FastAPI Testing

Deep Knowledge: Use mcp__documentation__fetch_docs with technology: fastapi-testing for comprehensive documentation on TestClient, async testing, auth, and HTTP mocking.

Synchronous TestClient

from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
from myapp.main import app

client = TestClient(app)

def test_read_root():
    response = client.get("/")
    assert response.status_code == 200
    assert response.json() == {"message": "Hello World"}

def test_post_item():
    response = client.post(
        "/items/",
        json={"name": "Widget", "price": 9.99},
    )
    assert response.status_code == 201

Lifespan Events

def test_with_lifespan():
    with TestClient(app) as client:  # triggers startup/shutdown
        response = client.get("/items/")
        assert response.status_code == 200

Async TestClient (httpx)

import pytest
from httpx import ASGITransport, AsyncClient
from myapp.main import app

@pytest.mark.anyio
async def test_async():
    async with AsyncClient(
        transport=ASGITransport(app=app), base_url="http://test"
    ) as ac:
        response = await ac.get("/")
    assert response.status_code == 200

# Shared fixture
@pytest.fixture(scope="module")
async def async_client():
    async with AsyncClient(
        transport=ASGITransport(app=app), base_url="http://test"
    ) as client:
        yield client

Dependency Overrides

# Production dependency
async def get_db() -> AsyncSession:
    async with AsyncSessionLocal() as session:
        yield session

# Test: override with test session
@pytest.fixture
def client(db_session):
    def override_get_db():
        yield db_session
    app.dependency_overrides[get_db] = override_get_db
    with TestClient(app) as c:
        yield c
    app.dependency_overrides.clear()

# Override user authentication
async def override_current_user():
    return User(id=1, username="testuser", is_active=True)

app.dependency_overrides[get_current_user] = override_current_user

Auth Testing — JWT

from datetime import timedelta
from myapp.auth import create_access_token

def get_test_token(username="testuser") -> str:
    return create_access_token(
        data={"sub": username},
        expires_delta=timedelta(minutes=30),
    )

def test_protected_endpoint():
    token = get_test_token()
    response = client.get(
        "/users/me/",
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"},
    )
    assert response.status_code == 200

def test_no_token():
    response = client.get("/users/me/")
    assert response.status_code == 401

WebSocket Testing

def test_websocket():
    with client.websocket_connect("/ws") as ws:
        ws.send_text("hello")
        data = ws.receive_text()
        assert data == "Echo: hello"

File Upload Testing

def test_upload_file():
    response = client.post(
        "/uploadfile/",
        files={"file": ("test.txt", b"hello world", "text/plain")},
    )
    assert response.status_code == 200
    assert response.json() == {"filename": "test.txt", "size": 11}

Background Tasks Testing

from unittest.mock import patch

def test_task_called():
    with patch("fastapi.BackgroundTasks.add_task") as mock:
        response = client.post("/send-notification/user@example.com")
    assert response.status_code == 200
    mock.assert_called_once()

HTTP Mocking — respx

import httpx
import respx

@respx.mock
def test_external_api():
    respx.get("https://api.example.com/users").mock(
        return_value=httpx.Response(200, json=[{"id": 1, "name": "Alice"}])
    )
    response = client.get("/proxy/users")
    assert response.status_code == 200

# With side effects
@respx.mock
async def test_async_mock():
    respx.post("https://api.example.com/data").mock(
        side_effect=httpx.ConnectError
    )
    with pytest.raises(httpx.ConnectError):
        async with httpx.AsyncClient() as ac:
            await ac.post("https://api.example.com/data")

HTTP Mocking — responses (requests library)

import responses
import requests

@responses.activate
def test_with_responses():
    responses.get(
        "https://api.example.com/users",
        json=[{"id": 1}],
        status=200,
    )
    result = my_service.get_users()
    assert len(result) == 1

HTTP Mocking — pytest-httpserver

def test_real_server(httpserver):
    httpserver.expect_request("/data").respond_with_json({"key": "value"})
    response = requests.get(httpserver.url_for("/data"))
    assert response.json() == {"key": "value"}

Anti-Patterns

Official docs: https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/tutorial/testing/