# karatelabs/karate

Test Automation Made Simple

Repository: https://github.com/karatelabs/karate
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/karate
Homepage: https://docs.karatelabs.io
Language: Java
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: test-automation, assertions, testing-tools, mock-server, automated-testing, webdriver, load-testing, api-testing, contract-testing, microservices, cucumber, bdd, automation, testing, testing-framework, developer-tools
Last push: 2026-08-26T13:28:14+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 99/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 98, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3494, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 19, "gap_med": 10, "n_releases_24m": 16}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 8929, forks 2048 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:26.335455+00:00)

## What it is
Karate is an open-source Java-based test automation framework that unifies API testing (REST, GraphQL, SOAP, WebSocket), UI browser automation, performance/load testing via Gatling, and service mocking in a single Gherkin-based syntax. Tests are plain-text feature files requiring no step definitions or glue code, runnable via CLI, JUnit, Maven/Gradle, or IDE plugins with built-in parallel execution.

## Use cases
- test rest apis without writing java code
- automate browser ui tests
- run load tests reusing api test scripts
- create mock http services for testing
- contract testing for microservices
- run api tests in parallel in ci/cd
- write data-driven tests with gherkin syntax

## When to choose
- your team mixes developers and non-programmers writing tests
- you want api, ui, performance, and mock testing in one tool
- you need fast parallel test execution without thread tuning
- you're tired of cucumber step-definition glue code
- you need first-class json/xml assertions with fuzzy matching

## When to avoid
- you need unit testing of java code itself - use JUnit or TestNG
- your team prefers writing tests in a general-purpose programming language
- you need async protocol testing like Kafka or gRPC mocks without a commercial license
- you require a pure JavaScript or Python testing stack

## Facets
- artifact type: framework
- maturity: active
- function: testing, e2e-testing, mocking, benchmarking, http-client, load-testing
- domain: testing, developer-tools, apis, web-development
- platform: jvm, cli, cross-platform
- tags: api-testing, bdd, gherkin, contract-testing, mock-server, ui-automation, webdriver, gatling, cucumber, microservices, automation, docker

## Member repositories
- karatelabs/karate (main) score 99

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:26.335455+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:24:32.567172+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/karatelabs/karate (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:26.335455+00:00, sha 06443f274c60)
  - homepage: https://docs.karatelabs.io (fetched 2026-08-29T08:25:04.135557+00:00, sha b354ce8d99e4)
  - site_page: https://docs.karatelabs.io/getting-started/why-karate (fetched 2026-08-29T08:25:04.144639+00:00, sha bd440e467dad)
  - site_page: https://docs.karatelabs.io/getting-started/whats-new-v2 (fetched 2026-08-29T08:25:04.146463+00:00, sha fa58ee410775)
  - site_page: https://docs.karatelabs.io/getting-started/install-dependencies (fetched 2026-08-29T08:25:04.148617+00:00, sha 84c990be9134)
  - site_page: https://docs.karatelabs.io/getting-started/quick-start (fetched 2026-08-29T08:25:04.150487+00:00, sha 3a9d275721cb)
  - site_page: https://docs.karatelabs.io/running-tests/parallel-execution (fetched 2026-08-29T08:25:04.152224+00:00, sha ce7b5f57dbe6)
  - site_page: https://docs.karatelabs.io/reusability/calling-features (fetched 2026-08-29T08:25:04.154259+00:00, sha 726a100c307f)
  - site_page: https://docs.karatelabs.io/xplorer/installation (fetched 2026-08-29T08:25:04.156338+00:00, sha 956a09b0bbc0)
  - site_page: https://karatelabs.io/pricing (fetched 2026-08-29T08:25:04.158052+00:00, sha 65620a1d6672)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.