Ward is a Python testing framework with a focus on productivity and readability. It gives you the tools you need to write well-documented and scalable tests. With Ward, you can describe your tests using strings instead of function names, and also use plain assert statements, with no need to remember assert* method names. Ward provides beautiful output that focuses on readability. It also manages test dependencies using a simple but powerful fixture system, while parameterising testing, which allows you to run a single test on multiple inputs. Ward has support for testing async code, and is supported on MacOS, Linux, and Windows. Ward is configurable with pyproject.toml, but works out-of-the-box with sensible defaults. It is also extendable via a plugin system (coming soon). Above all, Ward is speedy – Ward’s suite of ~300 tests completes in ~0.4 seconds on my machine.