api-contract-testing

API Contract Testing

Verify that APIs honor their contracts between consumers and providers without requiring full integration tests.

Key Concepts

Term	Definition
Consumer	Service that calls an API
Provider	Service that exposes an API
Contract	Agreed request/response format
Pact	Consumer-driven contract testing tool
Schema	Structure definition (OpenAPI, JSON Schema)
Broker	Central repository for contracts

Pact Consumer Test (TypeScript)

import { PactV3, MatchersV3 } from '@pact-foundation/pact';

const provider = new PactV3({
  consumer: 'OrderService',
  provider: 'UserService'
});

describe('User API Contract', () => {
  it('returns user by ID', async () => {
    await provider
      .given('user 123 exists')
      .uponReceiving('a request for user 123')
      .withRequest({ method: 'GET', path: '/users/123' })
      .willRespondWith({
        status: 200,
        body: MatchersV3.like({
          id: '123',
          name: MatchersV3.string('John'),
          email: MatchersV3.email('[email protected]')
        })
      })
      .executeTest(async (mockServer) => {
        const response = await fetch(`${mockServer.url}/users/123`);
        expect(response.status).toBe(200);
      });
  });

  it('returns 404 for non-existent user', async () => {
    await provider
      .given('user does not exist')
      .uponReceiving('a request for non-existent user')
      .withRequest({ method: 'GET', path: '/users/999' })
      .willRespondWith({
        status: 404,
        body: MatchersV3.like({
          error: { code: 'NOT_FOUND', message: MatchersV3.string() }
        })
      })
      .executeTest(async (mockServer) => {
        const response = await fetch(`${mockServer.url}/users/999`);
        expect(response.status).toBe(404);
      });
  });
});

Provider Verification

import { Verifier } from '@pact-foundation/pact';

new Verifier({
  provider: 'UserService',
  providerBaseUrl: 'http://localhost:3000',
  pactBrokerUrl: process.env.PACT_BROKER_URL,
  publishVerificationResult: true,
  providerVersion: process.env.GIT_SHA,
  stateHandlers: {
    'user 123 exists': async () => {
      await db.users.create({ id: '123', name: 'John' });
    },
    'user does not exist': async () => {
      await db.users.deleteAll();
    }
  }
}).verifyProvider();