Suites

Unit testing in dependency injection systems often involves repetitive setup and brittle mock wiring. Suites is a unit testing framework that creates isolated test environments with a single declarative call, helping developers focus on test logic rather than infrastructure, boilerplate and setup.

When to use it

Use Suites when you:

• Need fast, maintainable unit tests for InversifyJS classes
• Want compile-time type safety for all mocked dependencies
• Need to eliminate repetitive mock setup boilerplate
• Want to test classes with both isolation and selective collaboration
• Need AI-assisted testing with clear, structured patterns

info

If you need full integration tests with real dependencies and actual InversifyJS containers, traditional container configuration may be more appropriate.

Core features

• Auto-generates type-safe mocks - All dependencies become fully typed Mocked<T> instances with compile-time validation
• Solitary and sociable testing - Test classes in complete isolation or enable selective collaboration between business logic
• InversifyJS-aware - Recognizes @injectable, @inject, @multiInject, @tagged, and @named decorators automatically
• Virtual DI container - No actual InversifyJS container needed - analyzes classes and creates only required mocks
• Token auto-mocking - Token-injected dependencies are always mocked, ensuring tests remain unit tests
• Framework integration - Works with Jest, Vitest, and Sinon out of the box

Installation

For InversifyJS 7.x:

npm install -D @suites/unit @suites/di.inversify@^4.0.0 @suites/doubles.jest

info

Use @suites/doubles.vitest or @suites/doubles.sinon if you're using Vitest or Sinon instead of Jest.

Add type references to global.d.ts:

/// <reference types="@suites/doubles.jest/unit" />
/// <reference types="@suites/di.inversify" />

Quick Examples

Solitary Testing

Test a class in complete isolation with all dependencies automatically mocked:

order.service.ts

@injectable()
class OrderService {
  constructor(
    private readonly paymentGateway: PaymentGateway,
    private readonly inventoryService: InventoryService
  ) {}

  async processOrder(orderId: string) {
    const inventory = await this.inventoryService.checkStock(orderId);
    return this.paymentGateway.charge(inventory.total);
  }
}

order.service.spec.ts

import { TestBed, type Mocked } from '@suites/unit';
import { injectable } from 'inversify';

describe('Order Service Unit Spec', () => {
  let orderService: OrderService;
  let paymentGateway: Mocked<PaymentGateway>;
  let inventoryService: Mocked<InventoryService>;

  beforeAll(async () => {
    const { unit, unitRef } = await TestBed.solitary(OrderService).compile();

    orderService = unit;
    paymentGateway = unitRef.get(PaymentGateway);
    inventoryService = unitRef.get(InventoryService);
  });

  it('should process order with payment', async () => {
    inventoryService.checkStock.mockResolvedValue({ total: 100 });
    paymentGateway.charge.mockResolvedValue({ success: true });

    const result = await orderService.processOrder('123');

    expect(result.success).toBe(true);
    expect(paymentGateway.charge).toHaveBeenCalledWith(100);
  });
});

Sociable Testing with Collaboration

Test classes with their real collaborators while mocking external boundaries:

@injectable()
class PriceCalculator {
  calculateTotal(items: Item[]): number {
    return items.reduce((sum, item) => sum + item.price, 0);
  }
}

@injectable()
class OrderService {
  constructor(
    private calculator: PriceCalculator,
    private paymentGateway: PaymentGateway
  ) {}

  async processOrder(items: Item[]) {
    const total = this.calculator.calculateTotal(items);
    return this.paymentGateway.charge(total);
  }
}

import { TestBed, type Mocked } from '@suites/unit';

describe('Order Service Sociable Unit Spec', () => {
  let orderService: OrderService;
  let paymentGateway: Mocked<PaymentGateway>;

  beforeAll(async () => {
    const { unit, unitRef } = await TestBed.sociable(OrderService)
      .collaborate()                    // All business logic collaborates
      .exclude([PaymentGateway])        // Exclude external services
      .compile();

    orderService = unit;
    paymentGateway = unitRef.get(PaymentGateway);
  });

  it('should calculate and charge correct total', async () => {
    paymentGateway.charge.mockResolvedValue({ success: true });

    await orderService.processOrder([
      { price: 10 },
      { price: 20 }
    ]);

    // Real calculator logic executed, only gateway is mocked
    expect(paymentGateway.charge).toHaveBeenCalledWith(30);
  });
});

Token Dependencies

Token-injected dependencies are always auto-mocked (read more about Dependency Inversion):

@injectable()
class PaymentService {
  constructor(
    private validator: PaymentValidator,              // Class dependency
    @inject('DATABASE') private database: Database,   // Token dependency
  ) {}
}

describe('PaymentService', () => {
  let service: PaymentService;
  let validator: Mocked<PaymentValidator>;
  let database: Mocked<Database>;

  beforeAll(async () => {
    const { unit, unitRef } = await TestBed.solitary(PaymentService).compile();

    service = unit;
    validator = unitRef.get(PaymentValidator);      // By class
    database = unitRef.get<Database>('DATABASE');   // By token
  });
});

InversifyJS Metadata Support

Suites fully supports InversifyJS metadata patterns for tagged and named bindings:

@injectable()
class Ninja {
  constructor(
    @inject('Weapon') @tagged('canThrow', false) private katana: Weapon,
    @inject('Weapon') @tagged('canThrow', true) private shuriken: Weapon
  ) {}
}

describe('Ninja', () => {
  let ninja: Ninja;
  let katana: Mocked<Weapon>;
  let shuriken: Mocked<Weapon>;

  beforeAll(async () => {
    const { unit, unitRef } = await TestBed.solitary(Ninja).compile();

    ninja = unit;

    // Access mocks by tag metadata
    katana = unitRef.get<Weapon>('Weapon', { canThrow: false });
    shuriken = unitRef.get<Weapon>('Weapon', { canThrow: true });
  });

  it('should use correct weapons', () => {
    // Both mocks are fully typed and independent
    expect(katana).toBeDefined();
    expect(shuriken).toBeDefined();
  });
});

You can also configure mocks with metadata before compilation:

await TestBed.solitary(Ninja)
  .mock<Weapon>('Weapon', { canThrow: true })
  .impl(stub => ({
    attack: stub.mockReturnValue('shuriken attack!')
  }))
  .compile();

How it works

Suites uses a virtual DI container that analyzes Inversify's classes without initializing an actual container.

It:

1. Detects @injectable and @inject decorators automatically
2. Creates type-safe mocks for all dependencies
3. Wires them together without framework overhead
4. Ensures token dependencies are always mocked (keeps tests as unit tests, not integration tests)

This means you get the testing ergonomics of a DI framework without the initialization cost or complexity.

Documentation

Full documentation with guides, API references, and examples:

View Full Documentation📖