Response Token Chaining (`capture`)

Real-world API testing requires sequential workflows: login to obtain a JWT token, and then pass that token in the Authorization header to test protected endpoints.

RouteCase supports this natively with the capture block.

---

The capture Block Syntax

Add a capture object inside any test case in your .rcase file:

"capture": {
  "myToken": "accessToken",
  "currentUserId": "data.user.id",
  "firstProductId": "items[0].id"
}

• Key (e.g. myToken): The variable name you will use downstream as {{myToken}}.
• Value (e.g. data.user.id): A dot-notation expression pointing to the value inside the server’s JSON response body.

---

Full End-to-End Auth Example

{
  "name": "Authenticated Workflow",
  "baseUrl": "https://api.example.com",
  "tests": [
    {
      "name": "1. User Login",
      "method": "POST",
      "path": "/auth/login",
      "success": [
        {
          "name": "Login and capture tokens",
          "body": {
            "username": "developer",
            "password": "Password123!"
          },
          "capture": {
            "jwtToken": "token",
            "activeUserId": "user.id"
          },
          "expect": {
            "status": 200
          }
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "2. Get Protected Profile",
      "method": "GET",
      "path": "/users/{id}",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer {{jwtToken}}"
      },
      "success": [
        {
          "name": "Fetch profile for captured user ID",
          "params": {
            "id": "{{activeUserId}}"
          },
          "expect": {
            "status": 200
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

---

Supported JSON Extraction Expressions

• Top-Level Field: "token" → extracts response.body.token
• Nested Object Field: "user.profile.name" → extracts response.body.user.profile.name
• Array Indexing: "items[0].id" or "orders.0.orderNumber" → extracts the first element’s ID
• Deep Primitive Values: Numbers, booleans, and strings are coerced to strings for substitution.

::: warning Isolated Execution Note If you click ▶ Run Case on Case #2 in isolation without running Case #1 first, {{jwtToken}} will not exist in the session store. To execute chained workflows, always click ▶ Run All Cases or run Case #1 first. :::