RSpec provides the current scope as RSpec.current_scope

You can detect which rspec scope your helper methods or library code is executing in. This is useful if for example, your method only makes sense to call in a certain context.

Detecting the current scope

Given a file named "current_scope_spec.rb" with:

# Outside of the test lifecycle, the current scope is `:suite`
exit(1) unless RSpec.current_scope == :suite

at_exit do
  exit(1) unless RSpec.current_scope == :suite
end

RSpec.configure do |c|
  c.before :suite do
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:before_suite_hook)
  end

  c.before :context do
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:before_context_hook)
  end

  c.before :example do
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:before_example_hook)
  end

  c.around :example do |ex|
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:before_example_hook)
    ex.run
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:after_example_hook)
  end

  c.after :example do
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:after_example_hook)
  end

  c.after :context do
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:after_context_hook)
  end

  c.after :suite do
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:after_suite_hook)
  end
end

RSpec.describe "RSpec.current_scope" do
  before :context do
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:before_context_hook)
  end

  before :example do
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:before_example_hook)
  end

  around :example do |ex|
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:before_example_hook)
    ex.run
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:after_example_hook)
  end

  after :example do
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:after_example_hook)
  end

  after :context do
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:after_context_hook)
  end

  it "is :example in an example" do
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:example)
  end

  it "works for multiple examples" do
    expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:example)
  end

  describe "in nested describe blocks" do
    it "still works" do
      expect(RSpec.current_scope).to eq(:example)
    end
  end
end

When I run rspec current_scope_spec.rb

Then the examples should all pass.