Tia

Test impact analysis for ExUnit: run only the test files a change can affect.

Tia records which source files each test file executes. On the next run it compares content hashes against the disk and picks the test files whose recorded sources changed. The map validates itself, so it needs no help from git, and it is a plain JSON file you can commit.

Installation

def deps do
  [{:tia, "~> 0.1", only: [:dev, :test], runtime: false}]
end

def cli do
  [preferred_envs: [tia: :test]]
end

Requires Elixir 1.18+ and OTP 27+ running under the JIT. There are no runtime dependencies.

Usage

$ mix tia                # record the stale test files, update the map
$ mix tia --all          # record every test file
$ mix tia --check        # CI: run the affected test files, change nothing
$ mix tia --dry-run      # only print the selection

Recording runs each test file on its own, one at a time. A file whose tests fail is not recorded, stays stale, and makes the task exit with an error.

--check runs the stale test files plus those whose recorded sources appear in git diff --name-only BASE. It runs the whole suite when the map is missing or when a global file changed.

What forces the whole suite

A per-test map cannot see everything, so these files share one fingerprint and any change to them selects every test file:

mix.exs, mix.lock, .tool-versions, test/test_helper.exs
config/**/*.exs and priv/*/migrations/*.exs
any file under lib/ or test/support/ that defines macros

Configuration

def project do
  [
    # ...
    tia: [
      base: "develop",
      extra_global_files: ["priv/repo/seeds.exs"]
    ]
  ]
end

Tia.Config lists every option. If test_helper.exs loads other files, such as seeds, add them to :extra_global_files: Tia cannot see them otherwise.

How recording works

Tia switches the VM to native function counters (:code.set_coverage_mode(:function_counters)) and reloads your application's modules. Nothing is recompiled, and reading or zeroing the counters of a thousand modules takes under a millisecond, so recording costs about the same as running the tests. :cover spent over a second per test file on the same project.

A module counts as executed when any of its functions was entered. Its source and its @external_resource files, such as templates, go into the map.

Limitations

Selection is a speedup, not a proof. Keep a full run on your main branch.

Values inlined at compile time. If module A embeds a value from B (@limit B.limit(), or a %B{} default) and the tests never call B, a change to B does not select them.
Data dependencies. Files read at runtime are invisible unless a module declares them with @external_resource.
Excluded tests. Tests skipped by tags during recording contribute nothing to the map.
Background processes. Anything running while a test file runs is charged to it. That can only select more tests, never fewer.

Hub modules also limit the gain: a file that most tests execute selects most of the suite when it changes.

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