Django unit test without creating test database every time I run

Question

Seems like "manage.py test" creates test database every time I run the test. Is there a way to prevent creating test database each time I run test but just truncate data (flush)?

My tables are almost about 40 tables (even for single app, not the whole project), and makes me sick every time I run test.

Answer 1

From Django 1.8 on you could use the --keepdb flag, when calling the manage.py

New in Django 1.8: You can prevent the test databases from being destroyed by adding the --keepdb flag to the test command. This will preserve the test database between runs. If the database does not exist, it will first be created. Any migrations will also be applied in order to keep it up to date. (https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/topics/testing/overview/#the-test-database)

So your call could look as follows:

python manage.py test --keepdb 

Or using the shorthand -k it could look like that:

python manage.py test -k 

Answer 2

Depending on your needs you have a few choices:

• You could write a custom test runner or adjust the default one: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.6/topics/testing/advanced/#other-testing-frameworks

• You could use SimpleTestCase

• There are also add-ons like django-test-utils (although I'm not sure if that specific one works with modern Django versions).

• Alternatively, to speed everything up, you could use SQLite's in-memory database OR create your test database in RAM disk (like tmpfs or ramfs) - in fact this is orthogonal to using other techniques.