Support for Serializing Test Metadata (e.g., Ticket IDs) in Mocha

[gdavidkov]

We need to attach metadata (such as ticket IDs) to each test in Mocha. The ctx property allows us to store this data, but it is not serialized by default, making it unavailable in remote or reporting scenarios.

While investigating this, we found that a potential fix could be as simple as adding the ctx property to the serialized test object in toJSON, as shown below:
📌 File: packages\client\src\serialization.ts

if (value instanceof Test) {
  // Polyfill missing methods
  Object.assign(result, {
    ctx: value.ctx,
  });
}

beforeEach(function () {
  if (this.currentTest?.ctx) {
    this.currentTest.ctx = {
      jira: 'ticket id',
    };
  }
});

This fix appears straightforward, but we're unsure if it's the best approach or if there are any unintended side effects.

Would this be an acceptable solution within mocha-remote, or is there a better way to achieve this? Any guidance or alternative suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[gdavidkov]

@kraenhansen Could you take a look at my question above? Thanks!

[kraenhansen]

Do you use some special reporter which reads out these ticket ids? Or what consumes this extra context? My first instinct is that you'd want to patch and extend the mocha.Test.prototype.serialize method which is called by the mocha-remote serializer here:

mocha-remote/packages/client/src/serialization.ts

Line 21 in ee9f648

const result = value.serialize();

Something like:

import { mocha } from "mocha-remote-client";
const originalSerialize = mocha.Test.prototype.serialize;
mocha.Test.prototype.serialize = function serialize() {
  return { ...originalSerialize.call(this), ctx: this.ctx };
};

(👆 I haven't tested that - so it might need some tweaking)

[gdavidkov]

Thanks for the quick reply — that makes a lot of sense. We’ll give the mocha.Test.prototype.serialize patch a try and see how it works out.

Just to give a bit more context: we’ve got a custom reporter that builds internal reports and pulls metadata like ticket IDs from each test. That’s why we’re looking to include ctx in the serialized test data.

Curious to hear your thoughts on this — do you see ctx as a reasonable place to attach custom metadata like this? Or is there a better pattern you'd recommend for something like that?

Also, do you think support for this could make sense as an opt-in feature in mocha-remote, or would you lean toward keeping it a userland thing?

Really appreciate the guidance!