Testing Overview

Django-CFG provides zero-configuration test database management. No setup needed — everything works automatically.

What You Get

Feature	What it does
Auto cleanup	Removes stale test databases before each run — no `EOFError` in CI
Extension auto-install	Installs `pgvector`, `pg_trgm`, `unaccent` by scanning your migrations
Smart migration handling	Detects and fixes inconsistent migration history automatically
Dual runners	`SmartTestRunner` for PostgreSQL, `FastTestRunner` for SQLite in-memory
Automatic TEST settings	Generates `DATABASES[...]['TEST']` config for every database

Quick Start


python manage.py test

That’s it. Django-CFG automatically:

Detects you’re running tests
Removes the old test database (no confirmation prompt)
Creates a fresh test database
Installs required PostgreSQL extensions
Applies all migrations in correct order
Runs your tests
Cleans up afterward

Configuration

No changes needed to your config.py:


# config.py — nothing extra required
class MyConfig(DjangoConfig):
    project_name = "myapp"
    databases = {
        "default": DatabaseConfig.from_url("postgresql://user:pass@localhost/myapp")
    }

Behind the scenes Django-CFG generates the following automatically:


DATABASES = {
    "default": {
        "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.postgresql",
        "NAME": "myapp",
        # ... connection settings ...
        "TEST": {
            "NAME": "test_myapp",
            "TEMPLATE": "template0",
            "CHARSET": "UTF8",
            "CREATE_DB": True,
            "MIGRATE": True,
        }
    }
}
 
TEST_RUNNER = "django_cfg.testing.runners.SmartTestRunner"

Fast Tests with SQLite

Switch all databases to SQLite in-memory for unit tests — no PostgreSQL needed:


python manage.py test --testrunner=django_cfg.testing.runners.FastTestRunner

FastTestRunner is ~10× faster but cannot use PostgreSQL-specific features like pgvector or raw SQL with uuid fields. Use it for pure business logic tests.

Problems Solved

EOFError in CI

Before:


Got an error creating the test database: database "test_myapp" already exists
Type 'yes' if you would like to try deleting the test database, or 'no' to cancel:
EOFError  ← no stdin in CI

After:


Removed old test database: test_myapp
Creating test database for alias 'default'...

Missing PostgreSQL Extensions

Before:


django.db.utils.ProgrammingError: type "vector" does not exist

After:


Installed PostgreSQL extensions for test database 'default'

Inconsistent Migration History

Before:


InconsistentMigrationHistory: ai_chat.0001_initial applied before
workspaces.0002_alter_workspacemember_options

After:


Removed old test database: test_myapp   ← fresh start, correct order
Running migrations... OK

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions


- name: Run Tests
  run: python manage.py test
  # No extra configuration needed — SmartTestRunner handles everything

GitLab CI


test:
  script:
    - python manage.py test

Docker


RUN python manage.py test

Troubleshooting

Extensions not installing? Check that pgvector is available on the system:


# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install postgresql-15-pgvector
 
# macOS
brew install pgvector

Need more output?


python manage.py test --verbosity=2

Testing Overview

What You Get

Quick Start

Configuration

Fast Tests with SQLite

Problems Solved

EOFError in CI

Missing PostgreSQL Extensions

Inconsistent Migration History

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions

GitLab CI

Docker

Troubleshooting

See Also

Documentation

Frontend

Resources

Company