API Testing
Learn to test APIs using Jest, Supertest, and other testing tools
45 min•By Priygop Team•Last updated: Feb 2026
API Testing with Jest and Supertest
API testing is crucial for ensuring your endpoints work correctly and handle various scenarios properly. Jest and Supertest are popular tools for testing Node.js APIs.
API Testing Implementation
Example
// Install testing dependencies
npm install --save-dev jest supertest
// test/users.test.js
const request = require('supertest');
const app = require('../app');
const mongoose = require('mongoose');
const User = require('../models/User');
describe('User API', () => {
beforeAll(async () => {
// Connect to test database
await mongoose.connect(process.env.MONGODB_TEST_URI);
});
afterAll(async () => {
// Clean up and disconnect
await mongoose.connection.dropDatabase();
await mongoose.connection.close();
});
beforeEach(async () => {
// Clear users collection before each test
await User.deleteMany({});
});
describe('GET /api/users', () => {
it('should return empty array when no users exist', async () => {
const response = await request(app)
.get('/api/users')
.expect(200);
expect(response.body.success).toBe(true);
expect(response.body.data).toEqual([]);
expect(response.body.count).toBe(0);
});
it('should return all users', async () => {
// Create test users
const user1 = await User.create({
name: 'John Doe',
email: 'john@example.com',
age: 30
});
const user2 = await User.create({
name: 'Jane Smith',
email: 'jane@example.com',
age: 25
});
const response = await request(app)
.get('/api/users')
.expect(200);
expect(response.body.success).toBe(true);
expect(response.body.data).toHaveLength(2);
expect(response.body.count).toBe(2);
});
it('should support pagination', async () => {
// Create multiple users
const users = [];
for (let i = 0; i < 15; i++) {
users.push({
name: `User ${i}`,
email: `user${i}@example.com`,
age: 20 + i
});
}
await User.insertMany(users);
const response = await request(app)
.get('/api/users?page=1&limit=10')
.expect(200);
expect(response.body.data).toHaveLength(10);
expect(response.body.pagination.page).toBe(1);
expect(response.body.pagination.limit).toBe(10);
expect(response.body.pagination.total).toBe(15);
expect(response.body.pagination.pages).toBe(2);
});
});
describe('POST /api/users', () => {
it('should create a new user', async () => {
const userData = {
name: 'John Doe',
email: 'john@example.com',
age: 30
};
const response = await request(app)
.post('/api/users')
.send(userData)
.expect(201);
expect(response.body.success).toBe(true);
expect(response.body.data.name).toBe(userData.name);
expect(response.body.data.email).toBe(userData.email);
expect(response.body.data.age).toBe(userData.age);
});
it('should return 400 for invalid data', async () => {
const invalidData = {
name: '', // Empty name
email: 'invalid-email', // Invalid email
age: -5 // Invalid age
};
const response = await request(app)
.post('/api/users')
.send(invalidData)
.expect(400);
expect(response.body.success).toBe(false);
});
});
describe('GET /api/users/:id', () => {
it('should return user by ID', async () => {
const user = await User.create({
name: 'John Doe',
email: 'john@example.com',
age: 30
});
const response = await request(app)
.get(`/api/users/${user._id}`)
.expect(200);
expect(response.body.success).toBe(true);
expect(response.body.data._id).toBe(user._id.toString());
});
it('should return 404 for non-existent user', async () => {
const fakeId = new mongoose.Types.ObjectId();
const response = await request(app)
.get(`/api/users/${fakeId}`)
.expect(404);
expect(response.body.success).toBe(false);
expect(response.body.error).toBe('User not found');
});
});
describe('PUT /api/users/:id', () => {
it('should update user', async () => {
const user = await User.create({
name: 'John Doe',
email: 'john@example.com',
age: 30
});
const updateData = {
name: 'John Updated',
age: 31
};
const response = await request(app)
.put(`/api/users/${user._id}`)
.send(updateData)
.expect(200);
expect(response.body.success).toBe(true);
expect(response.body.data.name).toBe(updateData.name);
expect(response.body.data.age).toBe(updateData.age);
});
});
describe('DELETE /api/users/:id', () => {
it('should delete user', async () => {
const user = await User.create({
name: 'John Doe',
email: 'john@example.com',
age: 30
});
const response = await request(app)
.delete(`/api/users/${user._id}`)
.expect(200);
expect(response.body.success).toBe(true);
expect(response.body.message).toBe('User deleted successfully');
// Verify user is deleted
const deletedUser = await User.findById(user._id);
expect(deletedUser).toBeNull();
});
});
});
// jest.config.js
module.exports = {
testEnvironment: 'node',
testMatch: ['**/__tests__/**/*.js', '**/?(*.)+(spec|test).js'],
collectCoverageFrom: [
'routes/**/*.js',
'models/**/*.js',
'middleware/**/*.js'
],
coverageDirectory: 'coverage',
coverageReporters: ['text', 'lcov', 'html']
};Try It Yourself — API Development & Documentation
Try It Yourself — API Development & DocumentationHTML
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