---
title: Testing
description: Vitest setup, integration tests against a real Twenty server, type checking, and CI with GitHub Actions.
icon: "flask"
---

The SDK provides programmatic APIs that let you build, deploy, install, and uninstall your app from test code. Combined with [Vitest](https://vitest.dev/) and the typed API clients, you can write integration tests that verify your app works end-to-end against a real Twenty server.

## Using npm packages

You can install and use any npm package in your app. Both logic functions and front components are bundled with [esbuild](https://esbuild.github.io/), which inlines all dependencies into the output — no `node_modules` are needed at runtime.

### Installing a package

```bash filename="Terminal"
yarn add axios
```

Then import it in your code:

```ts src/logic-functions/fetch-data.ts
import { defineLogicFunction } from 'twenty-sdk/define';
import axios from 'axios';

const handler = async (): Promise<any> => {
  const { data } = await axios.get('https://api.example.com/data');

  return { data };
};

export default defineLogicFunction({
  universalIdentifier: '...',
  name: 'fetch-data',
  description: 'Fetches data from an external API',
  timeoutSeconds: 10,
  handler,
});
```

The same works for front components:

```tsx src/front-components/chart.tsx
import { defineFrontComponent } from 'twenty-sdk/define';
import { format } from 'date-fns';

const DateWidget = () => {
  return <p>Today is {format(new Date(), 'MMMM do, yyyy')}</p>;
};

export default defineFrontComponent({
  universalIdentifier: '...',
  name: 'date-widget',
  component: DateWidget,
});
```

### How bundling works

The build step uses esbuild to produce a single self-contained file per logic function and per front component. All imported packages are inlined into the bundle.

**Logic functions** run in a Node.js environment. Node built-in modules (`fs`, `path`, `crypto`, `http`, etc.) are available and do not need to be installed.

**Front components** run in a Web Worker. Node built-in modules are **not** available — only browser APIs and npm packages that work in a browser environment.

Both environments have `twenty-client-sdk/core` and `twenty-client-sdk/metadata` available as pre-provided modules — these are not bundled but resolved at runtime by the server.

## Setup

The scaffolded app already includes Vitest. If you set it up manually, install the dependencies:

```bash filename="Terminal"
yarn add -D vitest vite-tsconfig-paths
```

Create a `vitest.config.ts` at the root of your app:

```ts vitest.config.ts
import tsconfigPaths from 'vite-tsconfig-paths';
import { defineConfig } from 'vitest/config';

const TWENTY_API_URL = process.env.TWENTY_API_URL ?? 'http://localhost:2020';
const TWENTY_API_KEY = process.env.TWENTY_API_KEY ?? '<the pre-seeded local dev key>';

// Make env vars available to globalSetup (test.env only applies to workers)
process.env.TWENTY_API_URL = TWENTY_API_URL;
process.env.TWENTY_API_KEY = TWENTY_API_KEY;

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    tsconfigPaths({
      projects: ['tsconfig.spec.json'],
      ignoreConfigErrors: true,
    }),
  ],
  test: {
    testTimeout: 120_000,
    hookTimeout: 120_000,
    fileParallelism: false,
    include: ['src/**/*.integration-test.ts'],
    globalSetup: ['src/__tests__/global-setup.ts'],
    env: {
      TWENTY_API_URL,
      TWENTY_API_KEY,
    },
  },
});
```

Create a global setup file that verifies the server is reachable, writes a test config for the SDK (`~/.twenty/config.test.json`), and syncs the app before tests run:

```ts src/__tests__/global-setup.ts
import * as fs from 'fs';
import * as os from 'os';
import * as path from 'path';

import { appDevOnce, appUninstall } from 'twenty-sdk/cli';

const APP_PATH = process.cwd();
const CONFIG_DIR = path.join(os.homedir(), '.twenty');

export async function setup() {
  const apiUrl = process.env.TWENTY_API_URL!;
  const apiKey = process.env.TWENTY_API_KEY!;

  // Verify the server is running
  const response = await fetch(`${apiUrl}/healthz`);
  if (!response.ok) {
    throw new Error(`Twenty server is not reachable at ${apiUrl}.`);
  }

  // Write the SDK's test config (the CLI reads config.test.json when NODE_ENV=test)
  fs.mkdirSync(CONFIG_DIR, { recursive: true });
  fs.writeFileSync(
    path.join(CONFIG_DIR, 'config.test.json'),
    JSON.stringify({
      remotes: { local: { apiUrl, apiKey } },
      defaultRemote: 'local',
    }, null, 2),
  );

  // Start from a clean slate, then sync the app
  await appUninstall({ appPath: APP_PATH }).catch(() => {});

  const result = await appDevOnce({ appPath: APP_PATH });
  if (!result.success) {
    throw new Error(`Dev sync failed: ${result.error?.message}`);
  }
}

export async function teardown() {
  await appUninstall({ appPath: APP_PATH });
}
```

