K6 grafana. Today, we’re excited to .
K6 grafana Hybrid performance with k6 browser An alternative approach to browser-based load testing that’s much less resource-intensive is combining a small number of virtual users for a browser test with a large number of virtual users for a protocol-level test. A few functions are available only in init context. For Linux systems, you have to manually update the application. Use Grafana k6 to write a script and run a performance test in your machine and in Grafana Cloud k6. Generate and customize a k6 test script from a HAR file, including the ability to use rules to quickly iterate on the script creation process. Use the http. This section covers the important aspect of metrics management in k6. k6 is an open source load testing tool designed for developers to allow teams to create tests-as-code, integrate performance tests as part of the software development lifecycle, and help users test, analyze, and fix performance issues in their applications Introduction k6 Studio is a free, open source desktop application designed to help you create k6 test scripts using a visual interface. It was originally developed by Google, with 1. If you’re using Private Load Zones in Grafana Cloud k6, refer to Troubleshoot Private Load Zones. May 28, 2020 · In this tutorial, you will discover how easy and fast is to integrate your k6 performance tests into Azure Pipelines. You must construct a SharedArray in the init context. Browse the subcategories. k6 is an open-source tool and cloud service that makes load testing easy for developers and QA engineers. You can customize tags as you wish. This is the continuation on the blog series of k6 load testing. Mar 3, 2025 · Learn how to use Grafana k6 for load testing your applications. Official extensions These are extensions owned and maintained by Grafana Labs, with support for a wide range of versions. Apr 30, 2024 · From modular testing to reusable test scenarios, these guidelines and best practices will help you ramp up quickly with Grafana k6 performance testing. May 7, 2025 · With the first major release of Grafana k6, we’re doubling down on our commitment to make performance and reliability testing more predictable, scalable, and developer-friendly. What’s more, k6 is an extensible tool, already incorporated with many other functionalities and protocols. Mar 21, 2023 · Grafana Cloud k6 builds on Grafana Labs’ June 2021 acquisition of k6 by providing a unified user experience that natively integrates the world-class load and performance testing experience in Grafana Cloud. Increase the test duration. Oct 6, 2022 · The k6 team, which has grown to about 50 people in the past year, gathered for an offsite meeting in August 2022. Features of k6 Grafana k6 (previously known as Load Impact) is a modern open-source load testing tool written in GO, using which you can easily assess the performance and scalability of the applications by simulating real-life user Running distributed tests It has already been established that k6 can run large load tests from a single instance, but what about multiple instances running a single test? Several reasons why you may wish to run a distributed test include: Your system under test (SUT) should be accessed from multiple IP addresses. Before you begin Install k6 on your Get started Write your first test Running k6 Results output k6 resources k6 has packages for Linux, Mac, and Windows. Page object model When working with large test suites, a popular design pattern to improve your code’s maintainability and readability is the page object model. Running k6 Follow along to learn how to: Run a test. Writing tests in k6 allows you to identify potential issues, such as slow response times or system failures, before they occur in production. 29 or higher. K6 is an open-source load testing tool developed by Grafana Labs that supports HTTP/2, TLS, test assertions, and more. This guide covers installation, writing your first test script, running tests, understanding results, and visualizing performance data. Analyze results In this tutorial, learn how to: Apply tags to filter specific results Learn about k6 metrics Use jq to filter JSON results Define groups to organize the test Create custom metrics Context: k6 result outputs k6 provides many result outputs. You can read in your script the execution state during the test execution and change your script logic based on the current state. k6 is free, developer-centric, and extensible. Test lifecycle In the lifecycle of a k6 test, a script always runs through these stages in the same order: Code in the init context prepares the script, loading files, importing modules, and defining the test lifecycle functions. Dec 14, 2023 · Grafana k6 v0. . But, if you have a k6 Cloud account, you can also use the k6 cloud run command to outsource the test to k6 servers. Write your first browser test k6 browser tests allow you to simulate real user interactions with web