Configuration

Getting started

We often have to pass more than one API Specification file to Specmatic to stub or test. While it is possible to send all the files as command line options, there is a better way.

Also if your contracts are stored in a source control system like Git, we need to provide details about the repository so that Specmatic can pull your specifications directly from your version control.

Configuration File Location

The configuration can be specified in JSON or YAML format. There are several ways to specify the location of your configuration file:

  1. Default Location: Place the configuration file in the root folder of your project. By default, Specmatic looks for specmatic.json or specmatic.yaml in the project root.

  2. Command Line Option: Specify a custom configuration file location using the --config option: 
      specmatic test --config=path/to/my-config.json
  3. Environment Variable: When working programmatically, set the configuration file path using the CONFIG_FILE_PATH environment variable:
  • # Set configuration file path in terminal
export CONFIG_FILE_PATH=/path/to/specmatic.yaml

  • # Set configuration file path in command prompt
set CONFIG_FILE_PATH=C:\path\to\specmatic.yaml

# Or in PowerShell
$env:CONFIG_FILE_PATH="C:\path\to\specmatic.yaml"

  • @BeforeAll
public static void setUp() {
    // Set configuration file path programmatically
    System.setProperty("CONFIG_FILE_PATH", "/path/to/specmatic.yaml");
    
    // Rest of your test setup
    System.setProperty("host", "localhost");
    System.setProperty("port", "8080");
}

Note on Precedence: When multiple configuration methods are used, they are evaluated in the following order:

  1. Command line option (–config)
  2. Environment variable (CONFIG_FILE_PATH)
  3. Default location (project root)

Here is a sample configuration to get you started.

  • {
  "sources": [
    {
      "provider": "git",
      "repository": "https://github.com/znsio/specmatic-order-contracts.git",
      "provides": [
        "io/specmatic/examples/store/openapi/api_order_v3.yaml"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

  • sources:
  - provider: git
    repository: https://github.com/znsio/specmatic-order-contracts.git
    provides:
      - io/specmatic/examples/store/openapi/api_order_v3.yaml

Place this file in the root folder of your project (Here is an example). Let us now go through each of the lines in this file.

  • provider - At the moment we support all git based source control systems. Example: GitHub, Gitlab, Azure, etc.
  • repository - The git repository URL
  • provides - This is the list of API Specifications that need to be run as a test. Note that the path is relative to the source control repository root.

You can also specify the branch.

  • {
  "sources": [
    {
      "provider": "git",
      "repository": "https://github.com/znsio/specmatic-order-contracts.git",
      "branch": "feature-1",
      "provides": [
        "io/specmatic/examples/store/openapi/api_order_v3.yaml"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

  • sources:
  - provider: git
    repository: https://github.com/znsio/specmatic-order-contracts.git
    branch: feature-1
    provides:
      - io/specmatic/examples/store/openapi/api_order_v3.yaml

When branch is not specified, default branch will be picked up.

Now if you run the specmatic test command line executable from the directory that contains the specmatic.json file Specmatic will pull the API Specifications listed under provides and run them as tests.

% java -jar /path/to/specmatic.jar test
Loading config file ./specmatic.json
Couldn't find local contracts, cloning https://github.com/znsio/specmatic-order-contracts.git into .specmatic/repos
Resetting /<path where you are running the specmatic command>/.specmatic/repos/specmatic-order-contracts

The logs show that Specmatic resets your local copy and clones the latest API Specification from the Git repository into a folder called .specmatic. Please add this folder to .gitignore.

Contract Test Timeout

The HTTP timeout duration for requests made during contract testing can be configured using timeoutInMilliseconds parameter. This parameter sets the maximum time Specmatic will wait for a response to each HTTP request before marking it as a failure. The default timeout is 6000 milliseconds.

  • {
  "sources": [
    {
      "provider": "git",
      "repository": "https://github.com/znsio/specmatic-order-contracts.git",
      "consumes": [
        "io/specmatic/examples/store/openapi/api_order_v3.yaml"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "test": {
    "timeoutInMilliseconds": 3000
  }
}

  • sources:
  - provider: git
    repository: https://github.com/znsio/specmatic-order-contracts.git
    consumes:
      - io/specmatic/examples/store/openapi/api_order_v3.yaml
test:
  timeoutInMilliseconds: 3000

Configuring Stubs

The same configuration file can be leveraged to define stubs also.

