Error when trying to run rspec: `require': cannot load such file -- rails_helper (LoadError)

Ruby on-Rails Problem Overview

I am trying to run rspec for Ruby on Rails. I am running Rails 4.1.1. I have installed the gem, have established a spec folder with some tests. I have created a directory through $ rails g rspec:install

I tried to create a testing database through $ rake db:test:prepare but it throws this error message:

WARNING: db:test:prepare is deprecated. The Rails test helper now maintains your test 
schema automatically, see the release notes for details.

So I ended up looking at this stack overflow post, and of the two options, the one that worked was:

rake db:schema:load RAILS_ENV=test

So, now I need to run rspec.

When I run $ rspec spec from the command line I get this error:

/Users/myname/.rbenv/versions/2.1.1/lib/ruby/2.1.0/rubygems/core_ext/
kernel_require.rb:55:in `require': cannot load such file -- rails_helper (LoadError)

How do I resolve this so that I can start running tests?

Ruby on-Rails Solutions

Solution 1 - Ruby on-Rails

There is some problem with rspec V3. But in your case you are using V2.

change

require 'rails_helper'

require 'spec_helper'

Other description find here https://teamtreehouse.com/forum/problem-with-rspec

For V3 :

If someone using rspec V3 then similar error occurs when generator not run. So before trying anything run generator.

rails generate rspec:install

If you are getting a huge list of warning on your console. Then you need to remove --warnings from .rspec file.

Solution 2 - Ruby on-Rails

I actually just had this error on rails 4 with rspec 3, but in my case I forgot to run the generator:

rails generate rspec:install

Also I had to remove warnings from .rspec, as stated by one of rpsec developers

Solution 3 - Ruby on-Rails

For me, the problem was due to a different "rspec-support" version loaded and activated. I solved by prepending a "bundle exec":

bundle exec rspec

Solution 4 - Ruby on-Rails

For newer versions (3.5), if you need to run the generator, rails generate rspec:install doesn't work for me. I used:

rspec --init

Creates .rspec and spec/spec_helper.rb.

EDIT: Just in case, I found out that I installed rspec gem for ruby, not the one for Rails, so rspec:install wasn't available. Should use https://github.com/rspec/rspec-rails.

Solution 5 - Ruby on-Rails

Always remember to run the rspec or the bundle exec rspec from the root of your project. Something like:

bundle exec rspec spec/features/file_test_spec.rb

Solution 6 - Ruby on-Rails

Please install the following gem:

gem install 'rspec-rails'

And then run: rails generate rspec:install

This will generate the spec folder and rails_helper.rb and spec_helper.rb. Your error should be taken care once this is done.

Solution 7 - Ruby on-Rails

Sometimes you need to run rspec command from Project's parent directory

Solution 8 - Ruby on-Rails

None of these suggestions worked for me on Rails 4.2.0 with rspec-rails 3.2.3.

Instead, I placed the following two lines at the top of my spec file:

require 'rails_helper'
require 'spec_helper'

Now I can execute rspec spec/features/my_spec.rb.

Solution 9 - Ruby on-Rails

I had the same error but there was no reference to rails_helper anywhere and we weren't even using rails.

However, I eventually found that my ~/.rspec was requiring rails_helper (presumably from creating rails app in the past) which was causing the issue ...

$ cat ~/.rspec
--color
--format documentation
--require spec_helper
--require rails_helper

The fix is as simple as removing that line. Hope this helps someone else grappling with the same issue!

Solution 10 - Ruby on-Rails

One possibility that worked for me is to make sure you're requiring spec_helper. RubyMine can default require rspec and this can sometimes lead to this error.

Solution 11 - Ruby on-Rails

I got the error you described when running a controller test. However, when I ran a model test, I got the true error. it ended up saying that the error was occuring because my database wasn't migrated. I fixed the error by running this command...

rake db:test:prepare

Solution 12 - Ruby on-Rails

You may also have your file named incorrectly. Make sure it ends in _spec.rb. I had misspelled my file to end in _soec.rb and was scratching my head for a while...

Solution 13 - Ruby on-Rails

For someone. If you got that error when you trynna test a specific file. you might can like this

$ bundle exec rspec ./spec/features/user_login_spec.rb
$ bundle exec rspec ./spec/models/user_login_spec.rb

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	HPJAJ	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Ruby on-Rails	Dipak Gupta	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Ruby on-Rails	fotanus	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Ruby on-Rails	Daniel Loureiro	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Ruby on-Rails	Hans Araya	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Ruby on-Rails	Leandro Castro	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Ruby on-Rails	Dhivya Dandapani	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - Ruby on-Rails	toki	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 8 - Ruby on-Rails	mycargus	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 9 - Ruby on-Rails	daveharris	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 10 - Ruby on-Rails	Anthony Dreessen	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 11 - Ruby on-Rails	thedanotto	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 12 - Ruby on-Rails	stevenspiel	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 13 - Ruby on-Rails	Ryosuke Hujisawa	View Answer on Stackoverflow