Unable to use test discovery for Django tests

[interDist]

Type: Bug

Behaviour

Test discovery fails for my Django project. In fact, I have never managed to get it to work, but there is an evolution of errors. Currently, the following appears in the Output:

Discovering unittest tests for workspace /homedir/[REDACTED] with arguments: /homedir/.vscode/extensions/ms-python.python-2025.7.2025060501-linux-x64/python_files/unittestadapter/discovery.py,--udiscovery,-v,-s,./tests,-p,test_*.py

 ~/venvs/p312/bin/python ~/.vscode/extensions/ms-python.python-2025.7.2025060501-linux-x64/python_files/unittestadapter/discovery.py --udiscovery -v -s ./tests -p test_*.py
MANAGE_PY_PATH is set, running Django discovery with path to manage.py as: $/homedir/[REDACTED]/manage.py
Running Django tests with command: ['/homedir/venvs/p312/bin/python', '/homedir/[REDACTED]/manage.py', 'test', '--testrunner=django_test_runner.CustomDiscoveryTestRunner', '-v', '-s', './tests', '-p', 'test_*.py']

manage.py test: error: argument -v/--verbosity: expected one argument

Django test discovery process exited with non-zero error code 

GitHub Copilot says the following about all this: "Recent versions of the VSCode Python extension ignore python.testing.unittestArgs for test discovery in the Testing tab. This is a known issue and limitation: the Testing tab always uses its own discovery logic and ignores custom arguments. See: VSCode Python extension issue #18309".

Steps to reproduce:

1. Use venv to setup a new virtual environment with Python 3.12
2. Create a new Django project
3. Create the subfolder "tests" and place some unit tests there
4. Observe that ./manage.py test runs those
5. Observe the errors detailed above when trying to refresh tests in the Testing tab in VSCode

Diagnostic data

Output for Python in the Output panel (View→Output, change the drop-down the upper-right of the Output panel to Python)

See above

Extension version: 2025.7.2025060501
VS Code version: Code 1.100.3 (258e40fedc6cb8edf399a463ce3a9d32e7e1f6f3, 2025-06-02T13:30:54.273Z)
OS version: Linux x64 6.11.0-26-generic snap
Modes:

• Python version (& distribution if applicable, e.g. Anaconda): 3.12.3
• Type of virtual environment used (e.g. conda, venv, virtualenv, etc.): Venv
• Value of the python.languageServer setting: Default

User Settings

venvPath: "<placeholder>"

languageServer: "Pylance"

testing
• unittestArgs: "<placeholder>"
• unittestEnabled: true

Installed Extensions

Extension Name	Extension Id	Version
autodocstring	njp	0.6.1
copilot	Git	1.333.0
copilot-chat	Git	0.27.3
debugpy	ms-	2025.9.2025053001
django-gettext	xia	1.0.2
docker	doc	0.10.0
even-better-toml	tam	0.21.2
js-debug	ms-	1.100.1
js-debug-companion	ms-	1.1.3
jupyter	ms-	2025.3.2025032101
jupyter-keymap	ms-	1.1.2
jupyter-renderers	ms-	1.1.2025012901
python	ms-	2025.7.2025060501
python-environment-manager	don	1.2.7
remote-containers	ms-	0.418.0
remote-explorer	ms-	0.5.0
remote-server	ms-	1.5.2
remote-ssh	ms-	0.120.0
remote-ssh-edit	ms-	0.87.0
remote-wsl	ms-	0.99.0
ruff	cha	2025.22.0
vscode-containers	ms-	2.0.3
vscode-django	bat	1.15.0
vscode-docker	ms-	2.0.0
vscode-github-actions	git	0.27.2
vscode-js-profile-table	ms-	1.0.10
vscode-jupyter-cell-tags	ms-	0.1.9
vscode-jupyter-slideshow	ms-	0.1.6
vscode-pylance	ms-	2025.5.103
vscode-remote-extensionpack	ms-	0.26.0

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H CPU @ 2.20GHz (4 x 0)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: unavailable_software canvas_oop_rasterization: disabled_off direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok gpu_compositing: disabled_software multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on opengl: disabled_off rasterization: disabled_software raw_draw: disabled_off_ok skia_graphite: disabled_off video_decode: disabled_software video_encode: disabled_software vulkan: disabled_off webgl: unavailable_software webgl2: unavailable_software webgpu: disabled_off webnn: unavailable_software
Load (avg)	2, 2, 1
Memory (System)	7.71GB (2.35GB free)
Process Argv	--no-sandbox --force-user-env --crash-reporter-id 8be4dee1-8ffe-4e7f-b715-5b8d68766f73
Screen Reader	no
VM	100%
DESKTOP_SESSION	ubuntu
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP	Unity
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP	ubuntu
XDG_SESSION_TYPE	wayland

A/B Experiments

vsliv368:30146709
vspor879:30202332
vspor708:30202333
vspor363:30204092
vscod805cf:30301675
binariesv615:30325510
c4g48928:30535728
azure-dev_surveyone:30548225
962ge761:30959799
h48ei257:31000450
pythontbext0:30879054
cppperfnew:31000557
dwnewjupytercf:31046870
pythonrstrctxt:31112756
nativeloc2:31192216
5fd0e150:31155592
dwcopilot:31170013
6074i472:31201624
dwoutputs:31242946
customenabled:31248079
9064b325:31222308
copilot_t_ci:31222730
e5gg6876:31282496
pythoneinst12:31285622
bgtreat:31268568
4gafe986:31271826
c7cif404:31314491
996jf627:31283433
pythonrdcb7:31303018
usemplatestapi:31297334
0aa6g176:31307128
7bj51361:31289155
747dc170:31275177
pylancecolor:31314202
aj953862:31281341
generatesymbolt:31295002
convertfstringf:31295003
gendocf:31295004
pylancequickfixf:31319675
he899328:31327032
b6b4d950:31327385

[eleanorjboyd]

Do you have any args in your settings under python.unittest.args? I don't think I append -v and did a code check and didn't find it through that look either