API client

The API client plugin of Japa makes it super simple to test your API endpoints over HTTP. You can use it to test any HTTP endpoint that returns JSON, XML, HTML, or even plain text.

It has out of the box support for:

• Multiple content types including application/json, application/x-www-form-urlencoded and multipart.
• Ability to upload files.
• Read and write cookies with the option to register custom cookies serializer.
• Lifecycle hooks. A great use-case of hooks is to persist and load session data during a request.
• All other common abilities like sending headers, query-string, and following redirects.
• Support for registering custom body serializers and parsers.

Setup

Install the package from the npm registry as follows.

npm i -D @japa/api-client@1.4.4

# yarn
yarn add -D @japa/api-client@1.4.4

And register it as a plugin within the bin/test.js file.

import { apiClient } from '@japa/api-client'
import { configure, processCliArgs } from '@japa/runner'

configure({
  ...processCliArgs(process.argv.slice(2)),
  ...{
    files: ['tests/**/*.spec.js'],
    plugins: [apiClient('https://localhost:3333')]
  }
})

const { apiClient } = require('@japa/api-client')
const { configure, processCliArgs } = require('@japa/runner')

configure({
  ...processCliArgs(process.argv.slice(2)),
  ...{
    files: ['tests/**/*.spec.js'],
    plugins: [apiClient('https://localhost:3333')]
  }
})

Once done. You can access the client property from the Test context as follows.

test('get /users', async ({ client }) => {
  const response = await client.get('/users')

  console.log(response.body())
  console.log(response.status())
})

Making API calls

You can make requests for different HTTP methods as follows. Each method accepts the request endpoint as the only argument.

test('dummy test', async ({ client }) => {
  await client.get('/users')

  await client.post('/users')

  await client.put('/users')

  await client.patch('/users')

  await client.delete('/users')

  await client.head('/users')

  await client.options('/users')
})

You can use the client.request method for any other HTTP method.

test('dummy test', async ({ client }) => {
  await client.request('/users', 'TRACE')
})

Executing the request returns an instance of the Response class. An exception is raised only when the response status >=500. All other status codes result in resolving the promise.

const response = await client.get('/users')

console.log(response.status())
console.log(response.body())
console.log(response.method())
console.log(response.headers())

Dump values

Instead of manually logging the response properties to inspect them, you can call the following methods to dump/write them on the console automatically.

const response = await client.get('/users')
  
response.dumpHeaders()
response.dumpBody()
response.dumpCookies()
response.dumpError()

Or just call the dump method to dump the entire response.

const response = await client.get('/users')

response.dump()

Dump request

The dump methods are also available on the request class to dump the request body, cookies, and headers.

await client
  .get('/')
  .dumpBody()
  .dumpCookies()
  .dumpHeaders()

Or dump everything using the dump method.

await client.get('/').dump()

Form submissions

You can send form data to the server using the form method. The content type for the request is automatically set to application/x-www-form-urlencoded.

await client
  .post('/posts')
  .form({
    title: 'Japa 101',
    description: 'Something about the post',
    tags: [1, 2, 4]
  })

For submitting raw JSON, you can use the json method. This method will set the content type for the request to application/json.

await client
  .post('/posts')
  .json({
    title: 'Japa 101',
    description: 'Something about the post',
    tags: [1, 2, 4]
  })

File uploads

You can upload files using the file method. The method accepts the field name and path to the file as its value.

This method makes a multipart/form-data request to the server.

await client
  .post('/posts')
  .file('cover_image', join(__dirname, '..', 'cover-image.jpg'))

The file content can also be defined as Buffer or a readable stream. For example:

await client
  .post('/posts')
  .file('cover_image', createReadStream('./path/to/file'))

// Using buffer
await client
  .post('/posts')
  .file('cover_image', Buffer.from(binaryContents))

When making a multipart request, you cannot use form or json methods. Instead, you must use either the field or fields methods to submit the form data.

await client
  .post('/posts')
  .file('cover_image', join(__dirname, '..', 'cover-image.jpg'))
  .fields({
    title: 'Japa 101',
    description: 'Something about the post',
    tags: [1, 2, 4]
  })

Cookies

You can use the cookie/cookies method to read/write cookies during a request. Since the API client is stateless, the cookies do not persist across requests, providing a clean slate for every request.

await client
  .post('/posts')
  .cookie('preferred_theme', 'dark')
  .cookie('some_random_key', 'random_value')

Or set multiple cookies together using the cookies method.

await client
  .post('/posts')
  .cookies({
    preferred_theme: 'dark',
    some_random_key: 'random_value'
  })

Similarly, you can access the cookies sent by the server using the response.cookies method.

const response = await client.post('/posts')

console.log(response.cookies())

// Reading a single cookie
console.log(response.cookie('user_id'))

Cookies serializer

Most of the backend frameworks encrypt or sign cookies to prevent value tampering. You can make use of the cookies serializer to sign/unsign cookies.

