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pestphp/pest

★ 11,470PHPAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

TLDR

A PHP testing framework with a cleaner, simpler syntax built on top of PHPUnit, making it less tedious to write tests while staying fully compatible with existing PHP test infrastructure.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Pest PHP))
    What it does
      Cleaner test syntax
      Built on PHPUnit
      Browser testing
    Key Features
      Expressive API
      Dataset testing
      Architecture checks
    Tech Stack
      PHP
      PHPUnit
      Composer
    Audience
      PHP developers
      Laravel teams
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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Write PHP unit tests with less boilerplate using Pest's expressive syntax instead of PHPUnit classes.

USE CASE 2

Add browser-based testing to a PHP app that interacts with a real running web page, using Pest v4's browser testing feature.

USE CASE 3

Drop Pest into an existing Laravel or PHP project without rewriting any existing PHPUnit tests.

USE CASE 4

Run a full PHP test suite through Pest while keeping all existing PHPUnit configuration and test files.

Tech stack

PHPPHPUnitComposer

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 30min

Requires an existing PHP project with Composer. Works alongside PHPUnit with no rewriting of existing tests.

Free to use for any purpose, including commercial projects, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

In plain English

Pest is a testing framework for PHP applications. Its main pitch is that writing tests should feel straightforward and enjoyable rather than tedious, which it tries to accomplish by offering a simpler, more expressive syntax than the older PHPUnit-style approach that PHP developers have traditionally used. The project is built on top of PHPUnit under the hood, so it works with existing PHP projects without requiring a full rewrite of any test infrastructure. You write your tests using Pest's cleaner syntax, and it handles the rest. The README does not go into deep technical detail about how to write tests, directing readers instead to the full documentation at pestphp.com. Version 4 of Pest introduced browser testing support, which allows tests to interact with a running web page rather than just testing code in isolation. This is noted in the README as the headline feature of the latest release. The project is maintained by Nuno Maduro, who also produces videos and live coding streams where Pest is regularly featured. The README lists several corporate sponsors who fund the project's ongoing development, including a number of web development and SaaS companies. Pest is released under the MIT license, meaning it is free to use in both personal and commercial projects. The README itself is fairly brief and focuses on pointing to external resources rather than explaining how to use the framework in detail. For actual usage instructions, installation steps, or examples, the pestphp.com documentation site is the intended starting point.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I have a Laravel app with PHPUnit tests. How do I add Pest so I can write new tests in Pest syntax while keeping the existing PHPUnit tests running?
Prompt 2
Show me how to write a basic feature test in Pest for a Laravel controller that returns a list of users as JSON.
Prompt 3
How do I set up browser testing in Pest v4 to test a login form on a real running web page?
Prompt 4
Write a Pest test for a PHP function that calculates a discount. Include a dataset to test multiple input and output combinations in one test.
Prompt 5
How do I use Pest's architecture testing to enforce that all service classes in my Laravel app are final?
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