---
title: Command Line Interface | Guide
outline: deep
---

# Command Line Interface

## Commands

### `vitest`

Start Vitest in the current directory. Will enter the watch mode in development environment and run mode in CI (or non-interactive terminal) automatically.

You can pass an additional argument as the filter of the test files to run. For example:

```bash
vitest foobar
```

Will run only the test file that contains `foobar` in their paths. This filter only checks inclusion and doesn't support regexp or glob patterns (unless your terminal processes it before Vitest receives the filter).

Since Vitest 3, you can also specify the test by filename and line number:

```bash
$ vitest basic/foo.test.ts:10
```

::: warning
Note that Vitest requires the full filename for this feature to work. It can be relative to the current working directory or an absolute file path.

```bash
$ vitest basic/foo.js:10 # ✅
$ vitest ./basic/foo.js:10 # ✅
$ vitest /users/project/basic/foo.js:10 # ✅
$ vitest foo:10 # ❌
$ vitest ./basic/foo:10 # ❌
```

At the moment Vitest also doesn't support ranges:

```bash
$ vitest basic/foo.test.ts:10, basic/foo.test.ts:25 # ✅
$ vitest basic/foo.test.ts:10-25 # ❌
```
:::

### `vitest run`

Perform a single run without watch mode.

### `vitest watch`

Run all test suites but watch for changes and rerun tests when they change. Same as calling `vitest` without an argument. Will fallback to `vitest run` in CI or when stdin is not a TTY (non-interactive environment).

### `vitest dev`

Alias to `vitest watch`.

### `vitest related`

Run only tests that cover a list of source files. Works with static imports (e.g., `import('./index.js')` or `import index from './index.js`), but not the dynamic ones (e.g., `import(filepath)`). All files should be relative to root folder.

Useful to run with [`lint-staged`](https://github.com/okonet/lint-staged) or with your CI setup.

```bash
vitest related /src/index.ts /src/hello-world.js
```

::: tip
Don't forget that Vitest runs with enabled watch mode by default. If you are using tools like `lint-staged`, you  should also pass `--run` option, so that command can exit normally.

```js [.lintstagedrc.js]
export default {
  '*.{js,ts}': 'vitest related --run',
}
```
:::

### `vitest bench`

Run only [benchmark](/guide/features.html#benchmarking) tests, which compare performance results.

### `vitest init`

`vitest init <name>` can be used to setup project configuration. At the moment, it only supports [`browser`](/guide/browser/) value:

```bash
vitest init browser
```

### `vitest list`

`vitest list` command inherits all `vitest` options to print the list of all matching tests. This command ignores `reporters` option. By default, it will print the names of all tests that matched the file filter and name pattern:

```shell
vitest list filename.spec.ts -t="some-test"
```

```txt
describe > some-test
describe > some-test > test 1
describe > some-test > test 2
```

You can pass down `--json` flag to print tests in JSON format or save it in a separate file:

```bash
vitest list filename.spec.ts -t="some-test" --json=./file.json
```

If `--json` flag doesn't receive a value, it will output the JSON into stdout.

You also can pass down `--filesOnly` flag to print the test files only:

```bash
vitest list --filesOnly
```

```txt
tests/test1.test.ts
tests/test2.test.ts
```

Since Vitest 4.1, you may pass `--static-parse` to [parse test files](/api/advanced/vitest#parsespecifications) instead of running them to collect tests. Vitest parses test files with limited concurrency, defaulting to `os.availableParallelism()`. You can change it via the `--static-parse-concurrency` option.

## Shell Autocompletions

Vitest provides shell autocompletions for commands, options, and option values powered by [`@bomb.sh/tab`](https://github.com/bombshell-dev/tab).

### Setup

For permanent setup in zsh, add this to your `~/.zshrc`:

```bash
# Add to ~/.zshrc for permanent autocompletions (same can be done for other shells)
source <(vitest complete zsh)
```

### Package Manager Integration

`@bomb.sh/tab` integrates with [package managers](https://github.com/bombshell-dev/tab?tab=readme-ov-file#package-manager-completions). Autocompletions work when running vitest directly:

::: code-group

```bash [npm]
npm vitest <Tab>
```

```bash [npm]
npm exec vitest <Tab>
```

```bash [pnpm]
pnpm vitest <Tab>
```

```bash [yarn]
yarn vitest <Tab>
```

```bash [bun]
bun vitest <Tab>
```

:::

For package manager autocompletions, you should install [tab's package manager completions](https://github.com/bombshell-dev/tab?tab=readme-ov-file#package-manager-completions) separately.

## Options

::: tip
Vitest supports both camel case and kebab case for [CLI arguments](https://github.com/cacjs/cac#dot-nested-options). For example, `--passWithNoTests` and `--pass-with-no-tests` will both work (`--no-color` and `--inspect-brk` are the exceptions).

Vitest also supports different ways of specifying the value: `--reporter dot` and `--reporter=dot` are both valid.

If option supports an array of values, you need to pass the option multiple times:

```
vitest --reporter=dot --reporter=default
```

Boolean options can be negated with `no-` prefix. Specifying the value as `false` also works:

```
vitest --no-api
vitest --api=false
```
:::

<!--@include: ./cli-generated.md-->

### shard

- **Type:** `string`
- **Default:** disabled

Test suite shard to execute in a format of `<index>`/`<count>`, where

- `count` is a positive integer, count of divided parts
- `index` is a positive integer, index of divided part

This command will divide all tests into `count` equal parts, and will run only those that happen to be in an `index` part. For example, to split your tests suite into three parts, use this:

```sh
vitest run --shard=1/3
vitest run --shard=2/3
vitest run --shard=3/3
```

:::warning
You cannot use this option with `--watch` enabled (enabled in dev by default).
:::

::: tip
If `--reporter=blob` is used without an output file, the default path will include the current shard config and blob label from `VITEST_BLOB_LABEL` or the blob reporter `label` option to avoid collisions with other Vitest processes.
:::

### merge-reports

- **Type:** `boolean | string`

Merges every blob report located in the specified folder (`.vitest/blob/` by default). You can use any reporters with this command (except [`blob`](/guide/reporters#blob-reporter)):

```sh
vitest --merge-reports --reporter=junit
```