You can register the serializer by calling the static cookiesSerializer method on the ApiClient class.

import { ApiClient } from '@japa/api-client'

ApiClient.cookiesSerializer({
  // Invoked when reading cookies from the response
  process(key, value) {
    return unsignCookie(value)
  },
  
  // Invoked when sending cookie to the server
  prepare(key, value) {
    return signCookie(value)
  }
})

const { ApiClient } = require('@japa/api-client')

ApiClient.cookiesSerializer({
  // Invoked when reading cookies from the response
  process(key, value) {
    return unsignCookie(value)
  },
  
  // Invoked when sending cookie to the server
  prepare(key, value) {
    return signCookie(value)
  }
})

Once the serializer has been registered, all the cookies will be signed/unsigned automatically.

Assertions

You can validate the API response by directly calling the assertion methods on the response object.

The assertions methods only work when you are using the @japa/assert package as a plugin. Also, the assertions made using the response object count against the planned assertions. For example:

test('get /users', async ({ client, assert }) => {
  assert.plan(2)

  const response = await client
    .post('/posts')
    .form({ title: 'Japa 101' })

  // 1st assertion
  response.assertStatus(201)

  // 2nd assertion
  response.assertBody({
    title: 'Japa 101'
  })
})

You can find all the available assertions methods in the Assertions API section.

Lifecycle Hooks

Similar to the rest of the testing framework. You can also define lifecycle hooks executed before the request and after getting the response from the server.

You can either define the lifecycle hooks globally using the ApiClient class directly or define them for individual requests.

Defining hooks globally

import { ApiClient } from '@japa/api-client'

ApiClient.setup(async (request) => {
  // executed before each request
})

ApiClient.teardown(async (response) => {
  // executed after each request
})

const { ApiClient } = require('@japa/api-client')

ApiClient.setup(async (request) => {
  // executed before each request
})

ApiClient.teardown(async (response) => {
  // executed after each request
})

Defining hooks on request

test('get /users', async ({ client }) => {
  const response = await client
    .get('/posts')
    .setup(async () => {
      await createDummyPosts(20)
      return () => clearDatabase()
    })

  response.assertStatus(200)
})

Request API

Following are the available methods on the request class. You can get an instance of the request class by calling the HTTP request methods on the client object. For example:

const request = client.get('/')
const request = client.post('/')
const request = client.put('/')
const request = client.patch('/')
const request = client.request('/', 'TRACE')

cookie

Set cookie for the request. The method accepts the cookie name and its value. We will stringify the value unless you have registered a cookie serializer that can handle different data types.

request.cookie('foo', 'bar')

cookies

Set multiple cookies as a key-value pair.

request.cookies({
  foo: 'bar',
  bar: 'baz'
})

header

Set request header. The method accepts the header name and the value. The value can either be a string or an array of strings.

request.header('X-Request-Id', 'value')

headers

Set multiple headers as a key-value pair.

request.headers({
  'X-Request-Id': 'value'
})

field

Set form field for the multipart/form-data request. The method accepts the field name and its value. One of the following data types are accepted as the value.

• Blob
• Buffer
• ReadStream
• string
• boolean
• number

request.field('name', 'virk')
request.field('score', 98)

fields

Set multiple fields as a key-value pair.

request.fields({ name: 'virk', score: 98 })

file

Attach file for the multipart/form-data request. The method accepts the field name and its value. You can pass an absolute path to the file or pass Buffer/ReadableStream.

request.file('avatar', join(__dirname, 'storage', 'avatar.jpg'))
request.file('avatar', fs.createReadStream('./avatar.jpg'))

You can set the filename and content type as the third argument.

request.file(
  'avatar',
  join(__dirname, 'storage', 'avatar.jpg'),
  {
    filename: 'profile-pic.jpg',
    contentType: 'image/jpeg'
  }
)

form

Send form data to the server with application/x-www-form-urlencoded content type. The method accepts the form data as an object of key-value pair.

