diff --git a/src/editor/commands.ts b/src/editor/commands.ts
index 23860741..80adfe7b 100644
--- a/src/editor/commands.ts
+++ b/src/editor/commands.ts
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ export const createCommands = ({ extensionPath, workspaceState, workspaceRoot }:
         },
         onFail: (payload: Payload, message: string) => {
           // send test fail message back to client
-          vscode.window.showWarningMessage(`FAIL: ${message}`)
+          vscode.window.showWarningMessage(`FAIL ${message}`)
           webview.send({ type: 'TEST_FAIL', payload })
         },
         onError: (payload: Payload) => {
diff --git a/src/services/testRunner/index.ts b/src/services/testRunner/index.ts
index 6d8ecb72..3453491a 100644
--- a/src/services/testRunner/index.ts
+++ b/src/services/testRunner/index.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import node from '../../services/node'
 import { getOutputChannel } from '../../editor/outputChannel'
 import parser from './parser'
-import { setLatestProcess, isLatestProcess } from './throttle'
+// import { setLatestProcess, isLatestProcess } from './throttle'
 
 export interface Payload {
   stepId: string
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ const createTestRunner = (config: TestRunnerConfig, callbacks: Callbacks) => {
   const outputChannelName = 'TEST_OUTPUT'
 
   return async (payload: Payload, onSuccess?: () => void): Promise<void> => {
-    console.log('------------------- run test ------------------')
+    console.log('------------------- RUN TEST -------------------')
 
     // flag as running
     callbacks.onRun(payload)
@@ -31,41 +31,36 @@ const createTestRunner = (config: TestRunnerConfig, callbacks: Callbacks) => {
     try {
       result = await node.exec(config.command)
     } catch (err) {
-      result = err
+      result = { stdout: err.stdout, stderr: err.stack }
     }
     const { stdout, stderr } = result
 
-    // simple way to throttle requests
-    if (!stdout) {
-      return
-    }
-
+    const tap = parser(stdout || '')
     if (stderr) {
-      callbacks.onError(payload)
-
-      // open terminal with error string
-      const channel = getOutputChannel(outputChannelName)
-      channel.show(false)
-      channel.appendLine(stderr)
-      return
+      // failures also trigger stderr
+      if (stdout && stdout.length && !tap.ok) {
+        const message = tap.message ? tap.message : ''
+        callbacks.onFail(payload, message)
+        return
+      } else {
+        callbacks.onError(payload)
+        // open terminal with error string
+        const channel = getOutputChannel(outputChannelName)
+        channel.show(false)
+        channel.appendLine(stderr)
+        return
+      }
     }
 
-    // pass or fail?
-    const tap = parser(stdout)
+    // success!
     if (tap.ok) {
       callbacks.onSuccess(payload)
       if (onSuccess) {
         onSuccess()
       }
     } else {
-      // TODO: consider logging output to channel
-      // open terminal with failed test string
-      // const channel = getOutputChannel(outputChannelName)
-      // channel.show(false)
-      // channel.appendLine(tap.message)
-
-      const message = tap.message ? tap.message : ''
-      callbacks.onFail(payload, message)
+      // should never get here
+      callbacks.onError(payload)
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/services/testRunner/parser.test.ts b/src/services/testRunner/parser.test.ts
index 260786df..2ff13afd 100644
--- a/src/services/testRunner/parser.test.ts
+++ b/src/services/testRunner/parser.test.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,17 @@ ok 2 - Should also pass
 ok 1 - Should pass
 not ok 2 - This one fails
 ok 3 - Also passes
+`
+    expect(parser(example).ok).toBe(false)
+  })
+  test('should detect failure if no tests passed', () => {
+    const example = `
+# Starting...
+# 1 test suites found.
+
+#  FAIL  __tests__/sum.test.js
+
+not ok 1 ● sum › should add two numbers together
 `
     expect(parser(example).ok).toBe(false)
   })
diff --git a/src/services/testRunner/parser.ts b/src/services/testRunner/parser.ts
index f77ce10c..63dd8eed 100644
--- a/src/services/testRunner/parser.ts
+++ b/src/services/testRunner/parser.ts
@@ -3,16 +3,27 @@ interface ParserOutput {
   message?: string
 }
 
+const fail = /^not ok \d+ .{1} (.+)+$/
+const ok = /^ok \d+ .{1} /
+
 const parser = (text: string): ParserOutput => {
   const lines = text.split('\n')
+  let hasPass = false
   for (const line of lines) {
-    // parse failed test
-    const match = line.match(/^not ok \d+ - (.+)+/)
-    if (!!match) {
-      return { ok: false, message: match[1] }
+    if (line.length) {
+      // parse failed test
+      const failRegex = fail.exec(line)
+      if (!!failRegex) {
+        return { ok: false, message: failRegex[1] }
+      }
+      if (!hasPass) {
+        if (!!ok.exec(line)) {
+          hasPass = true
+        }
+      }
     }
   }
-  return { ok: true }
+  return { ok: hasPass }
 }
 
 export default parser