Emulate Seed

Emulate Seed Configs

Generate and manage seed configs for emulate (Apache-2.0) — Vercel Labs' stateful API emulation tool. Each category has individual rule files in rules/ loaded on-demand.

Paired agent: This skill pairs with the emulate-engineer subagent (subagent_type: "ork:emulate-engineer"). When a task involves generating a full emulate config from scratch, webhook HMAC setup, CI pipeline integration, or parallel-worker port isolation, spawn the agent rather than handling it inline — it has the full 13-emulator service-port matrix and seed-rules in context.

Not mocks. Emulate provides full state machines with cascading deletes, cursor pagination, webhook delivery, and HMAC signature verification. Create a PR via the API and it appears in GET /repos/:owner/:repo/pulls. Delete a repo and its issues, PRs, and webhooks cascade-delete.

New in 2026-04 (emulate 0.4.x)

• Modular @emulators/* packages — each service is its own package (@emulators/github, @emulators/stripe, etc.); top-level emulate re-exports createEmulator and the CLI.
• 4 new services (12 total): mongoatlas:4007, okta:4008, resend:4009, stripe:4010 with drop-in seed YAML blocks.
• Resend local inbox — GET http://localhost:4009/inbox returns captured emails for assertions without hitting a real provider.
• Stripe hosted checkout — real session redirect flow + checkout.session.completed/expired webhook delivery, suitable for E2E payment tests.
• MongoDB Atlas — Admin API v2 (projects/clusters/DB users) + Data API v1 with full CRUD + aggregate.
• Okta OIDC — full discovery, JWKS, authorize/token/userinfo/revoke/introspect plus Users/Groups/Apps CRUD.
• Entra / Apple / Slack expansions (v0.4.0) — PKCE + refresh rotation (Entra), RS256 JWKS (Apple), OAuth v2 consent UI (Slack).
• @emulators/adapter-next — catch-all Next.js route handler runs emulators on the same origin as the app; fixes OAuth callback URL drift on Vercel preview deploys.

Auto-Discovery (M125 #4)

scripts/auto-discover.sh scans the project's package.json, matches deps against references/dep-to-emulator-map.json, and either reports the matches or writes emulate.config.yaml. Three modes:

$ bash scripts/auto-discover.sh
/ork:emulate-seed --auto — scanning /path/to/package.json

Detected:
  @octokit/rest  →  github · Any GitHub API client
  next-auth  →  google-oauth, apple-auth, microsoft-entra · Default OAuth providers
  stripe  →  stripe
  @vercel/blob  →  aws · @vercel/blob is S3-compatible

Union: apple-auth, aws, github, google-oauth, microsoft-entra, stripe

$ bash scripts/auto-discover.sh --apply
…
✓ Wrote /path/to/emulate.config.yaml with 6 service(s)

Multi-emulator deps default to all reasonable providers; the user prunes the YAML afterwards. Unmapped deps are silently skipped — extending coverage is a docs PR (edit references/dep-to-emulator-map.json), not a code change.

/ork:dev reads the resulting emulate.config.yaml at boot — see src/skills/dev/scripts/boot.sh.

Quick Reference

Total: 5 rules across 5 categories

Quick Start

# Install (packages published under @emulators/* scope)
npm install --save-dev emulate

# Start all services
npx emulate

# Start specific services with seed data
npx emulate --service github,stripe --seed ./emulate.config.yaml

# Generate a starter config
npx emulate init --service github

Services (0.10.0 — 14 emulators)

New across releases:

• 0.5.0 — added Clerk, MongoDB Atlas, Stripe, Resend, and Okta emulators; portless integration (embedded emulators without dedicated ports); Google OAuth hd claim support; Stripe Checkout + Resend magic link examples; AWS S3 emulator now matches the official SDK wire format.
• 0.6.0 — expanded Slack (OAuth v2 consent UI, conversations/reactions).
• 0.6.1 — Vercel Blob store.
• 0.7.0 — added Linear (13th provider): stateful orgs/teams/issues/cycles + webhooks.
• 0.8.0 — added Twilio (14th provider): accounts, phone numbers, messages, calls, conversations, messaging services, Verify flows, and simulator endpoints, with a Next.js SMS-verification example.
• 0.9.0 — added a Nuxt emulator adapter (alongside the Next.js adapter); provider count unchanged.
• 0.10.0 — stateful GitHub repository contents and commit history (GET /repos/:owner/:repo/readme, GET/PUT/DELETE /repos/:owner/:repo/contents/:path where writes produce real commits, GET /repos/:owner/:repo/commits, and GET /repositories/:id by numeric ID); a readonly generatedSecrets array on the Emulator object with a new exported GeneratedSecret type; GitHub App JWT verification now accepts PKCS#8 as well as PKCS#1 keys. Provider count unchanged.

