---
title: How to set up Jest with Next.js
description: Learn how to set up Jest with Next.js for Unit Testing and Snapshot Testing.
url: "https://nextjs.org/docs/app/guides/testing/jest"
version: 16.2.2
lastUpdated: 2026-04-02
prerequisites:
  - "Guides: /docs/app/guides"
  - "Testing: /docs/app/guides/testing"
---


Jest and React Testing Library are frequently used together for **Unit Testing** and **Snapshot Testing**. This guide will show you how to set up Jest with Next.js and write your first tests.

> **Good to know:** Since `async` Server Components are new to the React ecosystem, Jest currently does not support them. While you can still run **unit tests** for synchronous Server and Client Components, we recommend using an **E2E tests** for `async` components.

## Quickstart

You can use `create-next-app` with the Next.js [with-jest](https://github.com/vercel/next.js/tree/canary/examples/with-jest) example to quickly get started:

```bash package="pnpm"
pnpm create next-app --example with-jest with-jest-app
```

```bash package="npm"
npx create-next-app@latest --example with-jest with-jest-app
```

```bash package="yarn"
yarn create next-app --example with-jest with-jest-app
```

```bash package="bun"
bun create next-app --example with-jest with-jest-app
```

## Manual setup

Since the release of [Next.js 12](https://nextjs.org/blog/next-12), Next.js now has built-in configuration for Jest.

To set up Jest, install `jest` and the following packages as dev dependencies:

```bash package="pnpm"
pnpm add -D jest jest-environment-jsdom @testing-library/react @testing-library/dom @testing-library/jest-dom ts-node @types/jest
```

```bash package="npm"
npm install -D jest jest-environment-jsdom @testing-library/react @testing-library/dom @testing-library/jest-dom ts-node @types/jest
```

```bash package="yarn"
yarn add -D jest jest-environment-jsdom @testing-library/react @testing-library/dom @testing-library/jest-dom ts-node @types/jest
```

```bash package="bun"
bun add -D jest jest-environment-jsdom @testing-library/react @testing-library/dom @testing-library/jest-dom ts-node @types/jest
```

Generate a basic Jest configuration file by running the following command:

```bash package="pnpm"
pnpm create jest@latest
```

```bash package="npm"
npm init jest@latest
```

```bash package="yarn"
yarn create jest@latest
```

```bash package="bun"
bun create jest@latest
```

This will take you through a series of prompts to setup Jest for your project, including automatically creating a `jest.config.ts|js` file.

Update your config file to use `next/jest`. This transformer has all the necessary configuration options for Jest to work with Next.js:

```ts filename="jest.config.ts" switcher
import type { Config } from 'jest'
import nextJest from 'next/jest.js'

const createJestConfig = nextJest({
  // Provide the path to your Next.js app to load next.config.js and .env files in your test environment
  dir: './',
})

// Add any custom config to be passed to Jest
const config: Config = {
  coverageProvider: 'v8',
  testEnvironment: 'jsdom',
  // Add more setup options before each test is run
  // setupFilesAfterEnv: ['<rootDir>/jest.setup.ts'],
}

// createJestConfig is exported this way to ensure that next/jest can load the Next.js config which is async
export default createJestConfig(config)
```

```js filename="jest.config.js" switcher
const nextJest = require('next/jest')

/** @type {import('jest').Config} */
const createJestConfig = nextJest({
  // Provide the path to your Next.js app to load next.config.js and .env files in your test environment
  dir: './',
})

// Add any custom config to be passed to Jest
const config = {
  coverageProvider: 'v8',
  testEnvironment: 'jsdom',
  // Add more setup options before each test is run
  // setupFilesAfterEnv: ['<rootDir>/jest.setup.ts'],
}

// createJestConfig is exported this way to ensure that next/jest can load the Next.js config which is async
module.exports = createJestConfig(config)
```

Under the hood, `next/jest` is automatically configuring Jest for you, including:

* Setting up `transform` using the [Next.js Compiler](/docs/architecture/nextjs-compiler).
* Auto mocking stylesheets (`.css`, `.module.css`, and their scss variants), image imports and [`next/font`](/docs/app/api-reference/components/font).
* Loading `.env` (and all variants) into `process.env`.
* Ignoring `node_modules` from test resolving and transforms.
* Ignoring `.next` from test resolving.
* Loading `next.config.js` for flags that enable SWC transforms.

