Skip to main content

Test unmerged code changes

Q: I have new changes in my current git branch, and tests were in another branch, but both are not merged to main. I need to run the tests to check if the new changes breaks anything.

Assume:

feature → current branch with code changes

tests → another branch containing only the tests

Option 1: If the test branch has a few commits​

Cherry-pick the test commits​

git checkout feature
git cherry-pick <test_commit_hash>

Thumb rule: cherry-pick the commits of branch whichever is lesser in count

If there are so many commits, do squash:

git cherry-pick -n <oldest-commit-hash>~1..<newest-commit-hash>

Run:

pytest -vs /path/to/test_file.py

When done, if you don't want those commits (reset or discard the files):

git reset --hard HEAD~1   # if it was the cherry-picked commit

Option 2. Merge the test branch temporarily​

git checkout feature
git merge tests

Run pytest

Reset or discard the files

Option 3. Stash + Checkout/Switch​

git stash (or VS-Code Stash)
git checkout tests
git merge feature

Run pytest

Reset or discard the files