Playwright API Testing

API test automation suite using Playwright Test against the RESTful-Booker API.

What's Covered

• CRUD Operations — POST, GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE for booking endpoints
• Authentication — Token-based auth via the /auth endpoint
• Data Strategies — Static JSON fixtures, dynamic payloads with Faker, and type-safe schemas with Zod
• API Object Model — Encapsulates each API domain into a dedicated folder with three files:
  • client — handles HTTP communication via Playwright's APIRequestContext
  • schema — defines TypeScript types and runtime validation with Zod
  • factory — generates test payloads with Faker for randomized data
• Playwright Fixtures — Custom fixtures for automatic auth token injection
• Response Utilities — Centralized response formatting, logging, and error reporting
• Schema Validation — Runtime response validation with Zod
• API Mocking — Request interception, response modification, and HAR file recording/replay

Key Libraries

Tool	Role in API Testing
Faker	Generates realistic, randomized payloads so tests aren't brittle (no hardcoded values). Each test run gets fresh data — great for catching server-side state issues.
Zod	Validates API responses at runtime with declarative schemas. Catches contract breaks early (missing fields, wrong types) and gives clear error messages, all without leaving TypeScript.

Project Structure

├── .github/workflows/     — GitHub Actions CI workflow
├── .vscode/settings.json  — Project editor settings (formatting)
├── src/
│   ├── api/
│   │   ├── auth/          — auth-client.ts, auth-schema.ts
│   │   └── booking/       — booking-client.ts, booking-factory.ts, booking-schema.ts
│   ├── fixtures/          — Playwright custom fixtures
│   └── utils/             — Response utility helpers
├── test-data/             — Static JSON test data
├── tests/                 — All test specs (*.spec.ts, *.api.spec.ts)
├── hars/                  — Recorded HAR files for mocking
├── .prettierrc            — Prettier formatting rules
├── Jenkinsfile            — Jenkins Pipeline definition
├── playwright.config.ts   — Playwright configuration
├── test-results/          — with JUnit XML test reports (excluded from version control)
├── playwright-report/     — HTML test report (excluded from version control)
└── allure-results/        — Allure test results (excluded from version control)

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm

Setup

npm install                          # Install Node dependencies
npx playwright install chromium      # Download Chromium (needed for mocking tests)

Note: On Linux, if you need headed browser mode (e.g., local testing with --headed), append --with-deps to install required system libraries. CI and Windows users don't need it.

Running Tests

npx playwright test                        # Run all tests
npx playwright test --project=api-tests    # Run API tests only
npx playwright test --grep "Mocking"       # Run a specific group

CI/CD

• GitHub Actions — .github/workflows/test-workflow.yml triggers on push, pull request, or manual dispatch. Installs dependencies, runs tests, publishes JUnit results, and uploads the Playwright report as an artifact.

• Jenkins (Pipeline) — Jenkinsfile at project root defines the same build pipeline declaratively. Jenkins global tools (NodeJS, Allure) and a secret file credential (playwright-api-testing-secrets) must be configured to match.

• Jenkins (freestyle, Windows) — Alternative setup using a freestyle project with the following build step and secrets managed via Jenkins credentials:

  :: 1. Delete any old local file to guarantee we use the fresh Jenkins secret
  if exist .env del .env
  
  :: 2. Copy the secret file to a local .env file in the workspace
  copy "%SECRETS_ENV%" .env
  
  :: 3. Install project dependencies quickly (skips audits and funding logs)
  call npm ci --no-audit --no-fund
  
  :: 4. Install ONLY Chromium to save data size and disk space
  call npx playwright install chromium
  
  :: 5. Run the Playwright automation tests
  call npx playwright test
  
  :: 6. Clean up the credentials so they aren't left exposed on the hard drive
  if exist .env del .env

  Post-build actions: HTML, Allure, and JUnit reports published after each run.
  Jenkins secrets: SECRETS_ENV (.env credentials) and GitHub PAT.

Configuration

Environment variables (optional) can be set in a .env file:

AUTH_USERNAME=admin
AUTH_PASSWORD=password123

Defaults: admin / password123 (matching RESTful-Booker defaults).