If you have MacOS, you might need to run zombienet tests with sudo, because tmp folder

The repo has several test layers. CI runs all of them on every PR, so knowing how to reproduce each locally saves round-trips:

Suite	What it covers	Run locally	CI workflow
Rust unit tests	Pallet and runtime logic	cargo test --workspace (below)	check-rust.yml
TypeScript / Moonwall	End-to-end chain behavior, EVM, zombienet multi-node	ts-tests/ (below)	typescript-e2e.yml
Migration checks	on_runtime_upgrade against live state	try-runtime CLI (below)	try-runtime.yml
Mainnet clone	Runtime upgrade + regression tests on cloned mainnet state	clones/ scripts	runtime-checks.yml
Python SDK	SDK unit tests and codegen drift gates	cd sdk/python && just check	runtime-checks.yml
Rust SDK e2e	Chain-facing SDK behavior against localnet	cargo test -p bittensor-core --test e2e	check-bittensor-e2e-tests.yml
eco-tests	Storage/RPC shapes the TAO.com indexer depends on	cd eco-tests && cargo test	eco-tests.yml

Rust tests

Contributor guide rule: any pallet or runtime change must come with unit tests covering its edge cases. This is how you run them.

All tests

SKIP_WASM_BUILD=1 cargo test --workspace

or, equivalently (the justfile exports SKIP_WASM_BUILD=1 for you):

just test

SKIP_WASM_BUILD=1 skips compiling the wasm runtime blob, which the unit tests don't need — without it every test run pays a multi-minute wasm build first. CI (check-rust.yml) runs the same thing with all features enabled:

SKIP_WASM_BUILD=1 cargo test --workspace --all-features

One pallet

SKIP_WASM_BUILD=1 cargo test -p pallet-subtensor

Pallet tests live inside each crate under src/tests/ (e.g. pallets/subtensor/src/tests/staking.rs), organized as modules of the library target.

One test (or a group of tests)

Pass a name filter — every test whose full path contains the string runs:

# Everything in the staking test module
SKIP_WASM_BUILD=1 cargo test -p pallet-subtensor tests::staking

# One test, with log output visible
SKIP_WASM_BUILD=1 cargo test -p pallet-subtensor test_add_stake_ok_no_emission -- --nocapture

# Exact match only (skip other tests whose names contain the same prefix)
SKIP_WASM_BUILD=1 cargo test -p pallet-subtensor -- --exact tests::staking::test_add_stake_ok_no_emission

Add RUST_LOG=debug before the command to see runtime log lines, and --release if a test is too slow in debug mode (epoch/consensus tests often are). scripts/test_specific.sh wraps a release-mode single-test run with these flags preconfigured.

Feature-gated tests

Some code only compiles under feature flags. The two you'll hit most:

# Benchmark tests (also what `just benchmarks` runs)
SKIP_WASM_BUILD=1 cargo test --workspace --features runtime-benchmarks

# The faucet extrinsic used by localnet
SKIP_WASM_BUILD=1 cargo test -p pallet-subtensor --features pow-faucet

When in doubt, mirror CI with --all-features.

Migration tests (try-runtime)

Storage migrations get two kinds of coverage. Unit tests live next to the other pallet tests (see pallets/subtensor/src/tests/migration.rs). To exercise a migration against real chain state, use try-runtime — this is what try-runtime.yml does on every PR against devnet, testnet, and mainnet state:

cargo install --git https://github.com/paritytech/try-runtime-cli --locked

See Repository scripts for the build and invocation commands to replay on_runtime_upgrade against a live endpoint or snapshot.

TypeScript integration tests

TypeScript tests are run with Moonwall. You will need Node (see ts-tests/.nvmrc) and pnpm:

cd ts-tests

# Use the correct Node version
nvm use

# Install pnpm
sudo npm i -g pnpm

# Install dependencies
pnpm i

# Run manual seal dev tests
pnpm moonwall test dev

# Run zombienet tests (one environment per suite)
pnpm moonwall test zombienet_staking
pnpm moonwall test zombienet_shield
pnpm moonwall test zombienet_coldkey_swap
pnpm moonwall test zombienet_evm
pnpm moonwall test zombienet_subnets

# If you have MacOS, you might need to run zombienet tests with sudo, because tmp folder
sudo pnpm moonwall test zombienet_staking

# Run smoke tests (against devnet, testnet, or mainnet)
pnpm moonwall test smoke_devnet
pnpm moonwall test smoke_testnet
pnpm moonwall test smoke_mainnet

Moonwall lets you also run the testing environment without performing any tests on it, as a method for you to manually test certain things:

# Dev tests in run mode
pnpm moonwall run dev

# Zombienet test with run mode
pnpm moonwall run zombienet_staking

Other suites

• Mainnet clone (clones/): clones live mainnet state, sudo-upgrades it to your runtime, and runs JS regression tests against it. Full walkthrough: Mainnet clone testing.
• Python SDK (sdk/python/): just sync && just check runs the same offline gates as CI; runtime metadata changes require regenerating the codegen bindings. Full walkthrough: Python SDK tests.
• eco-tests (eco-tests/): excluded from the cargo workspace, so run them from their own directory: cd eco-tests && cargo test. They pin the storage and RPC shapes the TAO.com ecosystem indexer consumes — see Eco-tests for what to do when one fails.