API Automation Practice with PassTheNote’s API Explorer

Overview

PassTheNote exposes the exact same REST gateway our UI consumes. That means every request you practice mirrors production-like payloads, auth headers, and error contracts.

Whether you prefer Postman, Newman, REST Assured, SuperTest, or Playwright API, you can cover smoke, contract, and regression suites in one sandbox.

Quick start workflow

Download docs/postman_collection.json or open /app/api-explorer to review endpoints.

Authenticate via /api/auth/login. Store the bearer token in an environment variable for reuse.

Build collections around modules: products, cart, orders, notes, admin.

• Use pre-request scripts to refresh tokens automatically
• Leverage environments to switch between local dev and production sandbox
• Document assertions (status codes, schema validation) within each request

Hybrid UI + API testing

Seed data with APIs before hitting the UI to keep tests deterministic. For example, create orders with POST /api/v1/orders, then open /app/orders to assert rendering.

Clean up by deleting carts or notes once scenarios finish. This ensures other learners enjoy a tidy workspace.

Sample contract test outline

Here is a pseudo-code sketch you can port into REST Assured, SuperTest, or your preferred library:

describe('Orders API contract', () => {
  it('creates and retrieves an order', () => {
    const token = login();
    const product = createProduct(token);
    const order = createOrder(token, product.id);

    expect(order.status).toEqual('CONFIRMED');
    expect(order.total).toBeGreaterThan(0);

    const fetched = getOrder(token, order.id);
    expect(fetched).toMatchSchema('orderSchema');
    expect(fetched.lineItems[0].productId).toEqual(product.id);
  });
});

Monitoring & CI tips

Wire these suites into CI to catch regressions before demos. Use GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, or Jenkins to run nightly smoke suites against PassTheNote.

Export metrics to your preferred dashboard or reporting tool so teams can trace failures quickly.

Where to go next

Mix contract tests with UI verifications from the Practice Challenges page. The more modules you cover, the more realistic your interview portfolio becomes.

• Link API smoke suites with Selenium checkout flows
• Trigger admin moderation actions via APIs then confirm in UI
• Document every assumption in README or Confluence for team onboarding