Karafka provides a dedicated testing library, karafka-testing
, designed to facilitate the testing of Karafka producers and consumers without needing a running Kafka server. This library effectively mocks the interactions with Kafka, allowing developers to write and run tests for consumers and producers in an isolated environment. The primary aim of karafka-testing
is to eliminate the complexities and overhead associated with connecting to an actual Kafka cluster, initiating consumers, and managing producers during testing. This approach significantly reduces the setup time and resources needed for testing Kafka-related functionalities.
It is important to note that the scope of karafka-testing
is limited to mocking consumer and producer user-facing behaviors. It does not cover testing other Kafka-related functionalities, such as Admin API or web UI features that might interact with Kafka. By focusing solely on consumer and producer interactions, karafka-testing
provides a lightweight and efficient solution for developers to ensure the integrity of message handling in their applications without the dependency on a live Kafka setup.
!!! Tip "Limited Testing Scope of karafka-testing
"
`karafka-testing` enables testing of Karafka producers and consumers without a live Kafka server, but be aware that its scope is limited. While it effectively mocks client connections to Kafka for consumer and producer operations, it does not support testing of all Kafka functionalities.
Specifically, `karafka-testing` does not facilitate testing of Admin API or any web UI interactions. This library is focused solely on consumer and producer functionalities. Additionally, testing consumers does not trigger instrumentation events, so any instrumentation-based logging or monitoring will not be covered during tests.
Add this gem to your Gemfile in the test
group:
group :test do
gem 'karafka-testing'
gem 'rspec'
end
and then in your spec_helper.rb
file you must:
- require the karafka entrypoint (only when not using Ruby on Rails)
- require the helpers
- include appropriate helpers
# Require entrypoint only when not using Rails, in Rails it happens automatically
require './karafka'
require 'karafka/testing/rspec/helpers'
RSpec.configure do |config|
config.include Karafka::Testing::RSpec::Helpers
end
Once included in your RSpec setup, this library will provide you with a special #karafka
object that contains three methods that you can use within your specs:
#consumer_for
- creates a consumer instance for the desired topic.#produce
- "sends" message to the consumer instance.#produced_messages
- contains all the messages "sent" to Kafka during spec execution.
!!! note ""
Messages sent using the `#produce` method and directly from `Karafka.producer` won't be sent to Kafka. They will be buffered and accessible in a per-spec buffer in case you want to test messages production.
!!! note ""
Messages that target the topic built using the `karafka#consumer_for` method will additionally be delivered to the consumer you want to test.
RSpec.describe InlineBatchConsumer do
# This will create a consumer instance with all the settings defined for the given topic
subject(:consumer) { karafka.consumer_for('inline_batch_data') }
let(:nr1_value) { rand }
let(:nr2_value) { rand }
let(:sum) { nr1_value + nr2_value }
before do
# Sends first message to Karafka consumer
karafka.produce({ 'number' => nr1_value }.to_json)
# Sends second message to Karafka consumer
karafka.produce({ 'number' => nr2_value }.to_json, partition: 2)
allow(Karafka.logger).to receive(:info)
end
it 'expects to log a proper message' do
expect(Karafka.logger).to receive(:info).with("Sum of 2 elements equals to: #{sum}")
consumer.consume
end
end
If your consumers use producer
to dispatch messages, you can check its operations as well:
RSpec.describe InlineBatchConsumer do
subject(:consumer) { karafka.consumer_for(:inline_batch_data) }
before { karafka.produce({ 'number' => 1 }.to_json) }
it 'expects to dispatch async message to messages topic with value bigger by 1' do
consumer.consume
expect(karafka.produced_messages.last.payload).to eq({ number: 2 }.to_json)
end
end
Since each Routing Pattern has a name, you can test them like regular topics.
Giving a pattern with the name visits
:
class KarafkaApp < Karafka::App
setup do |config|
# config stuff...
end
routes.draw do
pattern :visits, /_visits/ do
consumer VisitsConsumer
end
end
end
You can reference this name when using the karafka.consumer_for
method:
subject(:consumer) { karafka.consumer_for(:visits) }
When running RSpec, Karafka will not dispatch messages to Kafka using Karafka.producer
but will buffer them internally.
This means you can check your application flow, making sure your logic acts as expected:
# Example class in which there is a message production
class UsersBuilder
def create(user_details)
user = ::User.create!(user_details)
Karafka.producer.produce_sync(
topic: 'users_changes',
payload: { user_id: user.id, type: 'user.created' },
key: user.id.to_s
)
user
end
end
RSpec.describe UsersBuilder do
let(:created_user) { described_class.new.create(user_details) }
before { created_user }
it { expect(karafka.produced_messages.size).to eq(1) }
it { expect(karafka.produced_messages.first[:topic]).to eq('user.created') }
it { expect(karafka.produced_messages.first[:key]).to eq(created_user.id.to_s) }
end
When testing producer transactions in Karafka, the approach is similar to how the non-transactional production of messages is tested. Within a transaction, messages you send are held and not immediately placed into the buffer. When the transactional block finishes successfully, these messages get moved into the buffers, ready to be produced to Kafka.
If, for any reason, the transaction is aborted, messages inside that transaction won't reach the buffers. This mimics the real-world behavior where an aborted transaction would prevent messages from being sent to Kafka.
