Examples

Practical examples for @powerduck/openapi-cli, based on the actual CLI flags and programmatic API.

1. Basic CLI test

Point the CLI at a local OpenAPI document and run every operation:

openapi-cli --spec openapi.json

Override the server and write reports to a custom directory:

openapi-cli --spec openapi.json \
  --server https://api.staging.example.com \
  --output ./reports

Test a spec hosted on a remote URL:

openapi-cli --spec https://docs.example.com/openapi.json --timeout 60000

2. Programmatic run with auth

Use the library API with a bearer token, custom headers, and concurrency:

import {
  resolveConfig,
  runTests,
  printCliReport,
  generateJsonReport,
  generateHtmlReport,
} from "@powerduck/openapi-cli";

const config = resolveConfig({
  spec: "./openapi.json",
  server: "https://api.staging.example.com",
  concurrency: 10,
  timeout: 15000,
  bearer: process.env.BEARER_TOKEN,
  header: ["X-Environment: staging", "X-Team: platform"],
});

const report = await runTests(config);

printCliReport(report);
generateJsonReport(report, "./reports");
generateHtmlReport(report, "./reports");

console.log(
  `Passed ${report.summary.passed}/${report.summary.total} (${report.summary.passRate}%)`,
);

3. Filtered test run

Run only a subset of operations by method, tag, path regex, or operationId:

# Only GET and POST requests
openapi-cli --spec openapi.json --method get,post

# Only operations tagged "public" and "v2"
openapi-cli --spec openapi.json --tag public,v2

# Only paths under /api/v2
openapi-cli --spec openapi.json --path "^/api/v2"

# Only specific operations
openapi-cli --spec openapi.json --operation-id getUser,createUser

Equivalent programmatic configuration:

const config = resolveConfig({
  spec: "./openapi.json",
  filter: {
    methods: ["get", "post"],
    tags: ["public", "v2"],
    paths: ["^/api/v2"],
    operationIds: ["getUser", "createUser"],
  },
});

4. JSON and HTML report generation

Choose which formats to emit with --format. By default all three are written:

# CLI to stdout only, no files
openapi-cli --spec openapi.json --format cli

# JSON + HTML files, no colored stdout report
openapi-cli --spec openapi.json --format json,html --output ./reports

Programmatic equivalent:

import { resolveConfig, runTests, generateJsonReport, generateHtmlReport } from "@powerduck/openapi-cli";

const config = resolveConfig({
  spec: "./openapi.json",
  format: "json,html",
  output: "./reports",
});

const report = await runTests(config);

const jsonPath = generateJsonReport(report, config.outputDir);
const htmlPath = generateHtmlReport(report, config.outputDir);

console.log("Wrote", jsonPath, "and", htmlPath);

generateJsonReport writes report.json; generateHtmlReport writes report.html. Both create the output directory if missing and return the file path.

5. Declarative assertions in the spec

Add an x-tests array to any operation. Each entry needs a name and an assert type:

{
  "paths": {
    "/users/{id}": {
      "get": {
        "operationId": "getUser",
        "x-tests": [
          { "name": "status is 200", "assert": "status", "value": 200 },
          { "name": "content-type is JSON", "assert": "header", "key": "content-type", "contains": "application/json" },
          { "name": "user id exists", "assert": "jsonPath", "path": "$.id", "exists": true },
          { "name": "user is active", "assert": "jsonPath", "path": "$.status", "equals": "active" },
          { "name": "response under 2s", "assert": "responseTime", "max": 2000 },
          { "name": "body contains email", "assert": "bodyContains", "contains": "@" }
        ],
        "responses": { "200": { "description": "ok" } }
      }
    }
  }
}

Assertion types:

assert	Required fields	Purpose
status	value	HTTP status equals value
header	key; optional contains	Header exists; optionally includes a substring
bodyContains	contains	Response body includes the substring
bodyEquals	body	Response body exactly equals body
jsonPath	path; optional equals / exists	Resolve a JSONPath and compare or check existence
responseTime	max	Duration must be <= max ms

6. Postman scripts

Embed a full Postman test script via x-postman-scripts:

{
  "paths": {
    "/users": {
      "get": {
        "operationId": "listUsers",
        "x-postman-scripts": {
          "test": "pm.test('status is 200', () => pm.response.to.have.status(200)); pm.test('users is an array', () => pm.expect(pm.response.json().users).to.be.an('array'));"
        },
        "responses": { "200": { "description": "ok" } }
      }
    }
  }
}

Declarative x-tests and x-postman-scripts may coexist on the same operation.

7. CI integration (GitHub Actions)

name: API Tests
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 20
      - run: npm ci
      - name: Run API tests
        run: npx @powerduck/openapi-cli --spec openapi.json --server ${{ secrets.API_URL }} --output ./reports
        env:
          BEARER_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.BEARER_TOKEN }}
      - name: Upload reports
        if: always()
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: openapi-cli-reports
          path: ./reports

The CLI exits 1 on failure so the job fails automatically; use --no-fail-on-error when you only want reports without failing the pipeline.