In our experience, Testcontainers are a useful default option for creating a reliable environment for running tests. It's a library, ported to multiple languages, that Dockerizes common test dependencies — including various types of databases, queuing technologies, cloud services and UI testing dependencies like web browsers — with the ability to run custom Dockerfiles when needed. Recently, a desktop version was released that allows for the visual management of test sessions and the ability to manage more complex scenarios which our teams have found very useful.
We've had enough experience with Testcontainers that we think it's a useful default option for creating a reliable environment for running tests. It's a library, ported to multiple languages, that Dockerizes common test dependencies — including various types of databases, queuing technologies, cloud services and UI testing dependencies like web browsers — with the ability to run custom Dockerfiles when needed. It works well with test frameworks like JUnit, is flexible enough to let users manage the container lifecycle and advanced networking and quickly sets up an integrated test environment. Our teams have consistently found this library of programmable, lightweight and disposable containers to make functional tests more reliable.
Creating reliable environments for running automated tests is a perennial problem, particularly as the number of components that modern systems depend on keeps increasing. Testcontainers is a Java library that helps mitigate this challenge by managing dockerized dependencies for your tests. This is particularly useful for spinning up repeatable database instances or similar infrastructure, but it can also be used in web browsers for UI testing. Our teams have found this library to be helpful for making integration tests more reliable with these programmable, lightweight and disposable containers.
