API CRUD Operations

Test REST API CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete) with complete request flows and authentication.

Understanding CRUD

CRUD operations map to HTTP methods:

Create: POST - Create a new resource
Read: GET - Retrieve a resource
Update: PUT or PATCH - Modify an existing resource
Delete: DELETE - Remove a resource

Test Workflow

This example tests the QuickPizza API with a complete CRUD flow:

Setup: Create a user and retrieve an authentication token
Create: Post a new pizza rating
Read: Fetch the list of ratings
Update: Modify the rating (change stars)
Delete: Remove the rating

Core k6 API Example

Using standard k6 HTTP and check APIs:

import http from 'k6/http';
import { check, group } from 'k6';

export const options = {
  vus: 1,
  iterations: 1,
};

// Create a random string of given length
function randomString(length, charset = '') {
  if (!charset) charset = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz';
  let res = '';
  while (length--) res += charset[(Math.random() * charset.length) | 0];
  return res;
}

const USERNAME = `${randomString(10)}@example.com`;
const PASSWORD = 'secret';
const BASE_URL = 'https://quickpizza.grafana.com';

// Register a new user and retrieve authentication token
export function setup() {
  const res = http.post(
    `${BASE_URL}/api/users`,
    JSON.stringify({
      username: USERNAME,
      password: PASSWORD,
    })
  );

  check(res, { 'created user': (r) => r.status === 201 });

  const loginRes = http.post(
    `${BASE_URL}/api/users/token/login`,
    JSON.stringify({
      username: USERNAME,
      password: PASSWORD,
    })
  );

  const authToken = loginRes.json('token');
  check(authToken, { 'logged in successfully': () => authToken.length > 0 });

  return authToken;
}

export default function (authToken) {
  // Set authorization header for all requests
  const requestConfigWithTag = (tag) => ({
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${authToken}`,
    },
    tags: Object.assign(
      {},
      {
        name: 'PrivateRatings',
      },
      tag
    ),
  });

  let URL = `${BASE_URL}/api/ratings`;

  group('01. Create a new rating', () => {
    const payload = {
      stars: 2,
      pizza_id: 1, // Pizza ID 1 already exists in the database
    };

    const res = http.post(URL, JSON.stringify(payload), requestConfigWithTag({ name: 'Create' }));

    if (check(res, { 'Rating created correctly': (r) => r.status === 201 })) {
      URL = `${URL}/${res.json('id')}`;
    } else {
      console.log(`Unable to create rating ${res.status} ${res.body}`);
      return;
    }
  });

  group('02. Fetch my ratings', () => {
    const res = http.get(`${BASE_URL}/api/ratings`, requestConfigWithTag({ name: 'Fetch' }));
    check(res, { 'retrieve ratings status': (r) => r.status === 200 });
    check(res.json(), { 'retrieved ratings list': (r) => r.ratings.length > 0 });
  });

  group('03. Update the rating', () => {
    const payload = { stars: 5 };
    const res = http.put(URL, JSON.stringify(payload), requestConfigWithTag({ name: 'Update' }));
    const isSuccessfulUpdate = check(res, {
      'Update worked': () => res.status === 200,
      'Updated stars number is correct': () => res.json('stars') === 5,
    });

    if (!isSuccessfulUpdate) {
      console.log(`Unable to update the rating ${res.status} ${res.body}`);
      return;
    }
  });

  group('04. Delete the rating', () => {
    const delRes = http.del(URL, null, requestConfigWithTag({ name: 'Delete' }));

    const isSuccessfulDelete = check(null, {
      'Rating was deleted correctly': () => delRes.status === 204,
    });

    if (!isSuccessfulDelete) {
      console.log('Rating was not deleted properly');
      return;
    }
  });
}

Modern API Example (httpx + k6chaijs)

Using the newer httpx and k6chaijs libraries for a more expressive syntax:

import { describe, expect } from 'https://jslib.k6.io/k6chaijs/4.3.4.3/index.js';
import { Httpx } from 'https://jslib.k6.io/httpx/0.1.0/index.js';
import {
  randomIntBetween,
  randomString,
} from 'https://jslib.k6.io/k6-utils/1.2.0/index.js';

export const options = {
  vus: 1,
  iterations: 1,
};

const USERNAME = `user${randomIntBetween(1, 100000)}@example.com`;
const PASSWORD = 'secret';

const session = new Httpx({ baseURL: 'https://quickpizza.grafana.com' });

