Test API integrations and data flow in Postman

As an application grows, it’s important to make sure each of its components work together as expected. Integration testing makes sure that the different parts of your application are compatible with one another. It also tests how your application functions with other systems, like databases and third-party services.

About integration testing

Rather than trying to test an entire application at once, integration testing focuses on individual components and how they interact. This makes it easier to identify the pieces of your application that aren’t able to communicate, or places where data isn’t flowing between components as required.

With Postman, you can test how your application’s APIs work together using requests and collections. You can send API requests in a pre-defined order to test complex operations, and you can observe the flow of data to and from endpoints. You can also send API requests to other systems or services to make sure your application can integrate with them as needed.

View an example that shows how you can use Postman to set up and run integration tests for your API. To try out this collection template, select Integration testing basics.

Integration test setup in Postman

To set up integration tests for your application in Postman, use the following framework:

• The basic unit of testing is an API request. Each request tests a specific piece of functionality by calling an API endpoint. You can configure request authorization as needed. You can also send any required test data such as parameters, headers, and body data. Learn more about creating and sending requests.

• Write scripts to add test logic to requests. For each request, you can write test scripts to check if the expected data is received when the request is sent. You can test and validate the response code, headers, body data, and more. Learn more about writing test scripts.

• Organize suites of tests using collections. You can save multiple requests in a collection and organize them into categories. Collections enable you to run and rerun a group of tests in the order you choose. You can also upload data files to run tests multiple times using different data each time. Learn more about creating collections.

  You can also add a test suite to an API in Postman. Learn more at Test your API using test collections and CI tools.

• Use scripts to build complex workflows. With scripts, you can process response data from one request and use it as an input in the next request to test data flow. You can also use scripts to dynamically control the order of requests. For example, send a request to create a user account, then send another request to get the new account and verify that it was created. Learn more about processing data and building workflows with scripts.

• Run your tests in multiple environments. In Postman, environments are groups of related variables you can use in your requests. Environments enable you to reuse the same suite of tests in different contexts. For example, if your test and production setups require different URLs or configuration values, you can use Postman environments to switch between them. Learn more about working with environments and variables.

• Simulate other systems with mock servers. You can test how your application interacts with other APIs and systems without having to connect to the actual resources. Instead, you can use Postman to set up a mock server that simulates the behavior of a real API server by accepting requests and returning responses. Learn more about setting up mock servers.

Run integration tests in Postman

After setting up your integration tests in Postman, you can run them in the following ways:

• Run tests manually. To run a single test, open a request and send it. You can view the test results in the workbench. To run an entire test suite, use the Collection Runner. As the collection runs, Postman displays the test results in real time. Learn more about running tests manually in Postman.

• Automate tests on a schedule. You can run test suites automatically on a schedule using the Collection Runner. Get notifications when tests fail, and view test results in Postman. Learn more about running API tests on a schedule in Postman.

• Run tests in your CI/CD pipeline. You can run tests as part of your regular application build process using the Postman CLI. Execute your test suites after every code push and view test reports in Postman. Learn more about running API tests in your CI/CD pipeline.