RSpec::Fuubar

RSpec::Fuubar is an instafailing RSpec formatter that uses a progress bar instead of a string of letters and dots as feedback. It provides immediate feedback when tests fail and displays a progress bar with ETA for your test suite.

• Immediate Failure Output: See failures as they happen, not at the end
• Progress Bar with ETA: Know how long your test suite will take
• Color-Coded Output: Green for passing, yellow for pending, red for failing
• Customizable: Configure the progress bar format and behavior
• CI Friendly: Automatically disables features that don't work well in CI environments

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem "rspec-fuubar"

And then execute:

bundle install

Or install it yourself as:

gem install rspec-fuubar

There are several ways to use RSpec::Fuubar:

rspec --format RSpec::Fuubar --color

Add to your project's .rspec file:

--format RSpec::Fuubar
--color

Add to your spec/spec_helper.rb:

RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.add_formatter "RSpec::Fuubar"
end

require "rspec/core/rake_task"

RSpec::Core::RakeTask.new(:spec) do |t|
  t.rspec_opts = "--format RSpec::Fuubar --color"
end

RSpec::Fuubar uses ruby-progressbar under the hood. You can customize the progress bar by setting the fuubar_progress_bar_options configuration option:

RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.fuubar_progress_bar_options = {
    format: "My Custom Bar: <%B> %p%% %a",
    progress_mark: "■",
    remainder_mark: "□"
  }
end

This would produce output like:

My Custom Bar: <■■■■■■■■■□□□□□□□□□□□> 45.00% 00:12:31

See the ruby-progressbar documentation for all available options.

By default, RSpec::Fuubar displays a summary of pending specs at the end of the test run. You can disable this:

RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.fuubar_output_pending_results = false
end

RSpec::Fuubar can automatically refresh the progress bar every second to update the ETA:

RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.fuubar_auto_refresh = true
end

Note: This feature may interfere with debugging tools. See the section below for workarounds.

• Ruby 3.2+
• RSpec 3.0+

When using auto-refresh with Pry, you can disable it during debugging sessions:

Pry.config.hooks.add_hook(:before_session, :disable_fuubar_auto_refresh) do |_output, _binding, _pry|
  RSpec.configuration.fuubar_auto_refresh = false
end

Pry.config.hooks.add_hook(:after_session, :restore_fuubar_auto_refresh) do |_output, _binding, _pry|
  RSpec.configuration.fuubar_auto_refresh = true
end

Byebug doesn't provide hooks, so disable auto-refresh manually:

RSpec.configuration.fuubar_auto_refresh = false
byebug

After checking out the repo, run bin/setup to install dependencies. Then, run bundle exec rspec to run the tests. You can also run bin/console for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment.

To install this gem onto your local machine, run bundle exec rake install.

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/mhenrixon/rspec-fuubar. This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the code of conduct.

Note: We use MediumSecurity because RSpec itself isn't signed, preventing us from using HighSecurity.

Fuubar was originally written by Jeff Kreeftmeijer and is now maintained by Jeff Felchner.

RSpec::Fuubar is maintained and funded by Mikael Henriksson

RSpec::Fuubar is Copyright © 2025 Mikael Henriksson. It is free software, and may be redistributed under the terms specified in the LICENSE file.