From 88d1bcc91b2dfbc64623a26ba2ae7bfdc8bd1600 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Meet Pandya <meetpandya4715@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2026 18:43:50 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] Improve self fixture lookup error

---
 changelog/12907.improvement.rst |  1 +
 src/_pytest/fixtures.py         |  5 +++++
 testing/python/fixtures.py      | 17 +++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 23 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 changelog/12907.improvement.rst

diff --git a/changelog/12907.improvement.rst b/changelog/12907.improvement.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b53ed1673b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/12907.improvement.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The missing fixture error for bare test functions which mistakenly declare a ``self`` parameter now suggests removing it.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/fixtures.py b/src/_pytest/fixtures.py
index 44c304905e7..d93dde82fbb 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/fixtures.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/fixtures.py
@@ -1009,6 +1009,11 @@ def formatrepr(self) -> FixtureLookupErrorRepr:
                 )
             else:
                 msg = f"fixture '{self.argname}' not found"
+                if self.argname == "self":
+                    msg += (
+                        "\n hint: remove 'self' from the function definition if this "
+                        "is not a method"
+                    )
             msg += "\n available fixtures: {}".format(", ".join(sorted(available)))
             msg += "\n use 'pytest --fixtures [testpath]' for help on them."
 
diff --git a/testing/python/fixtures.py b/testing/python/fixtures.py
index f49c41ec9df..0e73662b751 100644
--- a/testing/python/fixtures.py
+++ b/testing/python/fixtures.py
@@ -687,6 +687,23 @@ def test_lookup_error(unknown):
         )
         result.stdout.no_fnmatch_line("*INTERNAL*")
 
+    def test_funcarg_lookup_error_self_hint(self, pytester: Pytester) -> None:
+        pytester.makepyfile(
+            """
+            def test_something(self):
+                pass
+            """
+        )
+        result = pytester.runpytest()
+        result.stdout.fnmatch_lines(
+            [
+                "*ERROR at setup of test_something*",
+                "E       fixture 'self' not found",
+                ">       hint: remove 'self' from the function definition if this is not a method",
+            ]
+        )
+        result.assert_outcomes(errors=1)
+
     def test_fixture_excinfo_leak(self, pytester: Pytester) -> None:
         # on python2 sys.excinfo would leak into fixture executions
         pytester.makepyfile(