Contract Testing

Noun · Development

Definitions

  1. A testing approach where API consumers and providers independently verify that they conform to a shared contract (expected request/response format). Tools like Pact allow teams to deploy microservices independently while ensuring compatibility. Catches integration issues without end-to-end tests.

    In plain English: Testing that two services agree on the format of their communication, so they won't break each other when deployed separately.

    Example: "Contract tests caught that the payments team renamed a JSON field — we found out in CI, not in production at 2am."

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