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Before Spec API

The before:spec event fires before a spec file is run. When running cypress via cypress open, the event will fire when the browser launches.

Syntax​

caution

⚠️ This code is part of the setupNodeEvents function and thus executes in the Node environment. You cannot call Cypress or cy commands in this function, but you do have the direct access to the file system and the rest of the operating system.

caution

⚠️ When running via cypress open, the before:spec event only fires if the experimentalInteractiveRunEvents flag is enabled.

:::cypress-plugin-example

on('before:spec', (spec) => {
  /* ... */
})

:::

spec (Object)

Details of the spec file, including the following properties:

PropertyDescription
nameThe base name of the spec file (e.g. login.cy.js)
relativeThe path to the spec file, relative to the project root (e.g. cypress/e2e/login.cy.js)
absoluteThe absolute path to the spec file (e.g. /Users/janelane/my-app/cypress/e2e/login.cy.js)

Usage​

You can return a promise from the before:spec event handler and it will be awaited before Cypress proceeds running the spec.

Log the relative spec path to stdout before the spec is run​

module.exports = (on, config) => {
  on('before:spec', (spec) => {
    // spec will look something like this:
    // {
    //   name: 'login.cy.js',
    //   relative: 'cypress/e2e/login.cy.js',
    //   absolute: '/Users/janelane/app/cypress/e2e/login.cy.js',
    // }

    console.log('Running', spec.relative)
  })
}

See also​