applications, such as clicking buttons, filling out forms, and verifying page content. json. In comparison to JSON, which is transmitted as human-readable text, gRPC is The k6/execution module provides the capability to get information about the current test execution state inside the test script. This prevents failures and allows teams to proactively test and improve reliability. Jul 20, 2023 · Monitoring K6 with Grafana dashboard and docker Hello everyone! today let’s understand step by step how to use K6 with docker, set the database, and define a dashboard for monitoring tools. Grafana k6 is an open-source, developer-friendly, and extensible load testing tool. k6/execution provides the test execution information with the following properties: instance scenario test vu Used for setting various HTTP request-specific parameters such as headers, cookies, etc. Examples A k6 script that sends several randomly chosen points from the pre-generated feature database with a variable delay in between. VU code runs in the default or scenario function, running for as Jan 30, 2025 · That’s where performance testing comes in. With these example snippets, you’ll run the test with your machine’s resources. You can achieve hybrid performance in multiple ways, often by using different tools. Like unit-testing for performance High-performance tool The k6 engine is written in Go making it one of the best performing load testing tools available. Each tutorial in this section can walk you through a different use case, depending on your needs: Run your first tests can help you run a performance test from Grafana Cloud by using the Test Builder. The k6 extension ecosystem enables developers and testers to extend k6 to cover use cases not supported natively in the core. This page gives some examples of how to parameterize data in a test script. 29. k6 adds tags to the requests, making it easier to filter results. How and what kind of metrics k6 collects automatically (_built-in_ metrics), and what custom metrics you can make k6 collect. Before you begin To install k6 Operator, you’ll need: A Kubernetes cluster, along with access to it. With Grafana k6 Studio, you can quickly record a user flow in a browser, generate and inspect a HAR recording, customize your test script using predefined or custom rules, and test and debug your script to ensure it's working as expected. As alternatives, you can also using a Docker container or a standalone binary. Although there are paid versions of these products, this guide will focus exclusively on a basic setup with k6 resources The docs aim to cover everything necessary to use the core k6 products in your daily operational work. This helps you test not only backend performance, but also frontend reliability and user experience. com Oct 3, 2024 · Integrating k6, a powerful load and performance testing tool, with Grafana, a robust visualization platform, enables engineering teams to conduct comprehensive performance monitoring and analysis. You might want to check performance, reliability, or scalability This is the place to discuss topics related to Grafana k6. 0, we support unary gRPC requests. In k6, it is possible to import three different kinds of modules. Performance testing gRPC services In this guide, you’ll learn the basics of gRPC and how to write a gRPC performance test using k6. Results output As k6 generates load for your test, it also makes metrics that measure the performance of the system. It provides custom views to access your testing and analyze test results, enhanced collaboration features, and many more additional capabilities. For details about the runtime, refer to the Test lifecycle. It lets you leverage all of the k6 capabilities, while Grafana handles the infrastructure work of scaling servers, handling distributed load zones, and storing and aggregating metrics from your tests. Complement automation with a repeatable QA process We mentioned this at the beginning of the guide: automation in performance testing is about establishing a repeatable and consistent testing process. It’s exciting to be in the position to tell this larger story of incorporating k6 into all the technologies at Grafana Labs and vice versa Mar 20, 2025 · Here at Grafana Labs, we have an on-going commitment to providing solutions that increase productivity without sacrificing ease-of-use. Streaming results vs JavaScript API The list of k6 modules natively supported in your k6 scripts. With Grafana Cloud k6, you can easily run cloud-based performance tests for up to 1 million concurrent virtual users or 5 million requests/second. You can access any environment variables from your k6 script code and use this to supply your VUs with configuration information. It helps developers simulate realistic user behavior and test how their systems behave as a result. The open () function Using the built-in function open(), we can read the contents of a file given a filename or URL. Advanced Examples using the k6 