  • {
  "sources": [
    {
      "provider": "git",
      "repository": "https://github.com/znsio/specmatic-order-contracts.git",
      "consumes": [
        "io/specmatic/examples/store/openapi/api_order_v3.yaml"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

  • sources:
  - provider: git
    repository: https://github.com/znsio/specmatic-order-contracts.git
    consumes:
      - io/specmatic/examples/store/openapi/api_order_v3.yaml

Please note that now we are now listing the api_order_v3.yaml is listed as a stub dependency. You can run the specmatic stub command and the Specmatic will clone the API specifications and run it as a stub. Here is an example.

A single application may need to list the API Specifications it is implementing under the provides attribute and the API Specifications of its dependencies under the consumes attribute.

  • {
  "sources": [
    {
      "provider": "git",
      "repository": "<Git URL>",
      "consumes": [
        "com/example/api_order_v1.yaml",
        "com/example/api_user_v1.yaml"
      ],
      "provides": [
        "com/example/api_auth_v1.yaml",  
      ]
    }
  ]
}

  • sources:
  - provider: git
    repository: <Git URL>
    consumes:
      - com/example/api_order_v1.yaml
      - com/example/api_user_v1.yaml
    provides:
      - com/example/api_auth_v1.yaml

Service Virtualization Delay

A delay can be applied to all requests handled by service virtualization. By configuring the delayInMilliseconds parameter, you can simulate response times with the specified delay in milliseconds, as mentioned in Delay Simulation

Use specifications on local file system

If you just need to use specifications from your local file system, specify provider as filesystem, as shown below.

  • {
  "sources": [
    {
      "provider": "filesystem",
      "consumes": [
        "api_order_v1.yaml",
        "api_user_v1.yaml"
      ],
      "provides": [
        "api_auth_v1.yaml",  
      ]
    }
  ]
}

  • sources:
  - provider: filesystem
    consumes:
      - api_order_v1.yaml
      - api_user_v1.yaml
    provides:
      - api_auth_v1.yaml

Note that the consumes and provides specifications are relative paths. This means that they must be in the same directory as the current directory.

You can also provide absolute paths in case they are somewhere else on the filesystem.

Use specifications from the web 

  • {
  "sources": [
    {
      "provider": "web",
      "consumes": [
        "http://third.party.com/products.yaml"
      ],
      "provides": [
        "http://third.party.com/api_auth_v1.yaml",
      ]
    }
  ]
}

  • sources:
  - provider: web
    consumes:
      - http://third.party.com/products.yaml
    provides:
      - http://third.party.com/api_auth_v1.yaml

Note that the consumes and provides can both contain URLs. http and https are both supported.

Source control authentication

Usually source control requires authentication. Below are the ways in which you can set it up.

  • Recommended approach - Provide a Git SSH URL and make sure your environment already has necessary keys loaded. If the git clone command works on your regular command line, it will work within Specmatic too. This is most suitable in CI, because your CI server may already be setup to clone the application code (for which the CI server should already have the necessary keys). So it should already be able to clone your API Specifications also. The same also should be applicable for local development and testing environments.
  • Alternatives - With https URLs you can provide the bearer token or other means. Please reach us (raise a github issue) if you need help with this.

Report Configuration

Specmatic can generate reports based on the below configuration:

  • "report": {
    "formatters": [
      {
        "type": "text",
        "layout": "table"
      }
    ],
    "types": {
      "APICoverage": {
        "OpenAPI": {
          "successCriteria": {
            "minThresholdPercentage": 100,
            "maxMissedEndpointsInSpec": 0,
            "enforce": true
          },
          "excludedEndpoints": [
            "/health"
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  }

  • report:
  formatters:
    - type: text
      layout: table
  types:
    APICoverage:
      OpenAPI:
        successCriteria:
          minThresholdPercentage: 100
          maxMissedEndpointsInSpec: 0
          enforce: true
        excludedEndpoints:
          - /health

Formatters

Defaults to ‘Text’ if none specified.
The Text formatter will print the report on to the console/terminal.

Report Types

API Coverage report

This gives you a comprehensive analysis of any mismatch between your api specification and implementation. Here is an article with a detailed write-up about this feature.

