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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 all 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".
Press Enter 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".
Press Enter 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 extension such as karma init karma.conf.coffee, 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 or karma.conf.coffee 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 my.conf.js --log-level debug --single-run

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

Integrating with Grunt/Gulp #