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HTTP Requests

The k6/http module is the core of most k6 tests. It provides methods for making HTTP requests and handling responses.

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Basic GET Request

The simplest k6 test makes a GET request: 
import http from 'k6/http';

export default function () {
  http.get('https://quickpizza.grafana.com');
}

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HTTP Methods

k6 supports all standard HTTP verbs: 
import http from 'k6/http';
import { check } from 'k6';

export default function() {
  let res = http.get('http://httpbin.org/get?verb=get');
  check(res, {
    'status is 200': (r) => r.status === 200,
  });
}

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Request Parameters

Customize requests with parameters: 
import http from 'k6/http';

export default function() {
  let params = {
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      'Authorization': 'Bearer token123',
      'User-Agent': 'k6-test',
    },
    tags: {
      name: 'CreateOrder',
      api_version: 'v2',
    },
    timeout: '60s',
  };

  http.post('https://quickpizza.grafana.com/api/orders', 
    JSON.stringify({ items: ['pizza'] }),
    params
  );
}

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Handling Response Data

The response object contains all the information about the HTTP response: 
import http from 'k6/http';
import { check } from 'k6';

export default function() {
  let res = http.get('https://quickpizza.grafana.com/api/menu');
  
  // Status code
  console.log('Status:', res.status);
  
  // Response body as string
  console.log('Body:', res.body);
  
  // Parse JSON response
  let menu = res.json();
  console.log('Items:', menu.items.length);
  
  // Access specific JSON field
  let firstItem = res.json('items.0.name');
  
  // Response headers
  console.log('Content-Type:', res.headers['Content-Type']);
  
  // Timing information
  console.log('Duration:', res.timings.duration, 'ms');
  console.log('Waiting:', res.timings.waiting, 'ms');
  console.log('Connecting:', res.timings.connecting, 'ms');
}

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Form Data and POST Requests

import http from 'k6/http';
import { check } from 'k6';

const form_data = {
  name: 'Test Name',
  telephone: '123456789',
  email: '[email protected]',
  comment: 'Hello world!',
  topping: ['onion', 'bacon', 'cheese']
};

export default function() {
  // Passing object automatically form-urlencodes it
  let res = http.post('http://httpbin.org/post', form_data);
  
  check(res, {
    'status is 200': (r) => r.status === 200,
    'has correct name': (r) => r.json().form.name === form_data.name,
  });
}

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Authentication

import http from 'k6/http';
import { check } from 'k6';

export default function() {
  // Username and password in URL
  let res = http.get('http://user:[email protected]/basic-auth/user/passwd');
  
  check(res, {
    'is authenticated': (r) => r.json().authenticated === true,
  });
}

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Batch Requests

Make multiple requests in parallel: 
import { check } from 'k6';
import http from 'k6/http';

export default function() {
  const responses = http.batch([
    'https://quickpizza.grafana.com/test.k6.io',
    'https://quickpizza.grafana.com/pi.php',
    ['GET', 'https://quickpizza.grafana.com/api/menu'],
    {
      method: 'POST',
      url: 'https://quickpizza.grafana.com/api/orders',
      body: JSON.stringify({ items: ['pizza'] }),
      params: { headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' } },
    },
  ]);

  check(responses[0], {
    'main page 200': res => res.status === 200,
  });
  
  check(responses[1], {
    'pi page has right content': res => res.body === '3.14',
  });
}
Batch requests are executed in parallel from the VU’s perspective, but they still count as separate requests in your metrics.

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Cookies

k6 automatically handles cookies with a VU-scoped cookie jar: 
import http from 'k6/http';
import { check } from 'k6';

export default function() {
  // VU cookie jar automatically manages cookies
  let res = http.get('http://httpbin.org/cookies/set?name=value');
  
  // Access VU cookie jar
  let jar = http.cookieJar();
  let cookies = jar.cookiesForURL(res.url);
  
  check(null, {
    'has cookie': () => cookies.name !== undefined,
  });
  
  // Create local cookie jar
  let localJar = new http.CookieJar();
  localJar.set('http://httpbin.org/cookies', 'custom', 'value123');
  
  http.get('http://httpbin.org/cookies', { jar: localJar });
}

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Response Validation with Checks

Use checks to validate responses without failing the test: 
import http from 'k6/http';
import { check } from 'k6';

export default function() {
  let res = http.get('https://quickpizza.grafana.com/api/menu');
  
  check(res, {
    'status is 200': (r) => r.status === 200,
    'status is not 404': (r) => r.status !== 404,
    'response time < 500ms': (r) => r.timings.duration < 500,
    'body size < 10KB': (r) => r.body.length < 10240,
    'has menu items': (r) => r.json('items').length > 0,
    'content type is JSON': (r) => r.headers['Content-Type'].includes('application/json'),
  });
}
Checks don’t stop test execution when they fail. Use thresholds if you need to fail the entire test based on check results.

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Common Request Options

OptionTypeDescription
headersobjectCustom HTTP headers
tagsobjectCustom tags for metrics
cookiesobjectRequest-specific cookies
redirectsnumberMax redirects to follow
timeoutstringRequest timeout (e.g., ’60s’)
jarCookieJarCustom cookie jar
compressionstringCompression algorithm (‘gzip’, ‘deflate’, ‘br’)

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Global HTTP Options

Set default options for all HTTP requests: 
export let options = {
  userAgent: 'k6-load-test/1.0',
  maxRedirects: 5,
  insecureSkipTLSVerify: true,
  batch: 10,              // Max parallel requests in batch()
  batchPerHost: 5,        // Max parallel requests per host
  noConnectionReuse: false,
  noVUConnectionReuse: false,
};

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Next Steps

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