Interactivity API

Vitest implements a subset of @testing-library/user-event APIs using Chrome DevTools Protocol or webdriver instead of faking events which makes the browser behaviour more reliable and consistent with how users interact with a page.

import { userEvent } from '@vitest/browser/context'

await userEvent.click(document.querySelector('.button'))

Almost every userEvent method inherits its provider options. To see all available options in your IDE, add webdriver or playwright types (depending on your provider) to your tsconfig.json file:

playwright

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "types": [
      "@vitest/browser/providers/playwright"
    ]
  }
}

webdriverio

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "types": [
      "@vitest/browser/providers/webdriverio"
    ]
  }
}

userEvent.setup

• Type: () => UserEvent

Creates a new user event instance. This is useful if you need to keep the state of keyboard to press and release buttons correctly.

WARNING

Unlike @testing-library/user-event, the default userEvent instance from @vitest/browser/context is created once, not every time its methods are called! You can see the difference in how it works in this snippet:

import { userEvent as vitestUserEvent } from '@vitest/browser/context'
import { userEvent as originalUserEvent } from '@testing-library/user-event'

await vitestUserEvent.keyboard('{Shift}') // press shift without releasing
await vitestUserEvent.keyboard('{/Shift}') // releases shift

await originalUserEvent.keyboard('{Shift}') // press shift without releasing
await originalUserEvent.keyboard('{/Shift}') // DID NOT release shift because the state is different

This behaviour is more useful because we do not emulate the keyboard, we actually press the Shift, so keeping the original behaviour would cause unexpected issues when typing in the field.

userEvent.click

• Type: (element: Element | Locator, options?: UserEventClickOptions) => Promise<void>

Click on an element. Inherits provider's options. Please refer to your provider's documentation for detailed explanation about how this method works.

import { page, userEvent } from '@vitest/browser/context'

test('clicks on an element', async () => {
  const logo = page.getByRole('img', { name: /logo/ })

  await userEvent.click(logo)
  // or you can access it directly on the locator
  await logo.click()
})

References:

• Playwright locator.click API
• WebdriverIO element.click API
• testing-library click API

userEvent.dblClick

• Type: (element: Element | Locator, options?: UserEventDoubleClickOptions) => Promise<void>

Triggers a double click event on an element.

Please refer to your provider's documentation for detailed explanation about how this method works.

import { page, userEvent } from '@vitest/browser/context'

test('triggers a double click on an element', async () => {
  const logo = page.getByRole('img', { name: /logo/ })

  await userEvent.dblClick(logo)
  // or you can access it directly on the locator
  await logo.dblClick()
})

References:

• Playwright locator.dblclick API
• WebdriverIO element.doubleClick API
• testing-library dblClick API

userEvent.tripleClick

• Type: (element: Element | Locator, options?: UserEventTripleClickOptions) => Promise<void>

Triggers a triple click event on an element. Since there is no tripleclick in browser api, this method will fire three click events in a row, and so you must check click event detail to filter the event: evt.detail === 3.

Please refer to your provider's documentation for detailed explanation about how this method works.

import { page, userEvent } from '@vitest/browser/context'

test('triggers a triple click on an element', async () => {
  const logo = page.getByRole('img', { name: /logo/ })
  let tripleClickFired = false
  logo.addEventListener('click', (evt) => {
    if (evt.detail === 3) {
      tripleClickFired = true
    }
  })

  await userEvent.tripleClick(logo)
  // or you can access it directly on the locator
  await logo.tripleClick()

  expect(tripleClickFired).toBe(true)
})

References:

• Playwright locator.click API: implemented via click with clickCount: 3 .
• WebdriverIO browser.action API: implemented via actions api with move plus three down + up + pause events in a row
• testing-library tripleClick API

userEvent.fill

• Type: (element: Element | Locator, text: string) => Promise<void>

Set a value to the input/textarea/conteneditable field. This will remove any existing text in the input before setting the new value.

import { page, userEvent } from '@vitest/browser/context'

test('update input', async () => {
  const input = page.getByRole('input')

  await userEvent.fill(input, 'foo') // input.value == foo
  await userEvent.fill(input, '{{a[[') // input.value == {{a[[
  await userEvent.fill(input, '{Shift}') // input.value == {Shift}

  // or you can access it directly on the locator
  await input.fill('foo') // input.value == foo
})

This methods focuses the element, fills it and triggers an input event after filling. You can use an empty string to clear the field.

TIP

This API is faster than using userEvent.type or userEvent.keyboard, but it doesn't support user-event keyboard syntax (e.g., {Shift}{selectall}).

We recommend using this API over userEvent.type in situations when you don't need to enter special characters or have granular control over keypress events.

References:

• Playwright locator.fill API
• WebdriverIO element.setValue API
• testing-library type API

userEvent.keyboard

• Type: (text: string) => Promise<void>

The userEvent.keyboard allows you to trigger keyboard strokes. If any input has a focus, it will type characters into that input. Otherwise, it will trigger keyboard events on the currently focused element (document.body if there are no focused elements).