request.form({
  title: 'Japa 101',
  description: 'Something about the post',
  tags: [1, 2, 4]
})

json

The json method accepts the same data as the form method. However, it sets the request content type to application/json.

request.json({
  title: 'Japa 101',
  description: 'Something about the post',
  tags: [1, 2, 4]
})

qs

Set the query string for the request.

request.qs({
  order_by: 'id',
  direction: 'desc'
})

timeout

Set the timeout for the request. The request will be aborted if the server does not respond under the mentioned timeout.

request.timeout(2000)

type

Set the content type for the request. You can either pass the complete content type or give a shorthand like json, which will be converted to application/json.

request.type('json') // Content-type: application/json

accept

Set the Accept header for the request. Like the type method, you can pass a shorthand for the mime-type.

request.accept('json') // Accept: application/json

redirects

Instruct request to follow server redirects. By default, five redirects are followed. However, you can set the custom count using this method.

// follow 2 redirects from the server
request.redirects(2)

You can find the redirect links using the response.redirects() method.

const response = await request.redirects(2)
console.log(response.redirects())

basicAuth

Set the basic auth HTTP header from the user credentials.

// Authorization: Basic dmlyazpzZWNyZXQ=
request.basicAuth('virk', 'secret')

bearerToken

Set the bearer token in the Authorization header.

// Authorization: Bearer foo-bar
request.bearerToken('foo-bar')

dump

Dump the request data to the console. The method is meant to be used for quick debugging only.

request.dump()

The dump method logs the entire request to the console. However, you can use the following methods to log specific values.

request.dumpCookies()
request.dumpHeaders()
request.dumpBody()

trustLocalhost

Trust insecure SSL connections for localhost. You can learn about this method directly from the superagent docs

request.trustLocalhost()

// disable
request.trustLocalhost(false)

TLS options

The following methods to configure the TLS settings work similarly to superagent.

• ca: Set the CA certificate(s) to trust
• cert: Set the client certificate chain(s)
• privateKey: Set the client private key(s)
• pfx: Set the client PFX or PKCS12 encoded private key and certificate chain
• disableTLSCerts: Accepts expired or invalid TLS certs. Sets internally rejectUnauthorized=true. Be warned, this method allows MITM attacks.

Response API

Following is the list of methods available in the Response class.

text

Returns the unparsed response body as text. The property is only available when the response content-type type matches text/, /json, or x-www-form-urlencoded.

response.text()

body

Returns the parsed response body. The body is parsed when the content-type matches application/json, application/x-www-form-urlencoded and multipart/form-data.

response.body()

cookie

Get value for a given cookie. The cookie value contains the following properties.

• name
• value
• path?
• domain?
• expires?
• maxAge?
• secure?
• httpOnly?
• sameSite?

const value = response.cookie('cart_value')

cookies

Returns all cookies as an object of key-value pair.

response.cookies()

header

Returns the value for a given response header.

response.header('X-Time')

headers

Returns the response headers as an object.

response.headers()

status

Returns the response status.

response.status()

type

Returns the response content-type.

response.type()

redirects

Access the redirects the request followed before getting the response. The method returns an array of URLs.

response.redirects()

files

Access the files returned by the server. The files are only collected when the response content type is multipart/form-data.

response.files()

hasBody

Find if the response contains a parsed body. The method returns true when the response.body() exists.

if (response.hasBody()) {
  response.body()
}

hasError

Find if the response contains the error or not.

if (response.hasError()) {
  response.error()
}

hasFatalError

Find if the response contains a fatal error. Response with status code >= 500is considered as a fatal error.

if (response.hasFatalError()) {
  response.error()
}

error

Returns the response error if it exists.

response.error()

// Response status
response.error().status

// Error text
response.error().text

charset

Returns the response charset. It only exists if the response content type mentions the charset.

response.charset()

links

Returns an object of links by parsing the response "Link" header.

