go test "no tests to run" with a -run filter in CI

By Kaveh Alemi·Latchkey

go test reports "no tests to run" when the -run pattern matches no test function names. The job often still shows ok, so a typo in the filter can silently skip the whole suite.

What this error means

go test prints "testing: warning: no tests to run" and "ok ... [no tests to run]", and the run completes without executing the intended tests.

testing: warning: no tests to run
PASS
ok  	example.com/app	0.003s [no tests to run]

Common causes

The -run regex does not match any test name

A typo or wrong casing in the -run pattern means no TestXxx name matches, so nothing runs.

Tests excluded by build tags

The test files are gated behind a build tag that the current invocation did not enable, so the package has no tests to run.

How to fix it

Correct the -run pattern

1. Check the exact test function names against the -run regex.
2. Use a pattern that matches, or drop -run to run all tests.
3. Re-run and confirm tests execute.

# run all, or match the real name
go test ./...
go test -run '^TestFetch$' ./...

Enable the build tag the tests need

If the tests are tag-gated, pass the matching -tags so they compile and run.

go test -tags=integration ./...

How to prevent it

• Treat "[no tests to run]" as a signal that a filter is wrong.
• Run the full suite by default; reserve -run for local focus.
• Pass the right -tags for tag-gated test files.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• Go documentation
• GitHub Actions documentation