Testing Express APIs in Node.js

From the Express.js REST API cheat sheet ยท Error Handling & Testing ยท verified Jul 2026

Testing Express APIs

Write unit and integration tests for API endpoints

javascript
// Jest test example
const request = require('supertest');
const app = require('../app');

describe('User API', () => {
  test('GET /api/users should return users', async () => {
    const response = await request(app)
      .get('/api/users')
      .expect(200);
    
    expect(response.body).toHaveProperty('users');
    expect(Array.isArray(response.body.users)).toBe(true);
  });

  test('POST /api/users should create user', async () => {
    const userData = {
      name: 'John Doe',
      email: 'john@example.com',
      password: 'password123'
    };

    const response = await request(app)
      .post('/api/users')
      .send(userData)
      .expect(201);
    
    expect(response.body.user.name).toBe(userData.name);
  });
});
๐ŸŸข Essential - Tests ensure API reliability
๐Ÿ’ก Use Jest + Supertest for API testing
๐Ÿ“Œ Test both success and error scenarios
โšก Mock external dependencies for unit tests
๐ŸŽฏ Aim for 80%+ code coverage
๐Ÿ”— Related: Postman for manual API testing

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