// Register a new user and retrieve authentication token
export function setup() {
  let authToken = null;

  describe(`setup - create a test user ${USERNAME}`, () => {
    const resp = session.post(
      `/api/users`,
      JSON.stringify({
        username: USERNAME,
        password: PASSWORD,
      })
    );

    expect(resp.status, 'User create status').to.equal(201);
    expect(resp, 'User create valid json response').to.have.validJsonBody();
  });

  describe(`setup - Authenticate the new user ${USERNAME}`, () => {
    const resp = session.post(
      `/api/users/token/login`,
      JSON.stringify({
        username: USERNAME,
        password: PASSWORD,
      })
    );

    expect(resp.status, 'Authenticate status').to.equal(200);
    expect(resp, 'Authenticate valid json response').to.have.validJsonBody();
    authToken = resp.json('token');
    expect(authToken, 'Authentication token').to.be.a('string');
  });

  return authToken;
}

export default function (authToken) {
  // Set authorization header on the session
  session.addHeader('Authorization', `Bearer ${authToken}`);

  describe('01. Create a new rating', (t) => {
    const payload = {
      stars: 2,
      pizza_id: 1, // Pizza ID 1 already exists in the database
    };

    session.addTag('name', 'Create');
    const resp = session.post(`/api/ratings`, JSON.stringify(payload));

    expect(resp.status, 'Rating creation status').to.equal(201);
    expect(resp, 'Rating creation valid json response').to.have.validJsonBody();

    session.newRatingId = resp.json('id');
  });

  describe('02. Fetch my ratings', (t) => {
    session.clearTag('name');
    const resp = session.get('/api/ratings');

    expect(resp.status, 'Fetch ratings status').to.equal(200);
    expect(resp, 'Fetch ratings valid json response').to.have.validJsonBody();
    expect(resp.json('ratings').length, 'Number of ratings').to.be.above(0);
  });

  describe('03. Update the rating', (t) => {
    const payload = {
      stars: 5,
    };

    const resp = session.patch(`/api/ratings/${session.newRatingId}`, JSON.stringify(payload));

    expect(resp.status, 'Rating patch status').to.equal(200);
    expect(resp, 'Fetch rating valid json response').to.have.validJsonBody();
    expect(resp.json('stars'), 'Stars').to.equal(payload.stars);

    // Read rating again to verify the update worked
    const resp1 = session.get(`/api/ratings/${session.newRatingId}`);

    expect(resp1.status, 'Fetch rating status').to.equal(200);
    expect(resp1, 'Fetch rating valid json response').to.have.validJsonBody();
    expect(resp1.json('stars'), 'Stars').to.equal(payload.stars);
  });

  describe('04. Delete the rating', (t) => {
    const resp = session.delete(`/api/ratings/${session.newRatingId}`);

    expect(resp.status, 'Rating delete status').to.equal(204);
  });
}

The httpx session automatically handles the base URL and maintains headers across requests, making your test code cleaner.

Running the Test

Basic Run
Load Test
Cloud Run

k6 run api-crud-test.js

Increase virtual users and duration:

k6 run --vus 10 --duration 30s api-crud-test.js

Run in Grafana Cloud k6:

k6 cloud api-crud-test.js

Key Concepts

Groups

Organize related requests and view grouped metrics:

group('User Registration', () => {
  // Multiple related requests
  const res1 = http.post('/api/register', data);
  const res2 = http.post('/api/verify', verifyData);
});

Checks vs Thresholds

Checks validate individual responses but don’t fail the test:

check(res, { 'status is 200': (r) => r.status === 200 });

Thresholds define pass/fail criteria for the entire test:

export const options = {
  thresholds: {
    'http_req_duration': ['p(95)<500'], // 95% of requests under 500ms
    'checks': ['rate>0.9'],             // 90% of checks pass
  },
};

Best Practices

Use setup() for test data preparation

Avoid creating test data in every VU iteration. Use the setup() function to create shared data once:

export function setup() {
  // Create user once, return credentials
  return { token: 'auth-token' };
}

export default function(data) {
  // Use shared token in all VU iterations
  http.get(url, { headers: { Authorization: data.token } });
}

Check responses before using data

Always validate responses before extracting data:

const res = http.post(url, data);

if (check(res, { 'created': (r) => r.status === 201 })) {
  const id = res.json('id');
  // Continue with id
} else {
  console.log(`Failed: ${res.status} ${res.body}`);
  return; // Exit early
}

Clean up resources in teardown()

Remove test data after the test completes:

export function teardown(data) {
  http.del(`https://api.example.com/users/${data.userId}`, {
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${data.token}` },
  });
}

HTTP Authentication

Learn about authentication methods

Correlation & Dynamic Data

Extract and reuse response data

Test Lifecycle

Understand setup, VU, and teardown stages

Checks & Thresholds

Define pass/fail criteria

Examples

Reference

Cloud & Studio

Release Notes

Understanding CRUD

Test Workflow

Core k6 API Example

Modern API Example (httpx + k6chaijs)

Running the Test

Key Concepts

Groups

Checks vs Thresholds

Tags

Best Practices

HTTP Authentication

Correlation & Dynamic Data

Test Lifecycle

Checks & Thresholds

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Examples

Reference

Cloud & Studio

Release Notes

Documentation Index

​Understanding CRUD

​Test Workflow

​Core k6 API Example

​Modern API Example (httpx + k6chaijs)

​Running the Test

​Key Concepts

​Groups

​Checks vs Thresholds

​Tags

​Best Practices

​Related Resources

HTTP Authentication

Correlation & Dynamic Data

Test Lifecycle

Checks & Thresholds

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Understanding CRUD

Test Workflow

Core k6 API Example

Modern API Example (httpx + k6chaijs)

Running the Test

Key Concepts

Groups

Checks vs Thresholds

Tags

Best Practices

Related Resources