oxc-project/oxc · warning

Should not have an empty title

Error message

Should not have an empty title

What it means

Diagnostic from the shared jest/vitest `valid-title` rule (empty_title_diagnostic). It fires when a test/describe block's title is an empty string. Empty titles make test reports unreadable and make it impossible to filter or select the test by name.

Source

Thrown at crates/oxc_linter/src/rules/shared/jest_vitest/valid_title.rs:30

use oxc_span::{GetSpan, Span};
use oxc_str::CompactStr;

use crate::{
    context::LintContext,
    utils::{
        JestFnKind, JestGeneralFnKind, PossibleJestNode, is_string_raw_member_expression,
        parse_general_jest_fn_call,
    },
};

fn title_must_be_string_diagnostic(span: Span) -> OxcDiagnostic {
    OxcDiagnostic::warn("Title must be a string")
        .with_help("Replace your title with a string")
        .with_label(span)
}

fn empty_title_diagnostic(span: Span) -> OxcDiagnostic {
    OxcDiagnostic::warn("Should not have an empty title")
        .with_help("Write a meaningful title for your test")
        .with_label(span)
}

fn duplicate_prefix_diagnostic(span: Span) -> OxcDiagnostic {
    OxcDiagnostic::warn("Should not have duplicate prefix")
        .with_help("The function name already has the prefix, try to remove the duplicate prefix")
        .with_label(span)
}

fn accidental_space_diagnostic(span: Span) -> OxcDiagnostic {
    OxcDiagnostic::warn("Should not have leading or trailing spaces")
        .with_help("Remove the leading or trailing spaces")
        .with_label(span)
}

fn disallowed_word_diagnostic(word: &str, span: Span) -> OxcDiagnostic {
    OxcDiagnostic::warn(format!("{word} is not allowed in test title"))

View on GitHub (pinned to e1e7af627c)

Solutions

1. Write a meaningful title describing the expected behavior: `it('returns 404 for missing users', fn)`.
2. If the block is scaffolding, remove it or `.skip` it with a TODO title.
3. Add valid-title (or the no-empty-title checks) to CI so empty shells fail the build.

Example fix

// before
it('', () => {
  expect(add(1, 2)).toBe(3);
});

// after
it('adds two numbers', () => {
  expect(add(1, 2)).toBe(3);
});

const emptyTitle = /\b(it|test|describe)(\.(skip|only|todo|concurrent|each))?\s*\(\s*(''|"")\s*,/;
if (emptyTitle.test(src)) { console.error('empty test title'); process.exitCode = 1; }

When it happens

Trigger: A string-literal title with zero length: `it('', () => {})`, `describe('', () => {...})`, `test.skip('', fn)`.

Common situations: Template scaffolding where the placeholder title was never filled in; refactors that moved the description into a comment; copy-paste test shells committed by accident.

Related errors

• Title must be a string
• Should not have duplicate prefix
• Should not have leading or trailing spaces
• {word} is not allowed in test title
• {un_prefixed_name} should match {raw_pattern}

AI-assisted analysis of oxc-project/oxc@e1e7af627c (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d66d78993e32195d. Report an issue: GitHub.