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Ratatui

Testing with insta snapshots

Snapshot tests allow you to skip the tedious process of writing exact tests by capturing reference values once. and then using them in all future tests runs. It’s easy to use insta and cargo-insta to write snapshot tests for Ratatui apps and widgets.

1. Add Dependencies

First, make sure to install cargo-insta and the include insta crate in your Cargo.toml:

Terminal window
cargo install cargo-insta
cargo add insta --dev

2. Structuring Your Application

Let’s assume you have a simple application that implements the App struct, which is responsible for your TUI’s core logic and rendering. To test this with insta snapshots, you’ll use a TestBackend from Ratatui to capture the output in a test environment.

Here’s the structure of your app and test:

#[derive(Default)]
pub struct App { /* Your app struct */ }


impl Widget for App { /* Implement the Widget trait */ }


// Now in tests module:
#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
    use super::App;
    use insta::assert_snapshot;
    use ratatui::{backend::TestBackend, Terminal};


    #[test]
    fn test_render_app() {
        let app = App::default();
        let mut terminal = Terminal::new(TestBackend::new(80, 20)).unwrap();
        terminal
            .draw(|frame| frame.render_widget(&app, frame.area()))
            .unwrap();
        assert_snapshot!(terminal.backend());
    }
}

3. Running the Test

When you run the test (cargo test), the output of the Terminal::draw() method will be compared against a snapshot. If this is the first time running the test or the output has changed, insta will create a snapshot file under the snapshots/ directory.

For example, after running the test, a new snapshot file might be created at:

snapshots/demo2__tests__render_app.snap

This file will store the visual representation of your terminal as a string:

---
source: examples/demo2/main.rs
expression: terminal.backend()
---
"Ratatui                               Recipe  Email  Traceroute  Weather        "
"▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄▄███▄▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄███████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄█████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀████████████▄▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀                              ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀███████████▀▀▀▀▄▄██████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀  ──────── Ratatui ─────────  ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀███▀▄█▀▀████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀  - cooking up terminal user  ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄▄▄▄▀▄████████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀  interfaces -                ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀████████████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀                              ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀███▀██████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀  Ratatui is a Rust crate     ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄▀▀▄▀▀▀█████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀  that provides widgets       ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄▀ ▄  ▀▄▀█████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀  (e.g. Paragraph, Table)     ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄▀  ▀▀    ▀▄▀███████▄▄▄▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀  and draws them to the       ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄▀      ▄▄    ▀▄▀█████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀                              ▀▀▀▀▀▄▀         ▀▀     ▀▄▀██▀▀▀███▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█                    ▀▄▀▀▀▄██▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄                    ▀▄▀█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀"
"     H/←  Left  L/→  Right  K/↑  Up  J/↓  Down  D/Del  Destroy  Q/Esc  Quit     "

In the snapshot, each line represents a row of the terminal, capturing the rendered state of your TUI. The next time you run your tests, the output will be compared to this file to detect any unintentional changes.

4. Handling Snapshot Changes

When changes to the UI are intentional, you can update the snapshot by running:

Terminal window
cargo insta review

This command allows you to review the differences and accept the new snapshot if desired.