Configuration

All keys live under the TestHelper config prefix. See config/app.example.php for the canonical, copy-paste reference.

Authorization

If you use the CakePHP Authorization plugin, TestHelper skips its checks automatically while debug is enabled. To deliberately skip them outside debug, use:

Configure::write('TestHelper.ignoreAuthorization', true);

Back-to-app link

Show a "back" link in the TestHelper navbar that returns to your app's admin area:

// config/app.php
'TestHelper' => [
    // Anything Router::url() accepts; 'plugin' => false anchors it to the host app.
    'adminBackUrl' => ['plugin' => false, 'prefix' => 'Admin', 'controller' => 'Overview', 'action' => 'index'],
    'adminBackLabel' => 'Back to admin', // Optional. Defaults to "Back to App".
],

Leave adminBackUrl unset to hide the link (the default).

Test runner

'TestHelper' => [
    // Custom phpunit command. Both `php phpunit.phar` and `vendor/bin/phpunit` work out of the box.
    'command' => null,
    // Custom PHP binary path, e.g. '/usr/bin/php8.2'.
    'php' => null,
],

PHPUnit selects the available coverage driver in the CLI process. TestHelper enables Xdebug coverage mode for that process; PCOV must be installed and enabled in CLI PHP. The legacy coverage key does not select or install a driver.

Your own templates

The default templates ship with Bootstrap 5 and Font Awesome icons. You can swap any view template for your own at the project level, as documented in the CakePHP docs.

Tool-specific configuration

Some tools have their own keys, documented on their pages:

• Association vs DB Audit, associationAudit.ignoreColumns, associationAudit.preferIntegerKeys

TestHelper.php accepts one executable path. It is quoted as a single command argument, so values such as php -d memory_limit=-1 must use a wrapper executable instead. For the test runner, TestHelper.command can contain the full PHPUnit command, including PHP options. Test and fixture generation always uses the executable path.