# Running Tests interactively {#sec-running-nixos-tests-interactively}

The test itself can be run interactively. This is particularly useful
when developing or debugging a test:

```ShellSession
$ nix-build . -A nixosTests.login.driverInteractive
$ ./result/bin/nixos-test-driver
[...]
>>>
```

::: {.note}
Tests using `systemd-nspawn` container machines require root privileges to run interactively,
since the driver calls `systemd-nspawn` directly to start the containers:

```
$ sudo ./result/bin/nixos-test-driver
[...]
>>>
```
:::

::: {.note}
By executing the test driver in this way,
the VMs executed may gain network & Internet access via their backdoor control interface,
typically recognized as `eth0`.
:::

You can then take any Python statement, e.g.

```py
>>> start_all()
>>> test_script()
>>> machine.succeed("touch /tmp/foo")
>>> print(machine.succeed("pwd")) # Show stdout of command
```

The function `test_script` executes the entire test script and drops you
back into the test driver command line upon its completion. This allows
you to inspect the state of the VMs after the test (e.g. to debug the
test script).

## Shell access to VMs in interactive mode {#sec-nixos-test-shell-access}

The function `<yourmachine>.shell_interact()` grants access to a shell running
inside a virtual machine. To use it, replace `<yourmachine>` with the name of a
virtual machine defined in the test, for example: `machine.shell_interact()`.
Keep in mind that this shell may not display everything correctly as it is
running within an interactive Python REPL, and logging output from the virtual
machine may overwrite input and output from the guest shell:

```py
>>> machine.shell_interact()
machine: Terminal is ready (there is no initial prompt):
$ hostname
machine
```

As an alternative, you can proxy the guest shell to a local TCP server by first
starting a TCP server in a terminal using the command:

```ShellSession
$ socat 'READLINE,PROMPT=$ ' tcp-listen:4444,reuseaddr
```

In the terminal where the test driver is running, connect to this server by
using:

```py
>>> machine.shell_interact("tcp:127.0.0.1:4444")
```

Once the connection is established, you can enter commands in the socat terminal
where socat is running.

## SSH Access for test VMs {#sec-nixos-test-ssh-access}

An SSH-based backdoor to log into machines can be enabled with

```nix
{
  name = "…";
  nodes.machines = {
    # …
  };
  interactive.sshBackdoor.enable = true;
}
```

This creates a [vsock socket](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/vsock.7.html)
for each VM to log in with SSH. This configures root login with an empty password.

On the host-side a UNIX domain-socket is used with
[vhost-device-vsock](https://github.com/rust-vmm/vhost-device/blob/main/vhost-device-vsock/README.md).
That way, it's not necessary to assign system-wide unique vsock numbers.

```
$ ssh vsock-mux//tmp/path/to/host -o User=root
```

The socket paths are printed when starting the test driver:

```
Note: this requires systemd-ssh-proxy(1) to be enabled (default on NixOS 25.05 and newer).
    machine:  ssh -o User=root vsock-mux//tmp/tmpg1rp9nti/machine_host.socket
```

On non-NixOS systems you'll probably need to enable
the SSH config from {manpage}`systemd-ssh-proxy(1)` yourself.

During a test-run, it's possible to print the SSH commands again by running

```
In [2]: dump_machine_ssh()
SSH backdoor enabled, the machines can be accessed like this:
Note: this requires systemd-ssh-proxy(1) to be enabled (default on NixOS 25.05 and newer).
    machine:  ssh -o User=root vsock-mux//tmp/tmpg1rp9nti/machine_host.socket
```

## Port forwarding to NixOS test VMs {#sec-nixos-test-port-forwarding}

If your test has only a single VM, you may use e.g.

```ShellSession
$ QEMU_NET_OPTS="hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:2222-:22" ./result/bin/nixos-test-driver
```

to port-forward a port in the VM (here `22`) to the host machine (here port `2222`).

This naturally does not work when multiple machines are involved,
since a single port on the host cannot forward to multiple VMs.

If the test defines multiple machines, you may opt to _temporarily_ set
`virtualisation.forwardPorts` in the test definition for debugging.

Such port forwardings connect via the VM's virtual network interface.
Thus they cannot connect to ports that are only bound to the VM's
loopback interface (`127.0.0.1`), and the VM's NixOS firewall
must be configured to allow these connections.

## Reuse VM state {#sec-nixos-test-reuse-vm-state}

You can re-use the VM states coming from a previous run by setting the
`--keep-machine-state` flag.

```ShellSession
$ ./result/bin/nixos-test-driver --keep-machine-state
```

The machine state is stored in the `$TMPDIR/vm-state-machinename`
directory.

## Interactive-only test configuration {#sec-nixos-test-interactive-configuration}

The `.driverInteractive` attribute combines the regular test configuration with
definitions from the [`interactive` submodule](#test-opt-interactive). This gives you
a more usable, graphical, but slightly different configuration.

You can add your own interactive-only test configuration by adding extra
configuration to the [`interactive` submodule](#test-opt-interactive).

To interactively run only the regular configuration, build the `<test>.driver` attribute
instead, and call it with the flag `result/bin/nixos-test-driver --interactive`.
