api-testing

---
name: api-testing
description: 'Test REST and GraphQL endpoint contracts using Playwright request fixture (TypeScript) or REST Assured (Java). Use for standalone API tests covering schemas, auth, status/error handling, pagination, idempotency, rate limits, or contract checks; not for browser E2E specs. Keywords: REST, GraphQL, API contract, schema validation, REST Assured.'
license: 'Complete terms in LICENSE.txt'
---

# API Testing (Playwright + REST Assured)

Comprehensive API testing skill covering both Playwright TypeScript (request fixture, Supertest, Zod) and Java (REST Assured, AssertJ, JSON Schema Validator).

## When to Use This Skill

- Create API tests for REST or GraphQL endpoints
- Validate request/response schemas (Zod, JSON Schema)
- Test authentication flows (OAuth2, JWT, API keys, Bearer tokens)
- Verify error handling (400, 401, 403, 404, 409, 422, 500)
- Test pagination, filtering, sorting edge cases
- Validate idempotency for PUT/DELETE operations
- Contract testing between services
- Rate limiting validation

### Do NOT Use For

- Browser-driven UI flows (use `playwright-e2e-testing` for Playwright specs, or `webapp-selenium-testing` for Selenium)
- Live interactive browser sessions or snapshots (use `playwright-cli`)
- Visual/layout regression (out of scope — no DOM)
- End-to-end journeys that must drive a real browser across pages

## Prerequisites

| Stack      | Requirements                                                          |
| ---------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| TypeScript | Node.js 18+, `@playwright/test` or `supertest`, `zod`                 |
| Java       | Java 21+, REST Assured 5.x, AssertJ, Jackson, `json-schema-validator` |

## Core Principles

1. **Schema validation on every response** — never trust an unvalidated response
2. **Test all HTTP status codes** — happy path AND error states
3. **Auth testing is mandatory** — verify 401/403 for protected endpoints
4. **Data-driven** — test with valid, invalid, boundary, and empty values
5. **Stateless where possible** — each test cleans up or uses unique data

## Quick Reference — Playwright

```typescript
import { test, expect } from "@playwright/test";

test("GET /api/users returns 200 with valid schema", async ({ request }) => {
  const response = await request.get("/api/users");
  expect(response.ok()).toBeTruthy();
  const body = await response.json();
  expect(body).toMatchObject({ data: expect.any(Array) });
});
```

## Quick Reference — REST Assured

```java
import static io.restassured.RestAssured.*;
import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.*;

import java.util.List;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.DisplayName;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;

@Test
@DisplayName("GET /api/users returns 200 with valid schema")
void getUsers() {
    String token = "test-token";

    given()
        .header("Authorization", "Bearer " + token)
    .when()
        .get("/api/users")
    .then()
        .statusCode(200)
        .body("data", is(instanceOf(List.class)))
        .body("data.size()", greaterThan(0));
}
```


---

## Red Flags

Stop and reconsider if you see any of these in generated API tests:

- Assertions only on status code with no body/schema validation — an unvalidated response hides contract drift.
- Hardcoded secrets/tokens committed to the test file — read from env or a secrets manager.
- Tests sharing mutable state with no cleanup — flaky and order-dependent.
- Skipping auth tests (no 401/403 assertions on protected endpoints) — security regression risk.
- No coverage of error states (only happy-path 200s) — error handling is untested.

---

## References

| Document                                                         | Content                                             |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| [REST API Patterns](./references/rest-api-patterns.md)           | CRUD, pagination, filtering, error patterns         |
| [Playwright API Testing](./references/playwright-api-testing.md) | Request fixture, Supertest, TypeScript patterns     |
| [REST Assured Testing](./references/rest-assured-testing.md)     | REST Assured, AssertJ, Java patterns                |
| [Schema Validation](./references/schema-validation.md)           | Zod (TS), JSON Schema (Java), strict vs loose       |
| [Contract Testing](./references/contract-testing.md)             | Request/response contracts, idempotency, versioning |

## Templates

- [Playwright API Spec](./templates/playwright-api-spec.ts) — starter test file for API testing
- [REST Assured Test](./templates/rest-assured-test.java) — starter Java test class

## Scripts

- [API Health Check](./scripts/api-health-check.sh) — validate API endpoints respond correctly

## Troubleshooting

| Issue                          | Solution                                                                       |
| ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| 401 on authenticated endpoints | Verify token is fresh; check expiry; re-authenticate                           |
| Flaky API tests                | Add retry logic; check for rate limiting; use unique test data                 |
| Schema validation too strict   | Use `.passthrough()` (Zod) or `additionalProperties: true` for flexible fields |
| Timeout on slow endpoints      | Increase `timeout` in request options; check for server load                   |

---

## Verification

- [ ] **Schema validation in place** — Every response validated against a schema (Zod or JSON Schema)
- [ ] **Authentication tested** — 401 returned for protected endpoints without valid credentials
- [ ] **Idempotency verified** — PUT/DELETE produce same result when called multiple times
- [ ] **Edge cases covered** — Empty payloads, invalid types, boundary values, SQL injection attempts