Scenario API - Using multiple scenarios, different environment variables and tags per scenario. e. May 19, 2025 · Repository: grafana/quickpizza Sources: README. There are two main categories of extensions: official and community. May 18, 2025 · Introduction Load testing is crucial for ensuring your applications can handle expected load volumes. Define the executor in executor key of the scenario object. Oct 25, 2024 · Grafana K6 Cheat Sheet: Everything a Performance Engineer Should Know (with Examples and Best Practices) 1. The executor that you choose depends on the goals of your test and the type of traffic you want to model. Each tool will be configured to work together in a containerized environment, allowing you to simulate high loads and monitor real-time performance metrics effectively. These resources help you write and run k6 tests in a safe environment and explore how to use k6 with other Write your first test k6 is a reliability testing tool. Explore extensions Extensions can be used to extend the core k6 features to fit your performance-testing use cases. kubectl. Nov 2, 2024 · This guide covers configuring k6 for load testing, Prometheus and Grafana for monitoring, and InfluxDB for optional long-term metric storage using Docker. Install k6 Operator This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to install k6 Operator. May 17, 2025 · Introduction Load testing is crucial for ensuring your applications can handle expected load volumes. To simplify the developer experience, you can combine k6 Grafana Cloud k6 Grafana Cloud k6 is a performance-testing application that’s part of Grafana Cloud. Although there are paid versions of these products, this guide will focus exclusively on a basic setup with Run a test script in Grafana Cloud k6 After you finish creating and validating a test script in k6 Studio, you might want to run it with the scenarios you’ve configured in the set up phase to simulate a real-world performance test scenario. A fully optimized node cannot produce the load required by your extremely large Want to understand how much Grafana costs? Learn about pricing for Grafana, Prometheus / Mimir (Metrics), Loki (Logs), Tempo (Traces), and more. Running your tests in Grafana Cloud k6 offers several advantages Data Uploads Example to execute a load test that will upload a file to the System Under Test (SUT). To do so, you can use the Grafana Cloud k6 integration directly inside of k6 Studio. The function executes only once, and its result is saved in memory once. Optional. It can be used to test the performance and reliability of APIs, microservices, and websites, and integrates with CI/CD pipelines and Grafana dashboards. Broadly, you can analyze metrics in two ways: As summary statistics, in an end-of-test summary report. Grafana k6 Studio is an open-source desktop application for macOS, Windows, and Linux designed to help you generate k6 test scripts. Parameterization is typically necessary when Virtual Users (VUs) make a POST, PUT, or PATCH request in a test. You can take a look at the previous blog i. Since k6 runs on a custom JavaScript runtime with certain limitations, these templates use bundlers to transpile code into compatible JavaScript. 0 is here, featuring a new module for file interactions, a new subcommand to generate test scripts, and more. In this guide, you’ll learn how to write your first k6 browser test script using the browser module Get started with k6 This tutorial provides some procedures for common real-life uses of k6. The first two methods, with bundle and Helm, install the latest official release of the k6 Operator by For a fully managed solution, Grafana Cloud k6 is our commercial product to store, view, scale, and manage your tests with ease. Understanding the inner workings of k6 is helpful to fully leverage its potential, and to tailor the tool to your specific testing needs. The total number of completed iterations equals vus * iterations. To stop a k6 test, learn how to use the abortOnFail threshold option or integrate with the k6 CLI or Grafana Cloud k6. The setup function runs, setting up the test environment and generating data. k6 allows you to prevent performance issues and proactively improve reliability. k6 provides the Tags and Groups APIs to help you during the analysis and easily visualize, sort and filter your test results. You can modify the same test so that the volume of traffic “ramps up”, which means it increases the number of active virtual users, and comes from multiple load zones, which are locations around the world. Deploy the operator There are three different methods to deploy the k6 Operator. 