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Command Line Options

This chapter details all available command-line options in RESTest, their usage, and practical examples.

Basic Syntax

restest [options] test_file [test_file...]

Core Options

Version Information

# Show version
restest --version
Output: v2.2.1

Base URL Configuration

# Override base URL from test files
restest --base-url https://api.example.com test.json

Authentication Mode

# Set default authentication mode
restest --auth-mode auth test.json    # Default: require authentication
restest --auth-mode no test.json      # Default: no authentication

API Prefix

# Add prefix to all API calls
restest --prefix /api/v2 test.json

Logging Options

Log File Control

# Specify log file
restest --log custom.log test.json

# Clean log file before starting
restest --log-clean test.json

# Suppress console output
restest --quiet test.json

# Disable colored output
restest --no-colors test.json

Debug Options

# Show curl commands on console
restest --curl test.json

# Dry run (no actual requests)
restest --dry test.json

Data Management

Environment Variables

# Load system environment variables
restest --env test.json

# Load variables from file
restest --env-load vars.json test.json

# Save variables to file
restest --env-save output.json test.json

Custom Variables

# Set individual variables
restest --key user_id:123 --key token:abc test.json

Export Options

Postman Export

# Basic Postman export
restest --postman export.json test.json

# Full Postman configuration
restest \
    --postman export.json \
    --postman-name "API Tests" \
    --postman-base-url "https://api.prod.com" \
    --postman-auth-name "Authorization" \
    --postman-auth-value "Bearer {{token}}" \
    test.json

CSV Export

# Export timing data
restest --csv metrics.csv test.json

Execution Control

Error Handling

# Continue on test failures
restest --dont-stop-on-error test.json

Request Timing

# Add delay between requests (milliseconds)
restest --delay 1000 test.json

Complete Command Reference

Option Default Description Example
--auth-mode auth Set default authentication mode (auth/no) --auth-mode no
--base-url None Override base URL from test files --base-url https://api.example.com
--csv None Export timing data to CSV file --csv metrics.csv
--curl False Show curl commands on console --curl
--delay 0 Add delay between requests (ms) --delay 1000
--dont-stop-on-error False Continue on test failures --dont-stop-on-error
--dry False Perform dry run without requests --dry
--env False Load system environment variables --env
--env-load None Load variables from file --env-load vars.json
--env-save None Save variables to file --env-save output.json
--key None Set custom variables --key user_id:123
--log None Specify custom log file --log custom.log
--log-clean False Clean log file before starting --log-clean
--no-colors False Disable colored output --no-colors
--postman None Export to Postman collection --postman export.json
--postman-auth-name None Postman auth header name --postman-auth-name "Authorization"
--postman-auth-value None Postman auth header value --postman-auth-value "Bearer {{token}}"
--postman-base-url None Postman base URL --postman-base-url "https://api.prod.com"
--postman-name None Postman collection name --postman-name "API Tests"
--prefix None Add prefix to all API calls --prefix /api/v2
--quiet False Suppress console output --quiet
--version N/A Show version number --version

Usage Examples

Basic Testing

# Simple test execution
restest test.json

# Multiple test files
restest auth.json users.json orders.json

Production Testing

# Production configuration
restest \
    --base-url https://api.prod.com \
    --log prod.log \
    --log-clean \
    --env-load prod-vars.json \
    --csv prod-metrics.csv \
    --dont-stop-on-error \
    tests/*.json

Development Testing

# Development configuration
restest \
    --base-url http://localhost:8080 \
    --curl \
    --delay 500 \
    --env \
    test.json

CI/CD Pipeline

# CI/CD configuration
restest \
    --base-url ${CI_API_URL} \
    --key api_key:${CI_API_KEY} \
    --log-clean \
    --quiet \
    --csv results.csv \
    --postman postman.json \
    --dont-stop-on-error \
    tests/*.json

Environment-Specific Examples

Local Development

# Local testing with debugging
restest \
    --base-url http://localhost:3000 \
    --curl \
    --prefix /api \
    --env-load .env.local \
    --delay 100 \
    test.json

Staging Environment

# Staging environment testing
restest \
    --base-url https://api.staging.com \
    --log staging.log \
    --env-load staging.env \
    --postman staging-collection.json \
    --csv staging-metrics.csv \
    test.json

Production Monitoring

# Production monitoring
restest \
    --base-url https://api.production.com \
    --quiet \
    --log /var/log/restest/monitor.log \
    --csv /var/log/restest/metrics.csv \
    --dont-stop-on-error \
    monitoring/*.json

Best Practices

  1. Environment Management 

    # Development
restest --env-load dev.env --curl test.json

# Production
restest --env-load prod.env --quiet test.json

  2. Debug Configuration 

    # Full debug mode
restest \
    --curl \
    --delay 500 \
    --log debug.log \
    test.json

  3. CI/CD Integration 

    # CI pipeline configuration
restest \
    --quiet \
    --log-clean \
    --dont-stop-on-error \
    --csv results.csv \
    tests/*.json

  4. Performance Testing 

    # Load test configuration
restest \
    --delay 100 \
    --csv perf.csv \
    --log perf.log \
    load-test.json