Purpose of review: We review the potential new diagnostic tools for determining the cause of pneumonia in the setting of community-acquired infection after outlining the limitation of currently available tests. Recent findings: A number of new tools are on the horizon with the potential to overcome the problems of existing tests. These tools include new nucleic acid amplification platforms, real-time computer-assisted microscopy, next-generation sequencing and high-throughput mass spectrometry. All of these tests still face significant barriers before they can enter general clinical practice including cost, reliability and physician acceptance. Summary: Although new platforms are exciting and do offer the promise of finally moving beyond our current very limited scope of microbiological te...