0 being released in August 2016. Ramp the number of requests up and down as the test runs. Starting with k6 v0. Required. Today, we’re excited to Executors Executors control how k6 schedules VUs and iterations. To do so, follow the instructions on Install k6 Studio on Linux to download the latest release, and run the installation command to update the application. It's great for testing APIs, microservices, and websites at scale, providing developers and testers insights into system performance. Write thresholds to evaluate performance criteria, then increase load to see how the system performs. Options Besides the common configuration options, this executor has the following options: The k6/http module contains functionality for performing HTTP transactions. Using k6 Run a k6 test script HTTP Requests Metrics Checks Assertions Thresholds Options Test lifecycle Modules Tags and Groups Cookies Protocols Environment Oct 2, 2023 · Visualising k6 tests result in Grafana. Update k6 Studio When using k6 Studio on Mac or Windows, k6 Studio automatically updates whenever a new version is released. Last year, in line with that effort, we introduced experimental and public preview releases of Grafana k6 Studio, an open source desktop application that helps you create k6 test scripts quickly and easily via a visual interface. Jun 23, 2022 · With the k6 operator, running distributed load tests on Kubernetes is now easier than ever. They assume no prior knowledge of k6 or of JavaScript. In this post, we’ll explore how Grafana Cloud k6 can help you: Shift load and performance testing left to boost release confidence and velocity Run tests on demand and easily scale to Scripting examples on how to use different authentication or authorization methods in your load test. A modern load testing tool, using Go and JavaScript - grafana/k6 Introduction to Grafana Cloud k6 Grafana Cloud k6 is a performance-testing application in your Grafana Cloud instance powered by k6 OSS. By default, the end-of-test summary provides the aggregated results of the test metrics. , Using K6 and HAR to automate load … Nov 15, 2022 · What is k6? Grafana k6 is an open-source load testing tool that makes performance testing easy and productive for engineering teams. Grafana Cloud k6 provides a fully-managed cloud testing solution that enables engineering teams to implement continuous performance testing. Test for functional behavior In this tutorial, learn how to write a test that does the following: Sends a POST request to the new endpoint Creates a check for the response status Script the Request The first thing to do is to add logic for the endpoint. Its constructor takes a name for the SharedArray and a function that needs to return an array object itself: k6 is an open-source tool and cloud service that makes load testing easy for developers and QA engineers. 48. Before you begin Install k6 v0. For those cases there is a handy CLI flag, --http-debug, that is good to be aware of. If you do, k6 might apply tags in an unreliable or unintuitive way. A complete list of all k6 options, with descriptions, defaults, and examples of how to set the option in your script, config files, environment variables, or CLI. Then, you will be able to visualize and analyze the results on the web app in real-time. Prints the statistics when they are sent from the server. Scenarios allow us to make in-depth configurations to how VUs and iterations are scheduled. Add virtual users. This makes it possible to model diverse traffic patterns in load tests. Load test types Automated performance testing API load testing Calculate concurrent users for load tests Load testing websites Performance testing gRPC services Running distributed tests Running large tests Synthetic monitoring Use Chai with k6 Injecting faults with Track test results in real-time with the web-dashboard and generate HTML test reports directly from your web browser. Create a payload to authenticate the user. It’s a form of encapsulation that hides the details of the UI structure from other places, such as your Testing guides This section provides a list of frequently asked guides to help you set your testing strategy for common cases. Use Chaijs library for functional and integration testing. The goal of your test can vary. post method to Jan 31, 2024 · open ( filePath, [mode] ) | Grafana k6 documentation Opens a file and reads all the contents into memory. When streaming the results to the cloud, the machine - where you execute the k6 CLI command - runs the test and uploads the results to the cloud-based solution. You can also use parameterization when you need to gRPC is a lightweight open-source RPC framework. Warning Avoid using group with async functions or asynchronous code. The goal is to provide a seamless experience for generating Aug 10, 2023 · Grafana k6 is a powerful, developer-friendly tool designed and engineered with a focus on load testing — but it boasts capabilities that extend far beyond that use case. Jul 3, 2023 · It helps identify areas where performance improvements can be made to enhance user satisfaction and retention. See full list on github. md 84-85 Starter Templates k6 starter templates provide pre-configured project setups that enable modern JavaScript features and TypeScript in k6 tests. (optional) ], }; In