Accept plugin configuration in pytest.ini

[pawamoy]

Is it possible for a plugin writer to get its configuration from pytest.ini?

For example:

[pytest]
python_files =
  test_*.py
testpaths =
  tests

[inline-snapshot]
snapshot_dir = tests/snapshots

Then in pytest_configure:

def pytest_configure(config):
    my_config = config.getini("inline-snapshot")

ValueError("unknown configuration value: 'inline-snapshot'")

Currently it seems like the only way is to declare CLI options, and then for the user to add these options to addopts, which has the disadvantage of only supporting strings (and therefore requires that these strings be coerced into something else by the plugin).

But I'm a noob regarding pytest plugins and their config so I might be missing a few things 🙂

[pawamoy]

I suppose plugins could re-read the config file to load their own settings:

def pytest_configure(config):
    iniconfig = configparser.ConfigParser()
    iniconfig.read(config.inifile)
    my_config = iniconfig["inline-snapshot"]

Would you recommend that, or is there a better way?

[The-Compiler]

You will need to call Parser.addini() in pytest_addoption to declare your options, before you use Config.getini().

That doesn't let you define an entirely new section, however. Reading the ini yourself is definitely something I wouldn't recommend, as you probably won't be compatible with pytest configuration in pyproject.toml, and might have possible subtle syntax differences to pytest's ini parsing.

[pawamoy]

Thanks @The-Compiler! That's what I was missing 🙂