## Programmatic SDK APIs

The `twenty-sdk/cli` subpath exports functions you can call directly from test code:

| Function | Description |
|----------|-------------|
| `appBuild` | Build the app and optionally pack a tarball |
| `appDeploy` | Upload a tarball to the server |
| `appDevOnce` | Build and sync the app once (same as `yarn twenty apply`) |
| `appInstall` | Install the app on the active workspace |
| `appUninstall` | Uninstall the app from the active workspace |

Each function returns a result object with `success: boolean` and either `data` or `error`.

## Writing an integration test

Here is a full example that builds, deploys, and installs the app, then verifies it appears in the workspace:

```ts src/__tests__/app-install.integration-test.ts
import { APPLICATION_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIER } from 'src/application-config';
import { appBuild, appDeploy, appInstall, appUninstall } from 'twenty-sdk/cli';
import { MetadataApiClient } from 'twenty-client-sdk/metadata';
import { afterAll, beforeAll, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';

const APP_PATH = process.cwd();

describe('App installation', () => {
  beforeAll(async () => {
    const buildResult = await appBuild({
      appPath: APP_PATH,
      tarball: true,
      onProgress: (message: string) => console.log(`[build] ${message}`),
    });

    if (!buildResult.success) {
      throw new Error(`Build failed: ${buildResult.error?.message}`);
    }

    const deployResult = await appDeploy({
      tarballPath: buildResult.data.tarballPath!,
      onProgress: (message: string) => console.log(`[deploy] ${message}`),
    });

    if (!deployResult.success) {
      throw new Error(`Deploy failed: ${deployResult.error?.message}`);
    }

    const installResult = await appInstall({ appPath: APP_PATH });

    if (!installResult.success) {
      throw new Error(`Install failed: ${installResult.error?.message}`);
    }
  });

  afterAll(async () => {
    await appUninstall({ appPath: APP_PATH });
  });

  it('should find the installed app in the workspace', async () => {
    const metadataClient = new MetadataApiClient();

    const result = await metadataClient.query({
      findManyApplications: {
        id: true,
        name: true,
        universalIdentifier: true,
      },
    });

    const installedApp = result.findManyApplications.find(
      (app: { universalIdentifier: string }) =>
        app.universalIdentifier === APPLICATION_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIER,
    );

    expect(installedApp).toBeDefined();
  });
});
```

## Running tests

Make sure your local Twenty server is running, then:

```bash filename="Terminal"
yarn test
```

Or in watch mode during development:

```bash filename="Terminal"
yarn test:watch
```

## Type checking

You can also run type checking on your app without running tests:

```bash filename="Terminal"
yarn twenty dev:typecheck
```

This runs `tsc --noEmit` against your app's `tsconfig.json` and reports any type errors. Scaffolded apps also ship a `yarn typecheck` script that covers test files too (`tsconfig.spec.json`).

## CI with GitHub Actions

The scaffolder generates a ready-to-use workflow at `.github/workflows/ci.yml`. On every push to `main` and every pull request, it spawns an ephemeral Twenty server in the runner (via the `twentyhq/twenty/.github/actions/spawn-twenty-app-dev-test` action), then runs `yarn lint`, `yarn typecheck`, `yarn test:unit`, and `yarn test` with `TWENTY_API_URL` / `TWENTY_API_KEY` pointing at that server. No secrets are required, and you can pin the server version via the `TWENTY_VERSION` env at the top of the workflow.

See [Publishing → Automated CI/CD](/developers/extend/apps/operations/publishing#automated-cicd-scaffolded-workflows) for a full walkthrough of both scaffolded workflows (`ci.yml` and the `cd.yml` deploy pipeline).