All backwards-compatible, with one behaviour change worth knowing: 0.10.0 switched Stripe webhook deliveries to Stripe's own Stripe-Signature header format. Upstream files it under bug fixes rather than breaking changes, but a test asserting the old GitHub-style sha256= header on a Stripe delivery will now fail. See Webhook Delivery below for both formats.

See references/api-coverage.md for full endpoint lists.

Next.js Adapter (0.4+) — @emulators/adapter-next

Runs emulators on the same origin as your Next.js app via a catch-all route handler. Fixes the OAuth callback URL drift problem on Vercel preview deploys — no more http://localhost:4001 redirect mismatches.

// next.config.js
const { withEmulate } = require('@emulators/adapter-next')
module.exports = withEmulate({ /* your next config */ })

// app/api/[...emulate]/route.ts
import { createEmulateHandler } from '@emulators/adapter-next'
export const { GET, POST } = createEmulateHandler({
  services: ['github', 'stripe', 'resend'],
  persistence: { /* load(), save() or built-in filePersistence */ },
})

Seed Config Structure

A seed config pre-populates the emulator with tokens, users, repos, and projects so tests start from a known state.

# emulate.config.yaml
tokens:
  dev_token:
    login: yonatangross
    scopes: [repo, workflow, admin:org]
  ci_token:
    login: ci-bot
    scopes: [repo]

github:
  users:
    - login: yonatangross
      name: Yonatan Gross
    - login: ci-bot
      name: CI Bot
  repos:
    - owner: yonatangross
      name: my-project
      private: false
      default_branch: main
      topics: [typescript, testing]

vercel:
  users:
    - username: yonatangross
      email: yonaigross@gmail.com
  projects:
    - name: my-docs
      framework: next

# NEW in 0.4.x — drop-in seed blocks
okta:
  users:
    - login: alice@example.com
      firstName: Alice
      lastName: Smith
  groups: [{ name: Everyone }, { name: Admins }]
  apps: [{ name: My Web App }]
  authorization_servers:
    - name: default
      audiences: ["api://default"]

resend:
  domains: [{ name: example.com }]
  api_keys: [{ name: default }]
  # In tests: GET http://localhost:4009/inbox to assert captured emails

stripe:
  customers:
    - name: Test Customer
      email: customer@example.com
  products: [{ name: Pro Plan }, { name: Starter Plan }]
  prices:
    - { product: Pro Plan, unit_amount: 4900, currency: usd, recurring: { interval: month } }
    - { product: Starter Plan, unit_amount: 1900, currency: usd, recurring: { interval: month } }
  # Webhook delivery fires on checkout.session.completed / expired

mongoatlas:
  projects: [{ name: my-project }]
  clusters: [{ project: my-project, name: my-cluster }]
  database_users: [{ project: my-project, username: app-user }]

See rules/seed-config.md for full schema and best practices.

Programmatic SDK

Service packages live under the @emulators/* scope (e.g., @emulators/github, @emulators/stripe). The programmatic API (createEmulator) is exported from the top-level emulate package.

import { createEmulator } from 'emulate'

const github = await createEmulator({ service: 'github', port: 4001 })
// github.url -> 'http://localhost:4001'

// State is real — create a PR and it appears in the list
const res = await fetch(`${github.url}/repos/org/repo/pulls`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { Authorization: 'Bearer dev_token' },
  body: JSON.stringify({ title: 'Test PR', head: 'feature', base: 'main' })
})

const prs = await fetch(`${github.url}/repos/org/repo/pulls`)
// -> includes the PR we just created

// Auto-generated credentials (0.10.0+): readonly GeneratedSecret[], each
// { service, kind, id, label, value }. A GitHub App emulator, for example,
// generates its own RSA key rather than making you supply one.
github.generatedSecrets

// Cleanup
github.reset()       // Synchronous state wipe
await github.close() // Shut down server

seed here is a parsed object, not a path. Only the CLI --seed flag takes a filename. For multi-service setup, lifecycle hooks, and the Vitest/Jest wiring, see references/upstream.md. For the ork-side corrections to that API, see references/ork-delta.md.

