# API Tester

> Fires real HTTP requests and validates responses against expectations — status code, JSON field values (dot-notation paths), latency budget, content-type — with stdlib urllib, no requests library, no curl subprocess. Use to verify endpoints from CI or an agent session, smoke-test a deploy, or prove an API behaves as documented before building on it.

- Skill: `trac3r00/api-tester` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add trac3r00/api-tester`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/trac3r00/api-tester/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: DevOps & Infra
- License: MIT
- Author: trac3r00 (https://skillmd.com/u/trac3r00)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/trac3r00/api-tester

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# API Tester

Agents write API calls; this proves the server answers what you expect.

## Commands

```bash
python3 scripts/api_tester.py https://api.example.com/health
python3 scripts/api_tester.py URL --expect-status 200 --expect-json ok=true
python3 scripts/api_tester.py URL --expect-json data.user.id=42
python3 scripts/api_tester.py URL --method POST --body '{"x":1}' \
    --header "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
python3 scripts/api_tester.py URL --max-latency-ms 500 --json
```

## Checks

| Check | Flag | Gate |
|---|---|---|
| Status code | `--expect-status` (default 200) | exit 1 on mismatch |
| JSON fields | `--expect-json key=value` (repeatable, dot paths) | exit 1 on mismatch or missing |
| Latency | `--max-latency-ms` | exit 1 over budget |
| Reachability | — | exit 2 when the host is down |

## Pairs with

`env-gate` (is the environment configured), `verification-before-completion`
(the discipline that makes you run this before claiming the endpoint works),
`webapp-testing` (when the surface is a page, not JSON).