avajs/ava · error · Error

All tests and hooks must be declared synchronously in your t

Error message

All tests and hooks must be declared synchronously in your test file, and cannot be nested within other tests or hooks.

What it means

Runner chain guard: test declarations (test(), hooks) were attempted after the runner already started executing — the test file declared tests asynchronously (after an await/timer) or nested a declaration inside another test/hook. AVA requires the full test plan to be registered synchronously at module load. The input at fault is the late or nested declaration call.

Source

Thrown at lib/runner.js:89

		this.notifyTimeoutUpdate = timeoutMs => {
			this.emit('stateChange', {
				type: 'test-timeout-configured',
				period: timeoutMs,
			});
		};

		let hasStarted = false;
		let scheduledStart = false;
		const meta = Object.freeze({
			file: makeFileURL(options.file),
			get snapshotDirectory() {
				const {file, snapshotDir: fixedLocation, projectDir} = options;
				return makeFileURL(determineSnapshotDir({file, fixedLocation, projectDir}));
			},
		});
		this.chain = createChain((metadata, testArgs) => { // eslint-disable-line complexity
			if (hasStarted) {
				throw new Error('All tests and hooks must be declared synchronously in your test file, and cannot be nested within other tests or hooks.');
			}

			if (!scheduledStart) {
				scheduledStart = true;
				process.nextTick(() => {
					hasStarted = true;
					this.start();
				});
			}

			metadata.taskIndex = this.nextTaskIndex++;

			const {args, implementation, title} = parseTestArgs(testArgs);

			metadata.selected &&= this.checkSelectedByLineNumbers?.() ?? true;

			if (metadata.todo) {
				if (implementation) {

View on GitHub (pinned to bbfd946322)

Solutions

1. Move all test(), test.before/beforeEach/after calls to the top level of the test file
2. Remove await/dynamic import before test declarations; perform async setup before any declaration or inside hooks
3. Never declare tests inside another test's implementation; use hooks or serial tests instead

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at lib/runner.js:89 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of avajs/ava@bbfd946322 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/343d7ce1b7b806ad. Report an issue: GitHub.