Webhook Delivery

Emulate delivers real webhooks with HMAC-SHA256 signatures when state changes. The signature FORMAT is per-provider, so one generic verifier does not cover every service. GitHub-format headers remain the default; Stripe has used its own format since 0.10.0.

import crypto from 'crypto'

// GitHub format (the default for most services): sha256=<hmac over the raw body>
function verifyWebhook(payload: string, signature: string, secret: string): boolean {
  const expected = 'sha256=' + crypto
    .createHmac('sha256', secret)
    .update(payload)
    .digest('hex')
  return crypto.timingSafeEqual(Buffer.from(signature), Buffer.from(expected))
}

// Stripe format, as of emulate 0.10.0: Stripe-Signature: t=<timestamp>,v1=<hmac>,
// where the HMAC covers `<timestamp>.<raw body>`, NOT the body alone. Verifying a
// Stripe delivery with the GitHub helper above fails on both counts.
function verifyStripeWebhook(rawBody: string, header: string, secret: string): boolean {
  const parts = Object.fromEntries(header.split(',').map((kv) => kv.split('=')))
  const expected = crypto
    .createHmac('sha256', secret)
    .update(`${parts.t}.${rawBody}`)
    .digest('hex')
  return crypto.timingSafeEqual(Buffer.from(parts.v1), Buffer.from(expected))
}

See rules/webhook-setup.md for webhook receiver patterns.

CI Integration

# .github/workflows/test.yml
jobs:
  test:
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Start emulate
        run: npx emulate --service github --seed .emulate/ci.yaml &
      - name: Wait for emulate
        run: sleep 2
      - name: Run tests
        run: npm test
        env:
          GITHUB_API_BASE: http://localhost:4001
          VERCEL_API_BASE: http://localhost:4000

Parallel Test Execution

Each test worker gets its own port to avoid race conditions:

// vitest.config.ts
const workerPort = 4001 + parseInt(process.env.VITEST_WORKER_ID || '0')

See rules/parallel-ci.md for full parallel isolation patterns.

Decision Matrix

Use emulate when:

• Testing code that calls GitHub, Vercel, Google, Slack, Apple, Entra, AWS, Okta, Resend, Stripe, MongoDB Atlas, Clerk, or Linear
• You need state persistence across multiple API calls in a test
• You want webhook delivery with real HMAC signatures (GitHub, Stripe)
• You need cascading side-effects (delete repo -> PRs cascade-delete)
• You need to assert on sent emails without hitting a real provider (Resend local /inbox)
• You need hosted Stripe checkout sessions with real redirect flow in tests

Use MSW/Nock when:

• Mocking arbitrary HTTP APIs not covered by emulate
• You need in-browser interception (MSW)
• Tests only need single request/response pairs

Upstream coverage (do not restate)

This skill is a wrap plus our delta. emulate ships its own per-service reference docs; copying them here only produces something that goes stale on the next release. If a topic below comes up, read the first-party source, not a paraphrase.

What stays ours: references/ork-delta.md (the corrections and house conventions that are not in any vendor doc), references/cli-reference.md, references/api-coverage.md, references/dep-to-emulator-map.json, scripts/auto-discover.sh, and everything in rules/.

Read references/ork-delta.md before copying any snippet out of a vendor doc. It records the two API facts vendor prose does not spell out (the exported factory is createEmulator, and seed in the programmatic options is an object rather than a path) plus the *_API_BASE env-var convention this repo uses instead of the vendor's *_EMULATOR_URL.

Related Skills

• testing-integration — Integration test patterns (emulate as first choice for API tests)
• testing-e2e — End-to-end test patterns with emulated backends
• testing-unit — Unit test patterns (use emulate for API-dependent units)
• security-patterns — Auth token patterns (emulate token seeding)

CLI Reference

See references/cli-reference.md for all CLI flags and commands.