> **Good to know**: To test environment variables directly, load them manually in a separate setup script or in your `jest.config.ts` file. For more information, please see [Test Environment Variables](/docs/app/guides/environment-variables#test-environment-variables).

## Optional: Handling Absolute Imports and Module Path Aliases

If your project is using [Module Path Aliases](/docs/app/getting-started/installation#set-up-absolute-imports-and-module-path-aliases), you will need to configure Jest to resolve the imports by matching the paths option in the `jsconfig.json` file with the `moduleNameMapper` option in the `jest.config.js` file. For example:

```json filename="tsconfig.json or jsconfig.json"
{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "esnext",
    "moduleResolution": "bundler",
    "baseUrl": "./",
    "paths": {
      "@/components/*": ["components/*"]
    }
  }
}
```

```js filename="jest.config.js"
moduleNameMapper: {
  // ...
  '^@/components/(.*)$': '<rootDir>/components/$1',
}
```

## Optional: Extend Jest with custom matchers

`@testing-library/jest-dom` includes a set of convenient [custom matchers](https://github.com/testing-library/jest-dom#custom-matchers) such as `.toBeInTheDocument()` making it easier to write tests. You can import the custom matchers for every test by adding the following option to the Jest configuration file:

```ts filename="jest.config.ts" switcher
setupFilesAfterEnv: ['<rootDir>/jest.setup.ts']
```

```js filename="jest.config.js" switcher
setupFilesAfterEnv: ['<rootDir>/jest.setup.js']
```

Then, inside `jest.setup`, add the following import:

```ts filename="jest.setup.ts" switcher
import '@testing-library/jest-dom'
```

```js filename="jest.setup.js" switcher
import '@testing-library/jest-dom'
```

> **Good to know:** [`extend-expect` was removed in `v6.0`](https://github.com/testing-library/jest-dom/releases/tag/v6.0.0), so if you are using `@testing-library/jest-dom` before version 6, you will need to import `@testing-library/jest-dom/extend-expect` instead.

If you need to add more setup options before each test, you can add them to the `jest.setup` file above.

## Add a test script to `package.json`

Finally, add a Jest `test` script to your `package.json` file:

```json filename="package.json" highlight={6-7}
{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "next dev",
    "build": "next build",
    "start": "next start",
    "test": "jest",
    "test:watch": "jest --watch"
  }
}
```

`jest --watch` will re-run tests when a file is changed. For more Jest CLI options, please refer to the [Jest Docs](https://jestjs.io/docs/cli#reference).

### Creating your first test

Your project is now ready to run tests. Create a folder called `__tests__` in your project's root directory.

For example, we can add a test to check if the `<Page />` component successfully renders a heading:

```jsx filename="app/page.js"
import Link from 'next/link'

export default function Page() {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Home</h1>
      <Link href="/about">About</Link>
    </div>
  )
}
```

```jsx filename="__tests__/page.test.jsx"
import '@testing-library/jest-dom'
import { render, screen } from '@testing-library/react'
import Page from '../app/page'

describe('Page', () => {
  it('renders a heading', () => {
    render(<Page />)

    const heading = screen.getByRole('heading', { level: 1 })

    expect(heading).toBeInTheDocument()
  })
})
```

Optionally, add a [snapshot test](https://jestjs.io/docs/snapshot-testing) to keep track of any unexpected changes in your component:

```jsx filename="__tests__/snapshot.js"
import { render } from '@testing-library/react'
import Page from '../app/page'

it('renders homepage unchanged', () => {
  const { container } = render(<Page />)
  expect(container).toMatchSnapshot()
})
```

## Running your tests

Then, run the following command to run your tests:

```bash package="pnpm"
pnpm test
```

```bash package="npm"
npm run test
```

```bash package="yarn"
yarn test
```

```bash package="bun"
bun run test
```

## Additional Resources

For further reading, you may find these resources helpful:

* [Next.js with Jest example](https://github.com/vercel/next.js/tree/canary/examples/with-jest)
* [Jest Docs](https://jestjs.io/docs/getting-started)
* [React Testing Library Docs](https://testing-library.com/docs/react-testing-library/intro/)
* [Testing Playground](https://testing-playground.com/) - use good testing practices to match elements.
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