Migrating from Jest

Unrift’s API is designed to be familiar to Jest and Vitest users. Most tests can be migrated with minimal changes.

What stays the same

These work identically in Unrift:

• describe(), it(), test()
• expect() with .toBe(), .toEqual(), .toThrow(), etc.
• .not chaining
• beforeAll, afterAll, beforeEach, afterEach
• .only, .skip
• Async test functions

Import changes

The main difference is explicit imports. Unrift doesn’t inject globals:

// Jest: globals are available automatically
describe("math", () => {
import { describe, it, expect } from "unrift";

describe("math", () => {
  it("adds", () => {
    expect(1 + 1).toBe(2);
  });
});

Config changes

jest.config.ts

export default {
  testMatch: ["**/*.spec.ts"],
  transform: { "^.+\\.tsx?$": "ts-jest" },
};

// unrift.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "unrift";

export default defineConfig({
  testDir: "test",
  includes: ["\\.spec\\.ts$"],
});

CLI changes

Jest	Unrift	Notes
jest	unrift	Run all tests
jest --bail	unrift --bail	Same flag
jest --json	unrift --json	Similar output
jest math	unrift math	Pattern filter
jest --config path	unrift --config path	Same concept
jest --testTimeout 5000	unrift --timeout 5000	Different flag name

Matcher differences

Most matchers are identical. Key differences:

Jest	Unrift	Status
toBe	toBe	Same (Object.is)
toEqual	toEqual	Same (deep, prototype-insensitive)
toStrictEqual	toStrictEqual	Same (deep, prototype-sensitive)
toMatchObject	toMatchObject	Same (partial recursive match)
toHaveProperty	toHaveProperty	Same (dot-notation and array paths supported)
toMatchSnapshot	—	Not yet supported
toMatchInlineSnapshot	—	Not yet supported
toHaveBeenCalled	—	No built-in mocking

Not yet supported

These Jest features are planned but not yet available:

• Snapshot testing — toMatchSnapshot, toMatchInlineSnapshot
• Mocking — jest.fn(), jest.mock(), jest.spyOn()
• Coverage — --coverage flag
• Watch mode — --watch flag
• Parallel execution — tests run sequentially
• Custom reporters — only built-in pretty and JSON output
• Browser/DOM environment — Node.js only

For mocking, you can use standalone libraries like tinyspy alongside Unrift.