Amplify and Automate Your API Testing with ReadyAPI and TestEngine

In today’s fast-paced world of software development, the pressure to deliver high-quality releases quickly is stronger than ever. Teams are pushing code changes to production multiple times a day, and expectations around stability, security, and performance haven’t gone down—in fact, they’ve gone up. Manual testing simply can’t keep up with the speed and complexity of modern deployment cycles. It’s time-consuming, prone to human error, and doesn’t scale well across multiple teams and environments.

That’s where automated testing steps in as a game-changer. When combined with the right tools and tight CI/CD integrations, automation doesn’t just accelerate delivery—it adds consistency, scalability, and confidence to every release. With automation, your QA processes become repeatable, predictable, and adaptable to the ever-changing needs of Agile and DevOps workflows.

This blog breaks down how SmartBear’s comprehensive end-to-end API testing tool, ReadyAPI, can automate your testing, amplify parallel testing with TestEngine, and seamlessly integrate with popular CI/CD platforms such as Jenkins, Azure DevOps, and GitHub Actions. Get ready—your API testing is about to reach the next level.

Meet The Tools

ReadyAPI

ReadyAPI is SmartBear’s all-in-one platform for API testing. APIs are the lifeblood of modern applications, and ensuring they behave as expected under all conditions is critical. ReadyAPI offers a suite of modules that lets you cover every aspect of API testing:

• ReadyAPI Test handles end-to-end functional testing and workflows to ensure your APIs return the right responses under the right conditions. You can also create security tests to provide consumers of your APIs with a safe and reliable experience.
• ReadyAPI Performance simulates load and stress scenarios, helping you identify bottlenecks before your users do.
• ReadyAPI Virtualization allows you to create mock services, enabling isolated testing even when dependent APIs aren’t available.

It supports an impressive range of protocols including REST, SOAP, GraphQL, JDBC, JMS, and more, making it a highly versatile tool.

Key Features:

• Drag-and-drop test creation makes it approachable for both technical and non-technical users
• Property and environment configuration helps you manage dynamic test data and switch between staging, dev, and production seamlessly
• External data source support means you can run tests against spreadsheets, databases, or any data-driven source
• Built-in CI/CD capabilities allow smooth integration using the command line or through TestEngine

TestEngine

TestEngine is a headless execution engine purpose-built to run ReadyAPI tests at scale. If your team is looking to run hundreds (or thousands) of API tests daily across different environments, TestEngine helps you do that without breaking a sweat.

How It Works: TestEngine takes ReadyAPI project files packaged in .xml or .zip format and exposes an easy-to-use REST API that lets you trigger test executions. Once triggered, it runs the specified test cases and returns the results in a machine-readable format, ready for logging, analysis, or reporting.

Why It’s Useful: TestEngine is perfect for environments where performance, speed, and repeatability matter. Since tests can be run through the UI or headlessly, it’s fast and lean. It can be deployed in Docker containers, scaled horizontally, and used in automated pipelines. That makes it a powerhouse for CI/CD and parallel testing.

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1. Export your ReadyAPI project as a .xml or .zip (composite) file, which includes all your test cases and configurations.
2. Deploy TestEngine either via traditional installation or as a Docker container in your environment.
3. Send a REST API request to TestEngine (using tools like API Hub for Explore, API Hub for Test, or ReadyAPI Test) to trigger a test run.
4. Monitor execution and collect results through the API response or set up a webhook to be notified automatically.
5. Parse the logs or structured output, and feed them into your CI/CD dashboards or reporting systems.

CI/CD Integrations

Jenkins

Jenkins is a highly popular open-source automation server that orchestrates the build-test-deploy process. It supports complex workflows and integrations through its rich plugin ecosystem.

Integration Overview: To integrate SmartBear tools with Jenkins, you can use official plugins for ReadyAPI or rely on simple command-line calls to TestEngine. Jenkinsfiles allow you to define detailed pipelines using Groovy, where each stage can handle test execution.

Why It Works: Jenkins provides flexibility through its distributed build architecture. It can delegate test runs to dedicated agents, making it perfect for high-throughput automation pipelines. Plugins for reporting, notifications, and logging make your test results actionable.

Sample Steps:

1. Install Jenkins and configure it with required SmartBear plugins.
2. Set up agents equipped with TestEngine.
3. Define your pipeline steps in a Jenkinsfile, including shell or batch commands that run your tests.

Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps is Microsoft’s integrated platform that combines source control, build/release pipelines, and work tracking into one seamless solution.

Integration Overview: Using YAML-based pipelines, Azure DevOps lets you run SmartBear tests using command-line tasks. You can host agents yourself or use Microsoft-hosted ones, and SmartBear tests can be easily wired into your build definitions.

Why It Works: Azure DevOps shines with its native dashboards, flexible pipeline definitions, and seamless integration with tools like Teams and Microsoft-hosted repos. It gives you full visibility into test performance across builds and branches.

Sample Steps:

1. Create a YAML pipeline file (azure-pipelines.yml) in your project repository.
2. Add CmdLine tasks to trigger TestEngine test runs.
3. Collect and display test results using tasks like PublishTestResults@2, which integrate into the DevOps UI for easy tracking.

GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions turns your GitHub repository into an automation hub. With workflows defined as YAML files, you can trigger builds and tests based on events like commits, pull requests, or manual triggers.

Integration Overview: SmartBear tools can be used in GitHub Actions through shell steps that call the necessary CLI commands. Secrets and artifacts are managed directly within GitHub, making it streamlined for simple automation setups.

Why It Works: GitHub Actions is deeply tied into the GitHub ecosystem, meaning your CI/CD lives where your code does. It’s quick to set up, scalable, and offers built-in features like caching, matrix builds, and secure credential storage.

Sample Steps:

1. Define a new workflow file inside .github/workflows/ci.yml.
2. Add steps to install dependencies and prepare the environment.
3. Use shell commands to invoke TestEngine test runs.
4. Store logs and reports as artifacts using actions like upload-artifact, making them easy to download and review.

Putting It All Together

Scalable automation isn’t just about replacing manual testing—it’s about building a connected, intelligent system that ties together your tools, processes, and teams. When automation is baked into your workflows using solutions like ReadyAPI, powered by TestEngine, and governed through strong CI/CD, you unlock faster delivery, fewer defects, and greater confidence in every release.

Embrace the process. Automate with purpose. And deliver confidently.

About the author: 

Nick DiMartino – Associate Solutions Engineer at SmartBear Software