---
id: api-testing
title: "API testing"
---

Playwright can be used to get access to the [REST](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer) API of
your application.

Sometimes you may want to send requests to the server directly from Node.js without loading a page and running js code in it.
A few examples where it may come in handy:
- Test your server API.
- Prepare server side state before visiting the web application in a test.
- Validate server side post-conditions after running some actions in the browser.

All of that could be achieved via [APIRequestContext] methods.

<!-- TOC -->

## Writing API Test

[APIRequestContext] can send all kinds of HTTP(S) requests over network.

The following example demonstrates how to use Playwright to test issues creation via [GitHub API](https://docs.github.com/en/rest). The test suite will do the following:
- Create a new repository before running tests.
- Create a few issues and validate server state.
- Delete the repository after running tests.

### Configure

GitHub API requires authorization, so we'll configure the token once for all tests. While at it, we'll also set the `baseURL` to simplify the tests. You can either put them in the configuration file, or in the test file with `test.use()`.

```js js-flavor=ts
// playwright.config.ts
import { PlaywrightTestConfig } from '@playwright/test';

const config: PlaywrightTestConfig = {
  use: {
    // All requests we send go to this API endpoint.
    baseURL: 'https://api.github.com',
    extraHTTPHeaders: {
      // We set this header per GitHub guidelines.
      'Accept': 'application/vnd.github.v3+json',
      // Add authorization token to all requests.
      // Assuming personal access token available in the environment.
      'Authorization': `token ${process.env.API_TOKEN}`,
    },
  }
};
export default config;
```

```js js-flavor=js
// playwright.config.js
// @ts-check
/** @type {import('@playwright/test').PlaywrightTestConfig} */
const config = {
  use: {
    // All requests we send go to this API endpoint.
    baseURL: 'https://api.github.com',
    extraHTTPHeaders: {
      // We set this header per GitHub guidelines.
      'Accept': 'application/vnd.github.v3+json',
      // Add authorization token to all requests.
      // Assuming personal access token available in the environment.
      'Authorization': `token ${process.env.API_TOKEN}`,
    },
  }
};
module.exports = config;
```

### Write tests

Playwright Test comes with the built-in `request` fixture that respects configuration options like `baseURL` or `extraHTTPHeaders` we specified and is ready to send some requests.

Now we can add a few tests that will create new issues in the repository.
```js
const REPO = 'test-repo-1';
const USER = 'github-username';

test('should create a bug report', async ({ request }) => {
  const newIssue = await request.post(`/repos/${USER}/${REPO}/issues`, {
    data: {
      title: '[Bug] report 1',
      body: 'Bug description',
    }
  });
  expect(newIssue.ok()).toBeTruthy();

  const issues = await request.get(`/repos/${USER}/${REPO}/issues`);
  expect(issues.ok()).toBeTruthy();
  expect(await issues.json()).toContainEqual(expect.objectContaining({
    title: '[Bug] report 1',
    body: 'Bug description'
  }));
});

test('should create a feature request', async ({ request }) => {
  const newIssue = await request.post(`/repos/${USER}/${REPO}/issues`, {
    data: {
      title: '[Feature] request 1',
      body: 'Feature description',
    }
  });
  expect(newIssue.ok()).toBeTruthy();

  const issues = await request.get(`/repos/${USER}/${REPO}/issues`);
  expect(issues.ok()).toBeTruthy();
  expect(await issues.json()).toContainEqual(expect.objectContaining({
    title: '[Feature] request 1',
    body: 'Feature description'
  }));
});
```

### Setup and teardown

These tests assume that repository exists. You probably want to create a new one before running tests and delete it afterwards. Use `beforeAll` and `afterAll` hooks for that.

```js
test.beforeAll(async ({ request }) => {
  // Create a new repository
  const response = await request.post('/user/repos', {
    data: {
      name: REPO
    }
  });
  expect(response.ok()).toBeTruthy();
});

test.afterAll(async ({ request }) => {
  // Delete the repository
  const response = await request.delete(`/repos/${USER}/${REPO}`);
  expect(response.ok()).toBeTruthy();
});
```

