Assertions Engine Reference

Every RouteCase test case defines an expect block. The assertions engine evaluates response status, body contents, headers, and duration thresholds.

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1. status (Required)

Validates the numeric HTTP status code returned by the server.

• Type: integer (between 100 and 599)
• Required: Yes

"expect": {
  "status": 200
}

Evaluation Behavior

• Pass: actualStatus === expect.status (e.g. 200 === 200, 404 === 404).
• Fail: actualStatus !== expect.status (reports: Expected status 200, got 500).

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2. bodyContains (Optional)

Checks whether a specified substring exists anywhere within the response body.

• Type: string
• Required: No

"expect": {
  "status": 200,
  "bodyContains": "accessToken"
}

Evaluation Behavior

• Works against both raw text and serialized JSON response strings.
• Pass: Response text includes the substring.
• Fail: Substring not found (reports: Expected response body to contain "accessToken").

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3. bodyEquals (Optional)

Performs deep structured JSON or exact string equality comparison against the response body.

• Type: Any JSON value (object, array, string, number, boolean, null)
• Required: No

"expect": {
  "status": 404,
  "bodyEquals": {
    "error": "NotFound",
    "message": "User with ID usr_999 does not exist",
    "code": 404
  }
}

Evaluation Behavior

• Automatically parses string bodies as JSON if valid JSON is detected.
• Recursively compares all keys, nested objects, and array elements.
• Ignores key ordering in JSON objects.
• Fail: Any nested field or element differs (reports exact mismatch details).

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4. headers (Optional)

Validates that expected HTTP headers are present in the server’s response.

• Type: Record<string, string>
• Required: No

"expect": {
  "status": 200,
  "headers": {
    "content-type": "application/json",
    "x-ratelimit-remaining": "99"
  }
}

Evaluation Behavior

• Header key comparison is case-insensitive (e.g. Content-Type matches content-type).
• Header value comparison checks whether the actual response header includes the expected substring.

---

5. maxDurationMs (Optional)

Enforces strict latency and performance SLAs on API endpoints.

• Type: integer (minimum: 1)
• Required: No

"expect": {
  "status": 200,
  "maxDurationMs": 250
}

Evaluation Behavior

• Measures round-trip execution duration from initial socket connection to response body completion.
• Pass: durationMs <= maxDurationMs (e.g. 45ms <= 250ms).
• Fail: durationMs > maxDurationMs (reports: Request took 320ms, exceeding maximum duration of 250ms).