API Tester

Test REST APIs with custom headers, auth, and request bodies.

When to Use

• Debugging API endpoints during development
• Testing authentication flows
• Validating webhook payloads
• Checking API response times
• Automating health checks
• Testing third-party integrations

Quick Start

Simple GET Request

import requests

def test_get(url, headers=None):
    """Test a GET endpoint"""
    try:
        response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, timeout=30)
        return {
            'status': response.status_code,
            'headers': dict(response.headers),
            'body': response.json() if response.headers.get('content-type', '').startswith('application/json') else response.text,
            'time': response.elapsed.total_seconds()
        }
    except Exception as e:
        return {'error': str(e)}

# Usage
test_get('https://api.github.com/users/octocat')

POST with JSON Body

def test_post(url, data, headers=None):
    """Test POST endpoint with JSON body"""
    default_headers = {'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
    if headers:
        default_headers.update(headers)

    try:
        response = requests.post(
            url, 
            json=data, 
            headers=default_headers,
            timeout=30
        )
        return {
            'status': response.status_code,
            'body': response.json() if response.headers.get('content-type', '').startswith('application/json') else response.text
        }
    except Exception as e:
        return {'error': str(e)}

# Usage
test_post('https://httpbin.org/post', {'key': 'value'})

Test with Authentication

def test_with_auth(url, token=None, username=None, password=None):
    """Test API with Bearer token or Basic auth"""
    headers = {}

    if token:
        headers['Authorization'] = f'Bearer {token}'
    elif username and password:
        import base64
        credentials = base64.b64encode(f'{username}:{password}'.encode()).decode()
        headers['Authorization'] = f'Basic {credentials}'

    return test_get(url, headers)

# Bearer token
test_with_auth('https://api.example.com/data', token='your_token_here')

# Basic auth
test_with_auth('https://api.example.com/data', username='admin', password='secret')

Full API Test Suite

def comprehensive_api_test(base_url, endpoints):
    """Test multiple endpoints"""
    results = {}

    for endpoint, config in endpoints.items():
        url = f"{base_url}{config['path']}"
        method = config.get('method', 'GET')
        headers = config.get('headers', {})
        data = config.get('data')

        try:
            if method == 'GET':
                response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, timeout=30)
            elif method == 'POST':
                response = requests.post(url, json=data, headers=headers, timeout=30)
            elif method == 'PUT':
                response = requests.put(url, json=data, headers=headers, timeout=30)
            elif method == 'DELETE':
                response = requests.delete(url, headers=headers, timeout=30)

            results[endpoint] = {
                'status': response.status_code,
                'success': 200 <= response.status_code < 300,
                'time': response.elapsed.total_seconds()
            }
        except Exception as e:
            results[endpoint] = {'error': str(e), 'success': False}

    return results

# Usage
endpoints = {
    'health': {'path': '/health', 'method': 'GET'},
    'create_user': {'path': '/users', 'method': 'POST', 'data': {'name': 'Test'}},
    'get_user': {'path': '/users/1', 'method': 'GET'}
}

comprehensive_api_test('https://api.example.com', endpoints)

Common Testing Scenarios

Webhook Testing

from flask import Flask, request

def create_webhook_listener(port=5000):
    """Create local webhook receiver for testing"""
    app = Flask(__name__)
    received_data = []

    @app.route('/webhook', methods=['POST'])
    def webhook():
        data = request.json
        received_data.append(data)
        print(f"Received webhook: {data}")
        return {'status': 'ok'}

    @app.route('/received', methods=['GET'])
    def get_received():
        return {'data': received_data}

    return app

# Run: app.run(port=5000)
# Use ngrok to expose: ngrok http 5000

Performance Testing

import time

def test_api_performance(url, iterations=10):
    """Test API response times"""
    times = []

    for _ in range(iterations):
        start = time.time()
        requests.get(url, timeout=30)
        times.append(time.time() - start)

    return {
        'min': min(times),
        'max': max(times),
        'avg': sum(times) / len(times),
        'times': times
    }

Response Validation

def validate_response(response, expected_status=200, required_fields=None):
    """Validate API response structure"""
    errors = []

    if response.get('status') != expected_status:
        errors.append(f"Expected status {expected_status}, got {response.get('status')}")

    body = response.get('body', {})
    if required_fields:
        for field in required_fields:
            if field not in body:
                errors.append(f"Missing required field: {field}")

    return {
        'valid': len(errors) == 0,
        'errors': errors
    }

Dependencies

pip install requests flask