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Get Started

Unitary is an evidence-based testing framework for practical PHP development. Each test is a set of validations that describe and confirm how your code behaves in real conditions

Install Unitary​

Local installation (recommended)

Add Unitary as a development dependency:

composer require --dev maplephp/unitary

Run it using the local binary:

php vendor/bin/unitary
Global installation

To use Unitary in any project:

composer global require maplephp/unitary

Ensure Composer’s global bin path is in your system PATH

Now you can run:​

unitary

Local gives consistency, global gives convenience. For most projects a local installation is best as it keeps Unitary tied to your code and version control.

1. Create your first test​

Unitary automatically finds any PHP file starting with unitary- in your project (excluding vendor directory). This behavior can be changed by adding a config file.

Note that all your project files are already autoloaded through Composer, so you can use any of your classes directly in tests, no manual includes or setup required.

Create a file named:​

tests/unitary-user.php

Example test​

use MaplePHP\Unitary\{Expect,TestCase};

group("Your grouped test subject", function (TestCase $case) {

    $json = '{"response":{"status":200,"message":"ok"}}';

    $case->expect($json)
         ->isJson()
         ->hasJsonValueAt("response.status", 200)
         ->validate();
});

You can also get a ready-to-use boilerplate code with:

php vendor/bin/unitary template

2. Run your tests​

Execute all discovered test groups:

php vendor/bin/unitary

Show only failed validations:

php vendor/bin/unitary --errors-only

For help and all CLI options:

php vendor/bin/unitary --help
No configuration needed

Configuration​

You don’t need to configure anything to start testing, Unitary runs the moment it’s installed. It automatically discovers your test files, autoloads your project through Composer and prints clear validation results without any complicated setup.

When you want to customize its behavior, you can do this through the CLI or by adding a configuration file.

Read Configuration →

Add a optional Composer script

In your composer.json:

"scripts": {
  "test": "php vendor/bin/unitary"
}

Run with:

composer test

Pass additional arguments using --:

composer test -- --help