REST API Test Framework

A Java-based REST API test automation framework built with RestAssured and TestNG, targeting a Spring Boot application deployed on Render. Includes a GitHub Actions workflow that wakes up the service and audits all registered endpoints every morning at 8:30 AM IST.

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Tech Stack

Layer	Tool	Version
Language	Java	21
API Testing	RestAssured	5.4.0
Test Runner	TestNG	7.9.0
Build Tool	Maven	3.x
Reporting	ExtentReports	5.1.1
JSON Parsing	Jackson Databind	2.16.1
CI Scheduling	GitHub Actions	—

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Framework Architecture

rest-api-framework/
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       └── swagger-warmup.yml         # Scheduled warm-up + endpoint audit
└── framework/
    ├── src/
    │   ├── main/java/com/qa/framework/
    │   │   ├── config/
    │   │   │   └── ConfigManager.java # Reads config.properties centrally
    │   │   └── utils/
    │   │       └── ReportManager.java # ExtentReports HTML report setup
    │   └── test/java/com/qa/tests/
    │       ├── base/
    │       │   └── BaseTest.java      # Suite setup, RestAssured base spec
    │       └── api/
    │           ├── HealthCheckTest.java  # Service health + docs validation
    │           └── ApiTests.java         # Functional endpoint tests
    ├── src/test/resources/
    │   ├── config.properties          # Base URL, timeouts, report settings
    │   └── testng.xml                 # Test suite execution order
    └── pom.xml                        # Dependencies and Maven config

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Prerequisites

• Java 21 — Download
• Maven 3.x — Download
• VS Code + Extension Pack for Java

Verify installation:

java -version   # should show 21.x.x
mvn -version    # should show 3.x.x

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Setup

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/rest-api-framework.git
cd rest-api-framework/framework

# Install dependencies
mvn clean install -DskipTests

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Configuration

All settings are in one place — src/test/resources/config.properties:

BASE_URL=https://firststudyproject.onrender.com
ENV=dev
CONNECTION_TIMEOUT=10000
READ_TIMEOUT=30000
REPORT_PATH=test-output/ExtentReport.html

To point the framework at a different environment, change BASE_URL here. No changes needed in any test class.

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Running Tests

# Run full suite
mvn test

# Run a specific test class only
mvn test -Dtest=HealthCheckTest

# Run with console output visible
mvn test -Dsurefire.useFile=false

After the run, open the HTML report:

framework/test-output/ExtentReport.html

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Test Suite Structure

Tests run in this order, defined in testng.xml:

1. Health Checks — run first, every time

Test	What it verifies
swaggerUiShouldBeReachable	Swagger UI returns HTTP 200
apiDocsShouldReturnJson	/v3/api-docs returns valid OpenAPI JSON
apiSpecShouldHaveEndpoints	At least one endpoint is registered

2. API Functional Tests

Test	What it verifies
testApiShouldReturn200	Endpoint returns expected HTTP status
testApiResponseTime	Response is within 5-second SLA

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GitHub Actions — Morning Warm-Up

The file .github/workflows/swagger-warmup.yml runs every day at 8:30 AM IST.

What it does:

• Pings the Render service with retries until it wakes from sleep
• Fetches /v3/api-docs and prints every loaded endpoint, grouped by HTTP method
• Fails the job and sends a notification if the service is unreachable

Why this matters: Render's free tier spins down after 15 minutes of inactivity. This workflow ensures the API is warm and all endpoints are loaded before the team starts the day — similar to how production banking systems pre-load services before market open.

To trigger manually: GitHub → Actions tab → Run workflow

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Design Decisions

Why RestAssured? Industry-standard Java library for REST API testing. Fluent BDD-style syntax (given/when/then) aligns with existing TestNG + Cucumber experience and is widely used in BFSI automation stacks.

Why centralized config? ConfigManager reads config.properties once at startup. All test classes call ConfigManager.get("BASE_URL") — changing the URL in one file updates every test, eliminating hardcoded values across the suite.

Why Health Checks as a separate test group? If the service is down, functional tests will produce misleading failures. Running health checks first and failing fast gives clearer signal about whether failures are environment issues or actual defects.

Why ExtentReports? Generates a self-contained HTML report with test status, request/response logs, and timestamps. No server required to view — open directly in a browser.

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Roadmap

• Add Allure Reports integration
• Add schema validation using JSON Schema files
• Add data-driven tests using TestNG @DataProvider
• Integrate with GitHub Actions to run tests on every push
• Add performance baseline assertions (response time thresholds)
• Add test for all endpoints discovered dynamically from /v3/api-docs

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About

Built as part of a team QA setup for a collaborative Spring Boot project. The framework is designed to grow alongside the API — new endpoints added by the dev team are automatically discovered via the OpenAPI spec, and corresponding test cases are added to ApiTests.java.

Author: Sujay — QA/Test Engineer Domain: REST API Automation | BFSI QA Stack: Java · RestAssured · TestNG · Maven · GitHub Actions