A spec helper for VCR that separates cassettes into directories

example.md

The "vcr.rb" spec helper in this gist will create cassettes with readable filename structures. It aims to avoid extremely long filenames for cassets that can break Docker builds.

For example:

# spec/features/life/quotes_widget_spec.rb
describe 'Life quotes widget', :vcr do
  context 'when the user knows their coverage amount' do
    it 'redirects to the health navigator' do
      # ...
    end
  end
  context 'when the user does not know their coverage amount' do
    it 'redirects to the coverage navigator' do
      # ...
    end
    it 'saves the foo and the bar' do
      # ...
    end
  end
end

Will generate cassettes:

spec/
  cassettes/
    life_quotes_widget/
      when_the_user_knows_their_coverage_amount/
        redirects_to_the_health_navigator.yml
      when_the_user_does_not_know_their_coverage_amount/
        redirects_to_the_coverage_navigator.yml
        saves_the_foo_and_the_bar.yml

vcr.rb

# ./spec/support/vcr.rb

require 'rails_helper'
require 'vcr'
require 'webmock'

VCR.configure do |config|
  config.ignore_localhost = true
  config.cassette_library_dir = 'spec/cassettes'
  config.hook_into :webmock
end

RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.around(:each, :vcr) do |example|
    cassette_name = example.metadata[:description]

    shelf_names = example_group_names(example.metadata[:example_group])

    cassette_filename = (shelf_names + [cassette_name])
      .map { |n| n.parameterize('_') }
      .join('/')

    options = example.metadata.slice(:record, :match_requests_on)
    VCR.use_cassette(cassette_filename, options) { example.call }
  end

  config.before(:each) do
    $vcr_cassette_log = []
  end
end

# Returns: A flat array of names of the example group heirarchy
def example_group_names(example)
  return if example.nil?
  names = []
  names << example_group_names(example[:parent_example_group])
  names << example[:description]
  names.compact.flatten
end