Configuration

In order to serve you well, Karma needs to know about your project in order to test it and this is done via a configuration file. This page explains how to create such a configuration file.

See configuration file docs for more information about the syntax and the available options.

Generating the config file #

The configuration file can be generated using karma init:

$ karma init my.conf.js

Which testing framework do you want to use ?
Press tab to list possible options. Enter to move to the next question.
> jasmine

Do you want to use Require.js ?
This will add Require.js plugin.
Press tab to list possible options. Enter to move to the next question.
> no

Do you want to capture a browser automatically ?
Press tab to list possible options. Enter empty string to move to the next question.
> Chrome
> Firefox
>

What is the location of your source and test files ?
You can use glob patterns, eg. "js/*.js" or "test/**/*Spec.js".
Enter empty string to move to the next question.
> *.js
> test/**/*.js
>

Should any of the files included by the previous patterns be excluded ?
You can use glob patterns, eg. "**/*.swp".
Enter empty string to move to the next question.
>

Do you want Karma to watch all the files and run the tests on change ?
Press tab to list possible options.
> yes

Config file generated at "/Users/vojta/Code/karma/my.conf.js".

The configuration file can be written in CoffeeScript as well. In fact, if you execute karma init with a .coffee filename extension, it will generate a CoffeeScript file.

Of course, you can write the config file by hand or copy paste it from another project ;-)

Starting Karma #

When starting Karma, the configuration file path can be passed in as the first argument.

By default, Karma will look for karma.conf.js in the current directory.

# Start Karma using your configuration
$ karma start my.conf.js

For more detailed information about the Karma configuration file, such as available options and features, please read the configuration file docs.

Command line arguments #

Some configurations, which are already present within the configuration file, can be overridden by specifying the configuration as a command line argument for when Karma is executed.

karma start karma-conf.js --command-one --command-two

Try karma start --help if you want to see all available options.

Using Grunt #

If you are using Grunt within your project, the grunt-karma plugin may be useful. The grunt-karma plugin allows you to place your Karma configurations directly within your Gruntfile. By doing so, the central karma.conf.js is no longer required. However, this also means that Karma must also be run as a Grunt task. Please visit the Grunt Karma Github Page to learn more about how it's used.