To configure Maven Surefire for running JUnit tests, add the Maven Surefire Plugin to the <build> section of your pom.xml.
For modern JUnit 5 tests, you typically need:
- A JUnit 5 dependency
- The Maven Surefire Plugin
- Test classes named using Maven’s default test naming patterns
1. Add JUnit 5 Dependency
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
<artifactId>junit-jupiter</artifactId>
<version>5.13.4</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
2. Configure Maven Surefire Plugin
Add this inside your pom.xml:
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.5.3</version>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
A complete minimal Maven setup looks like this:
<project>
<!-- project coordinates omitted -->
<properties>
<maven.compiler.release>25</maven.compiler.release>
<junit.jupiter.version>5.13.4</junit.jupiter.version>
<maven.surefire.version>3.5.3</maven.surefire.version>
</properties>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
<artifactId>junit-jupiter</artifactId>
<version>${junit.jupiter.version}</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
<version>${maven.surefire.version}</version>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</project>
3. Use Standard Test Class Names
By default, Surefire runs tests whose names match patterns like:
**/Test*.java
**/*Test.java
**/*Tests.java
**/*TestCase.java
For example:
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
class CalculatorTest {
@Test
void shouldAddTwoNumbers() {
int result = 2 + 3;
assertEquals(5, result);
}
}
4. Run the Tests
From the project directory, run:
mvn test
Maven will compile your test code and run tests using Surefire.
5. Optional: Include or Exclude Specific Tests
You can customize which tests Surefire runs:
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.5.3</version>
<configuration>
<includes>
<include>**/*Test.java</include>
<include>**/*Tests.java</include>
</includes>
<excludes>
<exclude>**/*IntegrationTest.java</exclude>
</excludes>
</configuration>
</plugin>
6. Optional: Run Tests by Tag
If you use JUnit 5 tags:
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Tag;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
class PaymentServiceTest {
@Test
@Tag("fast")
void shouldProcessPayment() {
// test code
}
}
Configure Surefire like this:
<configuration>
<groups>fast</groups>
</configuration>
Or run from the command line:
mvn test -Dgroups=fast
Summary
For JUnit 5, the essential Maven Surefire configuration is:
<dependency>
<groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
<artifactId>junit-jupiter</artifactId>
<version>5.13.4</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.5.3</version>
</plugin>
Then run:
mvn test