### Using request context

Behind the scenes, `request` fixture will actually call [`method: APIRequest.newContext`]. You can always do that manually if you'd like more control. Below is a standalone script that does the same as `beforeAll` and `afterAll` from above.

```js
const { request } = require('@playwright/test');
const REPO = 'test-repo-1';
const USER = 'github-username';

(async () => {
  // Create a context that will issue http requests.
  const context = await request.newContext({
    baseURL: 'https://api.github.com',
  });

  // Create a repository.
  await context.post('/user/repos', {
    headers: {
      'Accept': 'application/vnd.github.v3+json',
      // Add GitHub personal access token.
      'Authorization': `token ${process.env.API_TOKEN}`,
    },
    data: {
      name: REPO
    }
  });

  // Delete a repository.
  await context.delete(`/repos/${USER}/${REPO}`{
    headers: {
      'Accept': 'application/vnd.github.v3+json',
      // Add GitHub personal access token.
      'Authorization': `token ${process.env.API_TOKEN}`,
    }
  });
})()
```

## Prepare server state via API calls

The following test creates a new issue via API and then navigates to the list of all issues in the
project to check that it appears at the top of the list.

```js
test('last created issue should be first in the list', async ({ page, request }) => {
  const newIssue = await request.post(`/repos/${USER}/${REPO}/issues`, {
    data: {
      title: '[Feature] request 1',
    }
  });
  expect(newIssue.ok()).toBeTruthy();

  await page.goto(`https://github.com/${USER}/${REPO}/issues`);
  const firstIssue = page.locator(`a[data-hovercard-type='issue']`).first();
  await expect(firstIssue).toHaveText('[Feature] request 1');
});
```

## Check the server state after running user actions

The following test creates a new issue via user interface in the browser and then uses checks if
it was created via API:

```js
test('last created issue should be on the server', async ({ page, request }) => {
  await page.goto(`https://github.com/${USER}/${REPO}/issues`);
  await page.click('text=New Issue');
  await page.fill('[aria-label="Title"]', 'Bug report 1');
  await page.fill('[aria-label="Comment body"]', 'Bug description');
  await page.click('text=Submit new issue');
  const issueId = page.url().substr(page.url().lastIndexOf('/'));

  const newIssue = await request.get(`https://api.github.com/repos/${USER}/${REPO}/issues/${issueId}`);
  expect(newIssue.ok()).toBeTruthy();
  expect(newIssue).toEqual(expect.objectContaining({
    title: 'Bug report 1'
  }));
});
```

### API reference
- [`property: Playwright.request`]
- [`property: BrowserContext.request`]
- [`property: Page.request`]
- [`method: APIRequest.newContext`]
- [`method: APIRequestContext.delete`]
- [`method: APIRequestContext.fetch`]
- [`method: APIRequestContext.get`]
- [`method: APIRequestContext.post`]

## Reuse authentication state

Web apps use cookie-based or token-based authentication, where authenticated
state is stored as [cookies](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Cookies).
Playwright provides [`method: APIRequestContext.storageState`] method that can be used to
retrieve storage state from an authenticated context and then create new contexts with that state.

Storage state is interchangeable between [BrowserContext] and [APIRequestContext]. You can
use it to log in via API calls and then create a new context with cookies already there.
The following code snippet retrieves state from an authenticated [APIRequestContext] and
creates a new [BrowserContext] with that state.

```js
const requestContext = await request.newContext({
  httpCredentials: {
    username: 'user',
    password: 'passwd'
  }
});
await requestContext.get(`https://api.example.com/login`);
// Save storage state into the file.
await requestContext.storageState({ path: 'state.json' });

// Create a new context with the saved storage state.
const context = await browser.newContext({ storageState: 'state.json' });
```

### API reference
- [`method: Browser.newContext`]
- [`method: APIRequestContext.storageState`]
- [`method: APIRequest.newContext`]