# RESTest

> The documentation of RESTest 2.5.0, a black-box testing tool for REST APIs: a manual to read from the beginning, and one page per subject to look things up in. Each link is a page's Markdown in that version.

- [RESTest documentation](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/README.md): every page, and what it covers

## Manual

- [What RESTest is for](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/manual/01-what-restest-is-for.md): the problem it solves, what it finds, and what it does not.
- [Installing RESTest](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/manual/02-installing.md): with Homebrew, with jbang, with Docker, with Java, or built from the source.
- [A first run](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/manual/03-a-first-run.md): a practice API on your own machine, and the first run against it.
- [Reading what a run says](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/manual/04-reading-what-a-run-says.md): the screen, the report, and the questions you can ask of them.
- [Plans](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/manual/05-plans.md): where a run's values come from, how hard it pushes, and which operations it may touch.
- [Dictionaries](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/manual/06-dictionaries.md): handing over values you know are good.
- [Settings](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/manual/07-settings.md): how the tool itself behaves, and switching off what it does.
- [An API that asks for a key](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/manual/08-an-api-that-asks-for-a-key.md): handing over a key or a token.
- [Exit codes and continuous integration](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/manual/09-exit-codes-and-ci.md): what a run ends with, and using that in a build.
- [Troubleshooting](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/manual/10-troubleshooting.md): what to do when a run does not do what you expected.
- [Glossary](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/manual/11-glossary.md): the words this manual uses.

## Reference

- [The command line](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/command-line.md): Every command, every option of a run, the environment variables, how to stop a run, and the number a run ends with
- [What a run leaves behind](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/report.md): Every line a run prints, every key of report.json, the page report.html, and the stored run --store keeps
- [The faults RESTest reports](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/faults.md): The kinds of fault a run reports, which are errors and which warnings, what each means, and how they are counted
- [The campaign file](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/campaign-format.md): The plan a run follows: where its values come from, how much of it pushes at the API, which operations it may touch
- [The dictionary format](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/dictionary-format.md): Lists of values of your own, handed over with --dictionary
- [The JSON Schemas](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/schemas.md): The schemas of a dictionary and a plan: where they are, and how an editor, a validator or a language model uses them
- [The settings](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/settings.md): Every number that says how the tool behaves, with its default, and the three ways to change one
- [The switches](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/switches.md): The settings that turn one thing a run does off, what leaving each on costs, and files that turn off a whole idea
- [RESTest and coding agents](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/for-coding-agents.md): What to tell a coding agent so that it tests an API with RESTest, what it then does, and the skill that teaches it
- [Known limitations](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/known-limitations.md): What RESTest does not do yet, or does in a way that may surprise you, and what to do about it

## Building RESTest

- [The rules](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/AGENTS.md): The design principles, the hard rules, the commands and where everything is; read by people and coding agents alike
- [Design](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/DESIGN.md): What the tool is, how it is put together, the rules the build enforces, and a glossary
- [Continuous integration](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/ci.md): What every pull request is checked for, how to run the same checks locally, and how a release is made
- [Decision records](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/docs/adr/README.md): Why the tool is shaped the way it is, one decision per file
- [Contributing](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isa-group/RESTest/v2.5.0/CONTRIBUTING.md): How a change is proposed, built and reviewed