// Link: <https://one.example.com>; rel="preconnect", <https://two.example.com>; rel="preload"

{
  preconnect: 'https://one.example.com',
  preload: 'https://two.example.com',
}

statusType

Returns the response status type. The status type is the class in which the status code falls. For example:

response.status() // 301
response.statusType() // 3

response.status() // 404
response.statusType() // 4

response.status() // 202
response.statusType() // 2

Assertions API

You can validate the API response by directly calling the assertion methods on the response object.

assertCookie

Assert the given cookie exists. Optionally, you can also assert the cookie value.

response.assertCookie('foo')

/**
 * Two assertions are executed under the hood
 * when the value is provided
 */
response.assertCookie('foo', 'bar')

assertCookieMissing

Assert the cookie does not exist in the response.

response.assertCookieMissing('foo')

assertHeader

Assert the given header exists. Optionally, you can also assert the header value.

response.assertHeader('X-Time')

/**
 * Two assertions are executed under the hood
 * when the value is provided
 */
response.assertHeader('X-Time', '10')

assertHeaderMissing

Assert the header does not exist in the response.

response.assertHeaderMissing('X-Powered-By')

assertStatus

Assert for the response status

response.assertStatus(200)

assertBody

Assert the response body matches the expected value. An exact match is performed.

response.assertBody({
  id: 1,
  name: 'virk',
  password: 'secret'
})

assertBodyContains

Assert the response body contains the subset of the expected value. This method allows you to only match against a subset and not the exact value.

response.assertBodyContains({
  id: 1,
})

assertTextIncludes

Assert the response text includes the expected sub-string.

response.assertTextIncludes(`<h1> Hello world </h1>`)

assertAgainstApiSpec

You can validate the response against an Open API schema using the assertAgainstApiSpec. This method relies on the @japa/assert package, so read Open API testing section to register your API schemas.

response.assertAgainstApiSpec()

assertRedirectsTo(pathname)

Assert the current HTTP request has been redirected to a given pathname. The pathname is matched using the strict equality check against the response.redirects() output.

response.assertRedirectsTo('/posts/1')

Extending classes

The following classes exposed by the @japa/api-client package are extensible using macros and getters.

• ApiRequest
• ApiResponse

About getters and macros

Getters and macros expose the API to add custom properties to the test class.

A getter is a function that is evaluated lazily when accessing the property.

import { ApiResponse } from '@japa/api-client'

ApiResponse.getter('responseTime', function () {
  return this.header('X-Time')
})

Whereas macros can be both functions and literal values. You can access the test instance using this.

import { ApiRequest } from '@japa/api-client'

ApiRequest.macro('requestId', function (id) {
  this.header('X-Request-Id', id)
  return this
})

// Usage
await client
  .get('/')
  .requestId('10')

Usage with TypeScript

Since getters and macros are added at runtime, you must inform the TypeScript compiler about these new properties separately.

You can use module augmentation to define these properties at a static level.

Create a new file, bin/japaTypes.ts, and paste the following code inside it.

declare module '@japa/api-client' {
    
  // Interface must match the class name
  interface ApiRequest {
    requestId(id: string): this
  }

  interface ApiResponse {
    responseTime: string | undefined
  }
}

Custom response parsers

The @japa/api-client plugin automatically parses the response body for the following content types.

• text/*
• image/*
• application/json
• application/x-www-form-urlencoded
• multipart/form-data

However, you can also register custom parsers to process unsupported content types as follows.

The parser is registered globally on the ApiRequest class using the addParser method.

import { ApiRequest } from '@japa/api-client'

ApiRequest.addParser('application/vnd.api+json', function (response, cb) {
  response.setEncoding('utf-8')
  response.text = ''

  /**
   * Concatenate chunks
   */
  response.on('data', (chunk) => (response.text += chunk))

  /**
   * Parse collected chunks as JSON
   */
  response.on('end', () => {
    try {
      const body = JSON.parse(response.text)
      cb(null, body)
    } catch (error) {
      error.rawResponse = response.text || null
      error.statusCode = response.statusCode
      cb(error)
    }
  })

  /**
   * Report error (if any)
   */
  response.on('error', (error) => cb(error, null))
})

• The addParser method accepts the content type as the first argument and the implementation callback as the second argument.
• The callback receives the Node.js ServerResponse and a callback.
• You must invoke the callback either with an error or the parsed response body.

Custom request serializers

Like the response parser, you can also register custom serializers to serialize the request body before sending it to the server.

Following content types are handled automatically.

• application/json
• multipart/form-data
• application/x-www-form-urlencoded

You can register a custom serializer globally on the ApiRequest class using the addSerializer method.

import { ApiRequest } from '@japa/api-client'

ApiRequest.addSerializer('application/vnd.api+json', function (value) {
  return JSON.stringify(value)
})

• The addSerializer method accepts the content type as the first argument and its implementation callback as the second argument.
• The callback values the request body set using request.form or request.json, and it must return a string.