Artifacts Unit Test Reports

In this guide, you’ll learn how to collect JUnit-style XML results from a Node.js project using Mocha, upload them as artifacts in GitLab CI/CD, and visualize test reports in merge requests and pipelines. We’ll cover:

1. Basic artifacts configuration
2. Customizing retention and upload settings
3. Enabling artifacts:reports for JUnit
4. Available report types
5. Viewing failures in a merge request
6. Analyzing test summaries in the pipeline

Prerequisites

• A GitLab project with CI/CD enabled
• A Node.js test suite configured with mocha-junit-reporter

npm install --save-dev mocha-junit-reporter

1. Basic CI/CD Job to Run Tests and Upload Artifacts

Start with a simple CI job that runs tests and uploads all generated files upon success:

stages:
  - test

variables:
  MONGO_URI: 'mongodb+srv://supercluster.d83jj.mongodb.net/superData'
  MONGO_USERNAME: superuser
  MONGO_PASSWORD: $M_DB_PASSWORD

unit_testing:
  stage: test
  image: node:17-alpine3.14
  before_script:
    - npm install
  script:
    - npm test
  artifacts:
    when: on_success
    expire_in: 30 days

This configuration uploads every file created during the job and retains them for 30 days.

2. Always Upload & Customize Artifact Retention

To ensure test results are available even on failure, adjust the artifacts block:

unit_testing:
  stage: test
  image: node:17-alpine3.14
  before_script:
    - npm install
  script:
    - npm test
  artifacts:
    when: always
    expire_in: 3 days
    name: "Mocha-Test-Result"
    paths:
      - test-results.xml

• when: always – captures artifacts on success or failure
• expire_in: 3 days – limits storage time to 3 days
• name – assigns a meaningful archive name
• paths – points to the JUnit XML file

Generating the JUnit XML

Make sure your test command includes the JUnit reporter:

npm test
# Output:
> mocha app-test.js --timeout 10000 --reporter mocha-junit-reporter --exit

A sample test-results.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<testsuite name="Mocha Tests" time="4.968" tests="11" failures="0">
  <testsuite name="Root Suite" timestamp="2024-01-30T13:59:59" tests="0" time="0.000" failures="0">
    <testcase name="Planets API Suite" timestamp="2024-01-30T13:59:59" tests="8">
      <testcase name="it should fetch a planet named Mercury" time="3.383"/>
      <!-- more testcases... -->
    </testcase>
  </testsuite>
</testsuite>

3. Registering JUnit Reports with artifacts:reports

GitLab can parse JUnit XML and display it natively in merge requests and pipeline views. Extend your job:

unit_testing:
  stage: test
  image: node:17-alpine3.14
  before_script:
    - npm install
  script:
    - npm test
  artifacts:
    when: always
    expire_in: 3 days
    name: "Mocha-Test-Result"
    paths:
      - test-results.xml
  reports:
    junit: test-results.xml

This enables the Test Reports tab in merge requests and shows detailed test metrics in the pipeline.

4. Available Artifact Report Types

GitLab supports a variety of built-in report types that surface in Merge Request widgets and the pipeline UI:

5. Viewing Failures in a Merge Request

When tests fail, GitLab surfaces a summary of the failures directly in the Merge Request:

6. Checking Test Summaries in the Pipeline

In the pipeline’s Tests tab, you’ll see:

• Total tests run
• Number of failures
• Success rate (%)
• Average test duration

After job completion, artifact upload logs appear:

Uploading artifacts...
test-results.xml: found 1 matching artifact files and directories
Uploading artifacts as "archive" to coordinator... 201 Created
Uploading artifacts as "junit" to coordinator... 201 Created
Cleaning up project directory and file based variables
Job succeeded

You can browse or download the raw XML:

Browsing artifacts…
test-results.xml

Or view it visually:

References

• GitLab CI/CD Pipelines
• Artifacts
• JUnit Test Reports in GitLab
• mocha-junit-reporter on npm
• GitLab CI/CD YAML Configuration