line number 2, it says stay at 400 for May 2, 2024 · Explore some of the fundamentals of a large performance testing suite, including shared libraries, test repositories, and tools that can improve code quality. S3Client class allows interacting with AWS S3 buckets and objects Troubleshoot This topic includes instructions to help you troubleshoot common issues with the k6 Operator. Grafana k6 is an easy-to-use, open source load testing tool that helps teams assess system performance and identify issues before they reach production. Data parameterization Data parameterization is the process of turning test values into reusable parameters, for example, through variables and shared arrays. The value is the executor name separated by hyphens. SharedArray SharedArray is an array-like object that shares the underlying memory between VUs. In granular detail, with measurements for every data point across test (and timestamps) You can customize almost every aspect of result output: Create custom metrics Configure Aug 11, 2022 · I am very new to k6, and I am trying to understand workload option stages: This is the sample soak test stages in k6 documentations: export const options = { stages: [ { duration: '2m', target: 400 }, // ramp up to 400 users { duration: '3h56m', target: 400 }, // stay at 400 for ~4 hours { duration: '2m', target: 0 }, // scale down. When a script requests an element, k6 gives a copy of that element. Init context Before the k6 starts the test logic, code in the init context prepares the script. In this guide, we'll set up a complete load testing environment using k6 for testing, Prometheus for metrics collection, and Grafana for visualization—all orchestrated with Docker. Use the Grafana k6 browser-testing APIs to interact with your sites and inspect their performance by running browser tests. k6, an open-source load testing tool, makes it easy to create and run performance tests, while Grafana provides powerful visualizations to monitor Documentation Grafana k6 Grafana k6 Studio Open source Grafana k6 Studio Grafana k6 Studio is a desktop application that can help you: Record a user flow from browser interactions and generate a HAR file. Introducing Grafana Cloud k6, a new offering empowers teams to prevent system failures and deliver fast and reliable applications. Introduction to Grafana K6 Grafana K6 is an open-source tool designed for performance testing. These tasks are all reproducible, so open up your favorite editor and follow along. To do that, you need to make an HTTP request: Import the HTTP module. Imagine that you are a developer or tester who is responsible for performance in your development team. An overview of the different options you can use to customize the browser module behavior when running browser tests. More than a year after our “reverse acquisition,” as I jokingly call it, I am now serving as the VP of Product at Grafana Labs. Context: test a new endpoint Your development team has just Examples Get started with k6 Single request HTTP Authentication OAuth Authentication Correlation and Dynamic Data Data parameterization Parse HTML HTML Forms Cookies Example Data Uploads API CRUD Operations Generating UUIDs HTTP2 Use global variables in k6 WebSockets SOAP Transport Layer Security (TLS) Generating realistic data Bundling and transpiling Functional testing Track transmitted data Define the HTTP requests and methods you want to use. Grafana Cloud k6 Besides running cloud tests, you can also run a test locally and stream the results to Grafana Cloud k6. What is gRPC gRPC is a lightweight open source RPC framework. Per VU iterations With the per-vu-iterations executor, each VU executes an exact number of iterations. Aug 19, 2024 · Catch up on the latest and greatest updates to Grafana k6, including native TypeScript support and new web APIs. A curated list of awesome tools, content and projects using k6 - grafana/awesome-k6 While writing test scripts, it is common to import different modules, or part of modules, for usage throughout the script. But scripting and testing are skills that take time to learn. Apr 1, 2025 · This guide walks through the essentials of Grafana K6, from setup to advanced testing strategies, ensuring your applications perform optimally under various conditions. Things don't always work as expected. Below is a simple example showing how to load the contents of a local file data. Oct 2, 2025 · Here’s how the Grafana Labs team recently used Python, JavaScript, and Grafana k6 to identify and remove unnecessary data from the Grafana Play Grafana Cloud Get started with Grafana Cloud k6 There are multiple ways to create and run a performance test in Grafana Cloud k6. A page object commonly represents an HTML page or significant elements/components within a page, such as a header or a footer. Grafana Cloud k6 provides many options to simulate realistic load. nexqoys jpbhhjva ogkdsbo hllbll aff rrqes lomrg wvlh jyw xom xpq uhbyoj cxcs llymz dqq