How to execute TestNG and Maven without testng.xml file?

To run TestNG tests with Maven, it is not mandatory to configure any testng.xml. Instead of this you just let Maven do the execution with maven-surefire-plugin of the Maven build lifecycle and for that you don't need to define any test suite, classes, or methods in testng.xml. The maven-surefire-plugin allows you to run your TestNG tests directly by providing options in the pom.xml file.

Approach to execute TestNG and Maven without testng.xml file

Following are the approaches to execute testNG and Maven without the testng.xml file

• Create a Maven Project: Create a maven project in any IDE like Eclipse and IntelliJ
• Create Test Classes with TestNG Annotations: Inside that maven project under src/test/java, create a test class that contains different methods annotated with the @Test annotation. Maven will automatically configure that test method during the build process.
• Configure Maven's pom.xml: In the pom.xml file of the maven project, configure the maven-surfire-plugin. This plugin automatically runs the unit test in Maven without a testing.xml file.
• Run Maven Command: After configuring the maven-surfire-plugin. Open the terminal in your ide and add command mvn test. With the help of this command, you can run your testNG tests in Maven. Maven automatically detects and executes all the TestNG test methods in your Maven project.

Example Code:

import org.testng.annotations.Test;

public class MyTest {

    @Test
    public void testMethod1() {
        System.out.println("Executing testMethod1");
    }

    @Test
    public void testMethod2() {
        System.out.println("Executing testMethod2");
    }
}

pom.xml

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    
    <groupId>com.example</groupId>
    <artifactId>testng-maven-example</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

    <dependencies>
        <!-- TestNG dependency -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.testng</groupId>
            <artifactId>testng</artifactId>
            <version>7.7.0</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.0.0</version>
                <configuration>
                    <!-- Use TestNG as the testing framework -->
                    <includes>
                        <include>**/*Test.java</include>
                    </includes>
                    <properties>
                        <property>
                            <name>usedefaultlisteners</name>
                            <value>false</value>
                        </property>
                    </properties>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>

Output:

-------------------------------------------------------

T E S T S

-------------------------------------------------------

Running MyTest

Executing testMethod1

Executing testMethod2

Tests run: 2, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 0.123 sec

-------------------------------------------------------

BUILD SUCCESS

Conclusion

Running TestNG tests from Maven with no testng.xml is very straightforward using maven-surefire-plugin. You can configure a usage of that plugin within your pom.xml in such a manner to make the plug-in automatically discover and run your TestNG-based tests. This approach makes your test configuration simpler and keeps your project structure clean, as you do not require keeping an external testng.xml file in particular for running tests.