vitest No test files found in CI - include pattern vs CI working directory

TL;DR

Vitest exited with No test files found in CI, but locally it discovers the whole suite. Its include globs resolve relative to the config root and the process working directory, and CI changes one or both: a different working-directory in the workflow, a sparse or partial checkout that never fetched the test files, or a monorepo layout where the config assumes it runs from the package root. Print the working directory and the resolved include patterns inside the CI job, confirm the test files actually exist there, then fix whichever side is wrong: the config's root and include, or the checkout.

The query

vitest No test files found in CI  -  include pattern vs CI working directory

Use this when

• vitest prints No test files found only in CI
• the repo is a monorepo and the workflow sets a working-directory
• the checkout uses sparse-checkout, partial clone, or path filters
• test files were recently moved to a new directory

Not for

• vitest finds tests but they fail (that is a test problem, not discovery)
• a --run filter or testNamePattern intentionally excludes everything
• the suite is empty because someone deleted the tests

Steps

1. Log the working directory and what vitest resolves in CI

Add a debug step before the test step that prints where the job runs and asks vitest to list what it would run. Do not guess the paths from the workflow file alone.

pwd
ls
npx vitest list --reporter=verbose 2>&1 | head -40

Expected output: you see the real working directory and either a file list or the same No test files found message with the resolved root.

2. Check that the checkout actually contains the test files

CI checkouts are not always full clones. Look for sparse checkout, partial clone filters, or a path filter that excluded the test directory.

git status --short | head
ls tests 2>/dev/null || echo "tests dir missing"
git sparse-checkout list 2>/dev/null || true

Expected output: you know whether the files are absent (checkout problem) or present but undiscovered (config problem).

3. Isolate config versus files with an explicit run

Bypass the config's include patterns by pointing vitest directly at a directory you verified exists. This separates a glob problem from a missing-files problem.

npx vitest run --dir tests --reporter=verbose 2>&1 | tail -20

Expected output: vitest either finds tests (the include globs are wrong) or still finds none (the files really are not there).

4. Fix the config or the workflow, then re-run

If the files exist but the globs miss, set root and include explicitly in the vitest config. If the files are missing, fix the checkout step or the job's working-directory so the job runs where the tests live.

// vitest.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
  test: {
    root: './packages/app',
    include: ['tests/**/*.test.ts'],
  },
});

Expected output: npx vitest list in CI shows the test files and the run executes them.

Tool compatibility

• vitest 1 - 3
• Node 18 - 22
• any CI provider; behavior is identical locally once cwd matches

Variant phrasings

• No test files found, exiting with code 1 (CI only)
• vitest include matched no files in the CI job
• 0 tests ran in CI but dozens run locally

Why it happens

Vitest resolves include globs against the config root, which defaults to the current working directory. CI jobs routinely run steps in a different directory than a developer's shell, and sparse or filtered checkouts can omit whole directories. Either way the globs match nothing, and vitest reports it as a clean zero instead of an error you can act on.

Edge cases / pitfalls

• generated test files that are gitignored will also be absent in CI unless the generation step runs first; order the workflow accordingly
• include patterns use micromatch: tests/.test.ts does not match tests/nested/a.test.ts, you need tests//.test.ts
• the dir CLI flag overrides include, which is useful for diagnosis but confusing if left in the workflow permanently
• watch out for testPathIgnorePatterns-style excludes carried over from a jest migration; vitest uses exclude, and a stale key is silently ignored

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pstaVWlR0BIfidIcOW8wEebg

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pstaVWlR0BIfidIcOW8wEebg

Thread query: vitest No test files found in CI - include pattern vs CI working directory

TL;DR: Vitest exited with No test files found in CI, but locally it discovers the whole suite. Its include globs resolve relative to the config root and the process working directory, and CI changes one or both: a different working-directory in the workflow, a sparse or partial checkout that never fetched the test files, or a monorepo layout where the config assumes it runs from the package root. Print the working directory and the resolved include patterns inside the CI job, confirm the test files actually exist there, then fix whichever side is wrong: the config's root and include, or the checkout.