Complete sample specmatic.json with all attributes 

  • {
  "sources": [
    {
      "provider": "git",
      "repository": "https://azure.com/XNSio/XNSIO/_git/petstore-contracts",
      "branch": "main",
      "provides": [
        "com/petstore/store.yaml"
      ],
      "consumes": [
        "com/petstore/payment.yaml"
      ]
    }
  ],

  "auth": {
    "bearer-file": "central_repo_auth_token.txt"
  },

  "pipeline": {
    "provider": "azure",
    "organization": "XNSio",
    "project": "XNSIO",
    "definitionId": 4
  },

  "environments": {
    "staging": {
      "baseurls": {
        "auth.spec": "http://localhost:8080"
      },
      "variables": {
        "username": "jackie",
        "password": "PaSsWoRd"
      }
    }
  },

  "hooks": {
    "hook_name": "command"
  },

  "report": {
    "formatters": [
      {
        "type": "text",
        "layout": "table"
      }
    ],
    "types": {
      "APICoverage": {
        "OpenAPI": {
          "successCriteria": {
            "minThresholdPercentage": 100,
            "maxMissedEndpointsInSpec": 0,
            "enforce": true
          },
          "excludedEndpoints": [
            "/health"
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

  • sources:
  - provider: git
    repository: https://azure.com/XNSio/XNSIO/_git/petstore-contracts
    branch: main
    provides:
      - com/petstore/store.yaml
    consumes:
      - com/petstore/payment.yaml

auth:
  bearer-file: central_repo_auth_token.txt

pipeline:
  provider: azure
  organization: XNSio
  project: XNSIO
  definitionId: 4

environments:
  staging:
    baseurls:
      auth.spec: http://localhost:8080
    variables:
      username: jackie
      password: PaSsWoRd

hooks:
  hook_name: command

report:
  formatters:
    - type: text
      layout: table
  types:
    APICoverage:
      OpenAPI:
        successCriteria:
          minThresholdPercentage: 100
          maxMissedEndpointsInSpec: 0
          enforce: true
        excludedEndpoints:
          - /health

Declare pipeline details

Contains details of the project pipeline.

  • {
  "auth": {
    "bearer-file": "./central_repo_auth_token.txt"
  },

  "pipeline": {
    "provider": "azure", 
    "organization": "XNSio",
    "project": "XNSIO",
    "definitionId": 4
  }
}

  • auth:
  bearer-file: ./central_repo_auth_token.txt

pipeline:
  provider: azure
  organization: XNSio
  project: XNSIO
  definitionId: 4
  • auth section is needed for Azure pipelines
  • pipeline section is used by Specmatic install, to register a project’s build pipeline to run when a contract changes.
    • provider should remain azure, no need to change this
    • Details such as organization, project and definitionId must be set up as per your project.

Specmatic fetches contracts from git repositories in Azure using the value of the pipeline variable System.AccessToken for authentication. This is a predefined variable in Azure build pipelines.

It looks for this value in the file specified by bearer-file. central_repo_auth_token.txt is our recommended name for the file. This file should be in your project root.

You can set it up by placing this snippet in the steps section of your Azure pipeline:

steps:
  - script: echo $SYSTEM_ACCESSTOKEN > central_repo_auth_token.txt
    env:
      SYSTEM_ACCESSTOKEN: $(System.AccessToken)

You can read more about System.AccessToken here.

Declare environment configuration 

  •   "environments": {
    "staging": {
      "baseurls": {
        "auth.spec": "http://localhost:8080"
      },
      "variables": {
        "username": "jackie",
        "password": "PaSsWoRd"
      }
    }
  }

  • environments:
  staging:
    baseurls:
      auth.spec: http://localhost:8080
    variables:
      username: jackie
      password: PaSsWoRd

The environments key in this example contains configuration for the staging environment. It can contain configuration for any number of environments.

Each environment configuration can contain

  • baseurls - needed when running contracts as test as part of authentication
  • variables - these values are plugged into the Examples rows of an auth contract for authentication, or even when running regular contract tests

Hooks

A hook is simply a command that can run on the Terminal or Command Prompt.

  • {
  "hooks": {
    "stub_load_contract": "python load.py"
  }
}

  • hooks:
  stub_load_contract: python load.py

In the above snippet, stub_load_contract is the hook name. python load.py is executed, while the path of the original contract file is present in CONTRACT_FILE environment variable.

The command can parse the contract file and write it to standard out. Specmatic will read it as the new contract. stub_load_contract and test_load_contract are the supported hook names.