---
id: pytest-reraise
version: "2.1.2"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: abandoned
---

# pytest-reraise — Make multi-threaded pytest test cases fail when they should

License: permissive · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 180.4K/mo

## What it is and what it does

pytest-reraise is a pytest plugin that solves a specific threading problem: when you write assertions inside a thread spawned from a test, those assertions fail silently because the exception is raised in the thread, not the main test thread. The plugin provides a `reraise` fixture that acts as a context manager to capture exceptions from worker threads and re-raise them in the main thread at the end of the test, making the test fail as expected.

The plugin supports wrapping functions as decorators, manually triggering re-raises mid-test, handling multiple exceptions (keeping the first), optionally catching exceptions to prevent them from crashing the thread, and accessing or resetting captured exceptions. It's designed for developers writing multi-threaded tests who need pytest to properly detect assertion failures that occur in spawned threads.

Use it for:

- Testing concurrent code where worker threads perform assertions that must be validated by the main test
- Verifying that background tasks or thread pools fail correctly when they encounter errors
- Debugging multi-threaded applications by ensuring thread exceptions don't silently pass tests
- Wrapping thread target functions with exception capture to keep threads alive while collecting errors
- Comparing captured thread exceptions against expected error types or messages in test assertions

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Captures exceptions raised in threads during pytest tests and re-raises them in the main thread so that multi-threaded test failures are properly detected.

Yes, if you actively write multi-threaded pytest tests and need thread exceptions to fail your tests. The low install friction and permissive license make adoption easy. However, the abandoned maintenance status (last commit 2023-02-06) is a concern—verify compatibility with your pytest and Python versions before relying on it for new projects, and monitor for any unresolved issues with newer releases.

## Install

pip install pytest-reraise
uv add pytest-reraise
poetry add pytest-reraise

## Installing pytest-reraise

Before you install: Low friction: pure Python wheel with only pytest as a runtime dependency. Maintenance is stalled—last commit was 2023-02-06 and the package is marked abandoned, though it remains marked Production/Stable and has received no security reports.

License in practice: MIT license is permissive; you may use, modify, and distribute this package freely in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install pytest-reraise

# In your test file:
from threading import Thread

def test_with_thread(reraise):
    def run():
        with reraise:
            assert False
    Thread(target=run).start()

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package works reliably with pytest versions released after 2023-02-06
- Whether the abandoned status indicates unresolved bugs or compatibility issues with newer Python or pytest releases

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 180.4K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

pytest thread exception handling, multi-threaded test assertions, capture exceptions in threads, pytest plugin threading, thread assertion failures, pytest reraise decorator, test thread error detection, pytest-plugin, threading, test-utilities

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/pytest-reraise) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/pytest-reraise/)