This API supports user-event keyboard syntax.

import { userEvent } from '@vitest/browser/context'

test('trigger keystrokes', async () => {
  await userEvent.keyboard('foo') // translates to: f, o, o
  await userEvent.keyboard('{{a[[') // translates to: {, a, [
  await userEvent.keyboard('{Shift}{f}{o}{o}') // translates to: Shift, f, o, o
  await userEvent.keyboard('{a>5}') // press a without releasing it and trigger 5 keydown
  await userEvent.keyboard('{a>5/}') // press a for 5 keydown and then release it
})

References:

• Playwright Keyboard API
• WebdriverIO action('key') API
• testing-library type API

userEvent.tab

• Type: (options?: UserEventTabOptions) => Promise<void>

Sends a Tab key event. This is a shorthand for userEvent.keyboard('{tab}').

import { page, userEvent } from '@vitest/browser/context'

test('tab works', async () => {
  const [input1, input2] = page.getByRole('input').elements()

  expect(input1).toHaveFocus()

  await userEvent.tab()

  expect(input2).toHaveFocus()

  await userEvent.tab({ shift: true })

  expect(input1).toHaveFocus()
})

References:

• Playwright Keyboard API
• WebdriverIO action('key') API
• testing-library tab API

userEvent.type

• Type: (element: Element | Locator, text: string, options?: UserEventTypeOptions) => Promise<void>

WARNING

If you don't rely on special characters (e.g., {shift} or {selectall}), it is recommended to use userEvent.fill instead.

The type method implements @testing-library/user-event's type utility built on top of keyboard API.

This function allows you to type characters into an input/textarea/conteneditable element. It supports user-event keyboard syntax.

If you just need to press characters without an input, use userEvent.keyboard API.

import { page, userEvent } from '@vitest/browser/context'

test('update input', async () => {
  const input = page.getByRole('input')

  await userEvent.type(input, 'foo') // input.value == foo
  await userEvent.type(input, '{{a[[') // input.value == foo{a[
  await userEvent.type(input, '{Shift}') // input.value == foo{a[
})

INFO

Vitest doesn't expose .type method on the locator like input.type because it exists only for compatiblity with the userEvent library. Consider using .fill instead as it is faster.

References:

• Playwright locator.press API
• WebdriverIO action('key') API
• testing-library type API

userEvent.clear

• Type: (element: Element | Locator) => Promise<void>

This method clears the input element content.

import { page, userEvent } from '@vitest/browser/context'

test('clears input', async () => {
  const input = page.getByRole('input')

  await userEvent.fill(input, 'foo')
  expect(input).toHaveValue('foo')

  await userEvent.clear(input)
  // or you can access it directly on the locator
  await input.clear()

  expect(input).toHaveValue('')
})

References:

• Playwright locator.clear API
• WebdriverIO element.clearValue API
• testing-library clear API

userEvent.selectOptions

• Type: (element: Element | Locator, values: HTMLElement | HTMLElement[] | Locator | Locator[] | string | string[], options?: UserEventSelectOptions) => Promise<void>

The userEvent.selectOptions allows selecting a value in a <select> element.

WARNING

If select element doesn't have multiple attribute, Vitest will select only the first element in the array.

Unlike @testing-library, Vitest doesn't support listbox at the moment, but we plan to add support for it in the future.

import { page, userEvent } from '@vitest/browser/context'

test('clears input', async () => {
  const select = page.getByRole('select')

  await userEvent.selectOptions(select, 'Option 1')
  // or you can access it directly on the locator
  await select.selectOptions('Option 1')

  expect(select).toHaveValue('option-1')

  await userEvent.selectOptions(select, 'option-1')
  expect(select).toHaveValue('option-1')

  await userEvent.selectOptions(select, [
    page.getByRole('option', { name: 'Option 1' }),
    page.getByRole('option', { name: 'Option 2' }),
  ])
  expect(select).toHaveValue(['option-1', 'option-2'])
})

WARNING

webdriverio provider doesn't support selecting multiple elements because it doesn't provide API to do so.

References:

• Playwright locator.selectOption API
• WebdriverIO element.selectByIndex API
• testing-library selectOptions API

userEvent.hover

• Type: (element: Element | Locator, options?: UserEventHoverOptions) => Promise<void>

This method moves the cursor position to the selected element. Please refer to your provider's documentation for detailed explanation about how this method works.

WARNING

If you are using webdriverio provider, the cursor will move to the center of the element by default.

If you are using playwright provider, the cursor moves to "some" visible point of the element.

import { page, userEvent } from '@vitest/browser/context'

test('hovers logo element', async () => {
  const logo = page.getByRole('img', { name: /logo/ })

  await userEvent.hover(logo)
  // or you can access it directly on the locator
  await page.hover()
})

References:

• Playwright locator.hover API
• WebdriverIO element.moveTo API
• testing-library hover API

userEvent.unhover

• Type: (element: Element | Locator, options?: UserEventHoverOptions) => Promise<void>

This works the same as userEvent.hover, but moves the cursor to the document.body element instead.

WARNING

By default, the cursor position is in "some" visible place (in playwright provider) or in the center (in webdriverio provider) of the body element, so if the currently hovered element is already in the same position, this method will have no effect.

import { page, userEvent } from '@vitest/browser/context'

test('unhover logo element', async () => {
  const logo = page.getByRole('img', { name: /logo/ })

  await userEvent.unhover(logo)
  // or you can access it directly on the locator
  await page.unhover()
})

References:

• Playwright locator.hover API
• WebdriverIO element.moveTo API
• testing-library hover API

userEvent.dragAndDrop

• Type: (source: Element | Locator, target: Element | Locator, options?: UserEventDragAndDropOptions) => Promise<void>

Drags the source element on top of the target element. Don't forget that the source element has to have the draggable attribute set to true.

import { page, userEvent } from '@vitest/browser/context'

test('drag and drop works', async () => {
  const source = page.getByRole('img', { name: /logo/ })
  const target = page.getByTestId('logo-target')

  await userEvent.dragAndDrop(source, target)
  // or you can access it directly on the locator
  await source.dropTo(target)

  await expect.element(target).toHaveTextContent('Logo is processed')
})

WARNING

This API is not supported by the default preview provider.

References:

• Playwright frame.dragAndDrop API
• WebdriverIO element.dragAndDrop API