node.js - Mocha tests with extra options or parameters

Question

I am writing test cases for my Node.js application using Mocha. The test cases need an API key as an extra input option or parameter. The API key is private, so I don't want to include it directly in the test files as everyone then can see it on GitHub. I know there are some options available for Mocha at:

http://mochajs.org/#usage

But is it possible to include some parameters to let testers specify their own API key for the test in the commandline? Such as:

./node_modules/mocha/bin/mocha test/*.js --key YOUR_KEY

Answer 1

I don't think Mocha itself supports passing extra parameters to your tests, but you could use environment variables:

env KEY=YOUR_KEY mocha test/*.js # assumes some sort of Unix-type OS.

And read them in your test files:

var key = process.env.KEY;