Hurl CI/CD Pipeline Integration

Intermediatev1.0.0

Integrate Hurl API tests into CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions — test execution, JUnit reporting, variable injection, and parallel test execution for automated API validation.

Content

Overview

Hurl in CI/CD validates API behavior on every commit. Its lightweight binary, plain-text test files, and JUnit output make it ideal for CI integration — no heavy dependencies, fast startup, and clear reporting.

How It Works

GitHub Actions Workflow

yaml

# .github/workflows/api-tests.yml
name: API Tests
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  hurl-tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Start API
        run: docker compose up -d

      - name: Wait for API
        run: |
          for i in $(seq 1 30); do
            curl -sf http://localhost:3000/health && break
            sleep 2
          done

      - name: Install Hurl
        run: |
          curl -sL https://github.com/Orange-OpenSource/hurl/releases/latest/download/hurl_amd64.deb -o hurl.deb
          sudo dpkg -i hurl.deb

      - name: Run API tests
        run: |
          hurl --test \
            --variable base_url=http://localhost:3000 \
            --report-junit results.xml \
            tests/api/*.hurl

      - name: Upload results
        if: always()
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: hurl-results
          path: results.xml

      - name: Stop API
        if: always()
        run: docker compose down

Parallel Test Execution

bash

# Run tests in parallel (independent test files)
ls tests/api/*.hurl | xargs -P 4 -I {} hurl --test \
  --variable base_url=http://localhost:3000 {}

Reporting Options

bash

# JUnit XML for CI dashboards
hurl --test --report-junit results.xml tests/*.hurl

# HTML report
hurl --test --report-html report/ tests/*.hurl

# JSON output
hurl --test --json tests/*.hurl > results.json

Best Practices

-Install Hurl from the official .deb package for fastest CI setup
-Use --variable for all environment-specific values
-Output JUnit XML for CI dashboard integration
-Start the API server and wait for health check before running tests
-Upload test results as artifacts for debugging
-Run independent test files in parallel for faster execution

Common Mistakes

-Not starting the API server before Hurl runs
-Hardcoded localhost URLs in .hurl files (use --variable)
-Not outputting JUnit/HTML reports (no visibility into failures)
-Running all tests sequentially when they could be parallelized

FAQ

Discussion

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How It Works

GitHub Actions Workflow

yaml

# .github/workflows/api-tests.yml
name: API Tests
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  hurl-tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Start API
        run: docker compose up -d

      - name: Wait for API
        run: |
          for i in $(seq 1 30); do
            curl -sf http://localhost:3000/health && break
            sleep 2
          done

      - name: Install Hurl
        run: |
          curl -sL https://github.com/Orange-OpenSource/hurl/releases/latest/download/hurl_amd64.deb -o hurl.deb
          sudo dpkg -i hurl.deb

      - name: Run API tests
        run: |
          hurl --test \
            --variable base_url=http://localhost:3000 \
            --report-junit results.xml \
            tests/api/*.hurl

      - name: Upload results
        if: always()
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: hurl-results
          path: results.xml

      - name: Stop API
        if: always()
        run: docker compose down

Parallel Test Execution

bash

# Run tests in parallel (independent test files)
ls tests/api/*.hurl | xargs -P 4 -I {} hurl --test \
  --variable base_url=http://localhost:3000 {}

Reporting Options

bash

# JUnit XML for CI dashboards
hurl --test --report-junit results.xml tests/*.hurl

# HTML report
hurl --test --report-html report/ tests/*.hurl

# JSON output
hurl --test --json tests/*.hurl > results.json

Best Practices

-Install Hurl from the official .deb package for fastest CI setup

-Use --variable for all environment-specific values

-Output JUnit XML for CI dashboard integration

-Start the API server and wait for health check before running tests

-Upload test results as artifacts for debugging

-Run independent test files in parallel for faster execution