django - how to detect test environment (check / determine if tests are being run)

Question

How can I detect whether a view is being called in a test environment (e.g., from manage.py test)?

#pseudo_code
def my_view(request):
    if not          


        

Answer 1

While there's no official way to see whether we're in a test environment, django actually leaves some clues for us. By default Django’s test runner automatically redirects all Django-sent email to a dummy outbox. This is accomplished by replacing EMAIL_BACKEND in a function called setup_test_environment, which in turn is called by a method of DiscoverRunner. So, we can check whether settings.EMAIL_BACKEND is set to 'django.core.mail.backends.locmem.EmailBackend'. That mean we're in a test environment.

A less hacky solution would be following the devs lead by adding our own setting by subclassing DisoverRunner and then overriding setup_test_environment method.