests/test_entities.py
##               make test CASE=test_return_statuses_dict
##               make test K="sprint and not slow"
test:
	@PYTHONPATH=. $(PYTEST) $(FMT) $(_PATH) $(_KFLAG) $(ARGS)

## test-fast   Stop on first failure (-x). Accepts same filters as `test`.
test-fast:
	@PYTHONPATH=. $(PYTEST) $(FMT) -x $(_PATH) $(_KFLAG) $(ARGS)

## test-unit   Unit tests only — clean pass/fail signal, no intentional failures.
test-unit:
	@PYTHONPATH=. $(PYTEST) $(FMT) tests/test_parsers.py tests/test_colorizer.py tests/test_plugin.py $(_KFLAG) $(ARGS)

## test-raw    Raw default pytest output. Useful for debugging the formatter.
test-raw:
	@$(PYTEST) $(_PATH) $(_KFLAG) $(ARGS)

## help        List all targets.
help:
	@grep -E '^##' Makefile | sed 's/^## /  /'

Disable for a single run

pytest -p no:pytest_glaze tests/

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What it formats

Passing tests

--- PASS  test_user_login                                  0.8ms
--- PASS  test_token_refresh                               1.2ms

Failing assertions — inline, never deferred

--- FAIL  test_fail_int_equality                           0.4ms
  E  assert 3 == 30

--- FAIL  test_fail_string                                 0.6ms
  E  AssertionError: assert 'INTGPT-109' == 'INTGPT-1091'
  E  - INTGPT-1091
  E  + INTGPT-109

--- FAIL  test_fail_none_check                             0.3ms
  E  assert None is not None

--- FAIL  test_fail_bool                                   0.3ms
  E  AssertionError: this flag should be True
  E  assert False

Dict and list diffs

--- FAIL  test_fail_dict                                   0.6ms
  E  AssertionError: assert {'a': 1, 'b': 2, 'c': 3} == {'a': 1, 'b': 999, 'd': 4}
  E  Differing items:
  E  {'b': 2} != {'b': 999}
  E  Left contains 1 more item:
  E  {'c': 3}

--- FAIL  test_fail_list                                   0.5ms
  E  AssertionError: assert ['Global Launch'] == ['Global Launches']
  E  At index 0 diff: 'Global Launch' != 'Global Launches'

Approximate equality (pytest.approx)

--- FAIL  test_fail_approx_abs                             0.2ms
  E  assert 3.141592653589793 == 3.14 ± 0.001
  E  comparison failed
  E  Obtained: 3.141592653589793
  E  Expected: 3.14 ± 0.001

--- FAIL  test_fail_approx_list                            0.2ms
  E  assert [0.3000000000...003] == approx([0.4 ± 1.0e-09])
  E  comparison failed. Mismatched elements: 2 / 2:
  E  Index | Obtained            | Expected
  E  0     | 0.30000000000000004 | 0.4 ± 1.0e-09
  E  1     | 3.3000000000000003  | 3.4 ± 1.0e-09

Skips, xfail, and xpass

--- SKIP   test_skip_platform_conditional                  0.2ms
  E  Skipped: Windows-only feature

--- XFAIL  test_xfail_expected_failure                     0.3ms
  E  xfailed: known bug — assert will fail as expected

--- XPASS  test_xpass_unexpected_pass                      0.2ms
  E  xpassed: this test unexpectedly passes

XFAIL renders in bright red — an expected failure is still a red signal worth tracking. XPASS renders in yellow — an unexpected pass is a surprise worth investigating, but not an error.

Fixture errors

--- PASS   test_error_in_fixture_teardown                  0.2ms
--- ERROR  test_error_in_fixture_teardown                  0.3ms
  E  RuntimeError: Teardown exploded intentionally

Setup and teardown errors are classified separately from test failures. A passing test body followed by a teardown ERROR both appear — neither is silently swallowed.

Captured output (shown only on failures)

--- FAIL  test_fail_with_stdout_and_stderr                 0.4ms
  E  AssertionError: intentional failure with stdout and stderr
  E  assert False
  ── Captured stdout call ──
  stdout payload for this failure
  ── Captured stderr call ──
  stderr payload for this failure

Captured output sections are suppressed on passing tests and rendered inline on failures — no separate output block to hunt for.

Per-file summaries

tests/test_entities.py
  --- PASS  test_user_create                               0.3ms
  --- FAIL  test_user_update                               0.8ms
    E  assert 'inactive' == 'active'
  --- PASS  test_user_delete                               0.2ms
  => 2 passed, 1 failed

tests/test_auth.py
  --- PASS  test_login                                     0.4ms
  --- PASS  test_logout                                    0.3ms
  => 2 passed

Total: 4 passed, 1 failed  in 0.42s

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Noise suppression

pytest-glaze automatically suppresses lines that add no value in compact output — before any line is rendered:

• Omitting N identical items, use -vv to show
• Use -v to get more diff
• Full diff:

The meaningful diff lines remain. The noise does not.

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Compatibility

pytest-glaze is a pure formatter with no opinion on how you write your tests. It works alongside:

• pytest-cov — coverage reporting is unaffected
• pytest-xdist — parallel runs are supported
• pytest-mock, pytest-asyncio, and any plugin that doesn't replace the terminal reporter

Note: Any plugin that also replaces the terminal reporter (e.g. pytest-rich) will conflict. Use one formatter at a time.

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Contributing

pytest-glaze is a personal project. If you find a failure shape the formatter doesn't handle well, open an issue with the raw pytest output and I'll take a look. Pull requests are welcome.

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License

MIT © mikejmz24

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pytest-glaze — because your test output deserves a coat of glaze. 🏺