Last updated July 12, 2026, Version 0.34
PHP Unit tests
GatherPress allows to run automated & manual php unit tests, while sharing the same, wp-env based, setup.
Automated tests
Check the results of the phpunit-tests action workflow at https://github.com/GatherPress/gatherpress/actions/workflows/phpunit-tests.yml.
Manual tests
The unittest-setup can also be used to manually run the test suite. In general, only a wp-env instance is needed.
Install dependencies
To run the unit tests you will have to install the requirements using the following commands:
composer install
[!NOTE]
You also need to use Node.js 20 or later
Install the dependencies to create the Playground testing instance, using the following command:
npm ci --legacy-peer-deps
Start the Environment
A call to npm run test:unit:php will automatically setup a wp-env powered WordPress instance, already prepared to mount GatherPress from the current directory.
So while there is no technical need to start wp-env manually on its own, you might want to do so for any reason. If the environment is already running, the unit tests will run against that existing instance. You might want to start it with this command:
npm run wp-env -- start
The testing website is reachable at http://127.0.0.1:8889, the user is admin and the password is password.
Run the unit tests
To run the full suite with all unit tests, use the command:
npm run test:unit:php
To run only specific tests, you can call npm run test:unit:php:
- with the
--filterargument,
to execute all tests intest/unit/php/includes/core/classes/class-test-event-query.phpfor example:npm run test:unit:php -- --filter 'Test_Event_Query' - with the
--groupargument, to execute all tests which share the same@groupdeclaration, for example all tests related to/icaland/feed/icalendpoints of events & venues:npm run test:unit:php -- --group endpoints - or with any other of phpunit’s command-line options.
Resources
PMC Unit Test Framework
GatherPress uses the PMC Unit Test Framework because it:
[…] provide[s] common utilities and data mocking for unit tests in a WordPress environment.
This plugin was originally written for internal use at Penske Media […] Our hope is that other teams find this plugin as useful as we do when writing unit tests in WordPress.
https://github.com/penske-media-corp/pmc-unit-test