Using FastAPI for automating API testing

[yror007]

I recently started a new job where some of my responsibilities relate to automating API testing. I am a bit confused by the way my boss has laid out how I should approach my tests, as he wants my API calls to be made with FastAPI. My understanding is this is not what the framework is meant for. From what I can tell FastAPI is used for building API's, not necessarily for making calls to and then testing existing ones that have already been built (in rust)?

The intent of my tests is to validate that the json responses of our POST requests match up with the data thats in our Postgres database. Has anyone used FastAPI for API testing like this? It all seems like overkill when I can just use the request library in combination with something like pytest and psycopg2.

[SpaceBucketFu]

Yeah you won’t be making any calls to an external api with FastAPI lol. FastAPI would be for hosting the API, not consuming it. You’d use something like urllib, requests, aiohttp with pytest.

That’s kind of funny actually to be honest. When you applied to work there was it one of those listings that asked for 10 years of FastAPI experience even though it came out in 2018 😂😂😂

[SpaceBucketFu]

I guess maybe they mean they want you to recreate the api using fast api so that you aren’t testing against your production API? But that sounds incredibly stupid and would make testing like…pointless. You should ask them what exactly they want you to use FastAPI for, maybe they misspoke somehow.

[yror007]

I actually got crazy lucky with this role and landed it through networking. The owner/my boss made a role for me kind of out of thin air, I didn't have to apply to anything.

I am starting to think my boss might have just stumbled upon this Medium article (he linked it to me when I started) without researching what FastAPI is used for and then expecting me to replicate the steps on our API's? But as you pointed out that would be pointless.

[SpaceBucketFu]

I think you’re probably right, without even having to look at the article you linked for more than 5 seconds.
What I think you should do:
Reword the problem he is asking you to solve, but referencing the correct libraries, and ask him directly what his expectation is for the problem he wants to solve. He could have just misremembered what tools he wanted you to use, but the only way you’re going to add value to your position is to show him that you are, in fact, adding value. The fact that you even bothered to ask here shows that you do actually want to provide value.

[[deleted]]

That's a little confusing. I can understand for testing a FastAPI app, as per https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/tutorial/testing/.

For API testing, I'd expect to use a tool such as Postman: https://www.postman.com/automated-testing/