2022-12-22
2600
#node
Godwin Ekuma
9184
Dec 22, 2022 ⋅ 9 min read

Node.js unit testing using Mocha, Chai, and Sinon

Godwin Ekuma I learn so that I can solve problems.

Recent posts:

The different ways to use CSS :has(), with examples

The CSS :has() pseudo-class is a powerful new feature that lets you style parents, siblings, and more – writing cleaner, more dynamic CSS with less JavaScript.

Daniel Schwarz
Oct 24, 2025 ⋅ 7 min read

Kombai AI: The AI agent built for frontend development

Kombai AI converts Figma designs into clean, responsive frontend code. It helps developers build production-ready UIs faster while keeping design accuracy and code quality intact.

Jude Miracle
Oct 23, 2025 ⋅ 7 min read

The Replay (10/22/25): AI-assisted coding, Wasm 3.0, and more

Discover what’s new in The Replay, LogRocket’s newsletter for dev and engineering leaders, in the October 22nd issue.

Matt MacCormack
Oct 22, 2025 ⋅ 29 sec read
Where AI-assisted coding accelerates development — and where it doesn’t

Where AI-assisted coding accelerates development — and where it doesn’t

John Reilly discusses how software development has been changed by the innovations of AI: both the positives and the negatives.

John Reilly
Oct 22, 2025 ⋅ 12 min read
View all posts

10 Replies to "Node.js unit testing using Mocha, Chai, and Sinon"

  1. Should the user repository take UserModel as an argument in the constructor? I’m wondering how the test suite for UserRepository knows anything about the stubbed model if the stubbed model is not passed in to the constructor.

  2. The Model exists in the global scope of the user repository, this allows the repository class have access to it. So in the test if the UserModel is referenced the stub will passed instead of the actual model.

  3. Hi thanks for sharing!. I have a question if i wanna return response with 500 status code if repository can not save user to database i.e database connection is broken or like that.

  4. I getting this error, please help me to solve this!!!

    …\node_modules\yargs\yargs.js:1172
    else throw err
    ^

    Error: Cannot find module ‘../database’
    Require stack:
    – E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\src\js\mocks\user.repository.test.js
    – E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\mocha\lib\mocha.js
    – E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\mocha\lib\cli\one-and-dones.js
    – E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\mocha\lib\cli\options.js
    – E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\mocha\bin\mocha
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:610:15)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:526:27)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:666:19)
    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:16:16)
    at Object. (E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\src\js\mocks\user.repository.test.js:5:23)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:759:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:770:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:628:32)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:555:12)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:666:19)
    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:16:16)
    at E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\mocha\lib\mocha.js:334:36
    at Array.forEach ()
    at Mocha.loadFiles (E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\mocha\lib\mocha.js:331:14)
    at Mocha.run (E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\mocha\lib\mocha.js:809:10)
    at Object.exports.singleRun (E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\mocha\lib\cli\run-helpers.js:108:16)
    at exports.runMocha (E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\mocha\lib\cli\run-helpers.js:142:13)
    at Object.exports.handler (E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\mocha\lib\cli\run.js:292:3)
    at Object.runCommand (E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\yargs\lib\command.js:242:26)
    at Object.parseArgs [as _parseArgs] (E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\yargs\yargs.js:1096:28)
    at Object.parse (E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\yargs\yargs.js:575:25)
    at Object.exports.main (E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\mocha\lib\cli\cli.js:68:6)
    at Object. (E:\Intenships\vivasvant systems llp\Web development\node_modules\mocha\bin\mocha:162:29)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:759:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:770:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:628:32)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:555:12)
    at Function.Module.runMain (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:826:10)
    at internal/main/run_main_module.js:17:11
    npm ERR! Test failed. See above for more details.

  5. Hi there,
    thanks a lot for the excellent post.

    Just an update: faker is no longer available and has become a community project: npm install @faker-js/faker

  6. any mocking methods that don’t use chai ? Chai doesn’t support ES modules. Unit testing is a royal pain in the butt for node.js when needed a mocked database (WAY too complicated for something that should be simple). Just use a real database and be done with it (a staging database)

Leave a Reply

Would you be interested in joining LogRocket's developer community?

Join LogRocket’s Content Advisory Board. You’ll help inform the type of content we create and get access to exclusive meetups, social accreditation, and swag.

Sign up now