Therefore, when you're writing tests for producer transactions in Karafka, you can:
-
Simulate the successful transaction completion and check if messages were placed into the buffers.
-
Simulate an aborted transaction and ensure that no messages reach the buffers.
This approach lets you verify the behavior of your code within transactional boundaries, ensuring that messages are handels as expected in both successful and aborted transaction scenarios.
class UsersBuilder
def create_many(users_details)
users = []
Karafka.producer.transaction do
user = ::User.create!(user_details)
users << user
Karafka.producer.produce_async(
topic: 'users_changes',
payload: { user_id: user.id, type: 'user.created' },
key: user.id.to_s
)
end
users
end
end
RSpec.describe UsersBuilder do
let(:created_users) { described_class.new.create_many([user_details, user_details]) }
before { created_users }
it { expect(karafka.produced_messages.size).to eq(2) }
it { expect(karafka.produced_messages.first[:topic]).to eq('user.created') }
it { expect(karafka.produced_messages.first[:key]).to eq(created_users.first.id.to_s) }
end
Sometimes you may need to spec out your consumer groups and topics structure. To do so, simply access the Karafka::App.routes
array and check everything you need. Here's an example of a Rspec spec that ensures a custom XmlDeserializer
is being used to a xml_data
topic from the batched_group
consumer group:
RSpec.describe Karafka::App.routes do
describe 'batched group' do
let(:group) do
Karafka::App.routes.find do |cg|
cg.name == 'batched_group'
end
end
describe 'xml_data topic' do
let(:topic) { group.topics.find('xml_data') }
it { expect(topic.deserializers.payload).to eq XmlDeserializer }
end
end
end
Add this gem to your Gemfile in the test
group:
group :test do
gem 'karafka-testing'
gem 'rspec'
end
And then:
- require the helpers:
require 'karafka/testing/minitest/helpers'
- include the following helper in your tests:
include Karafka::Testing::Minitest::Helpers
Once included in your Minitest setup, this library will provide you with a special @karafka
object that contains three methods that you can use within your specs:
#consumer_for
- creates a consumer instance for the desired topic.#produce
- "sends" message to the consumer instance.#produced_messages
- contains all the messages "sent" to Kafka during spec execution.
!!! note ""
Messages sent using the `#produce` method and directly from `Karafka.producer` won't be sent to Kafka. They will be buffered and accessible in a per-spec buffer if you want to test message production.
!!! note ""
Messages that target the topic built using the `karafka#consumer_for` method will additionally be delivered to the consumer you want to test.
class InlineBatchConsumerTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
include Karafka::Testing::Minitest::Helpers
def setup
# ..
nr1_value = rand
nr2_value = rand
sum = nr1_value + nr2_value
@consumer = @karafka.consumer_for('inline_batch_data')
end
it 'expects to log a proper message' do
# Sends first message to Karafka consumer
@karafka.produce({ 'number' => nr1_value }.to_json)
# Sends second message to Karafka consumer
@karafka.produce({ 'number' => nr2_value }.to_json, partition: 2)
expect(Karafka.logger).to receive(:info).with("Sum of 2 elements equals to: #{sum}")
consumer.consume
end
end
If your consumers use producer
to dispatch messages, you can check its operations as well:
it 'expects to dispatch async message to messages topic with value bigger by 1' do
@karafka.produce({ 'number' => 1 }.to_json)
@consumer.consume
expect(@karafka.produced_messages.last.payload).to eq({ number: 2 }.to_json)
end
When running Minitest, Karafka will not dispatch messages to Kafka using Karafka.producer
but will buffer them internally.
This means you can check your application flow, making sure your logic acts as expected:
class UsersBuilderTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
include Karafka::Testing::Minitest::Helpers
def setup
@user_details = { name: 'John Doe', email: '[email protected]' }
@created_user = UsersBuilder.new.create(@user_details)
end
test 'should produce messages' do
Karafka.producer.produce_sync(
topic: 'users_changes',
payload: { user_id: user.id, type: 'user.created' },
key: user.id.to_s
)
assert_equal 1, @karafka.produced_messages.size
assert_equal 'users_changes', @karafka.produced_messages.first[:topic]
assert_equal @created_user.id.to_s, @karafka.produced_messages.first[:key]
end
end
!!! note ""
If you're seeking guidance on testing transactions with Minitest, it's recommended to consult the RSpec transactions testing documentation, as the testing methods are similar for both.
karafka-testing
primarily aims to eliminate the complexities and overhead associated with connecting to an actual Kafka cluster, initiating consumers, and managing producers during testing. This approach significantly reduces the setup time and resources needed for testing Kafka-related functionalities.
However, it is important to be aware of the limitations of karafka-testing
:
-
No Real Kafka Interactions: While
karafka-testing
effectively mocks the Kafka interactions, it does not replicate the behavior of a real Kafka cluster. As a result, certain edge cases and Kafka-specific behaviors may not be accurately represented in your tests. -
No Admin API Testing: The
karafka-testing
library does not support testing of Kafka Admin API functionalities. If your application relies on Admin API operations, such as topic management or cluster metadata retrieval, you must perform these tests against a real Kafka cluster. -
No Web UI Interactions: Any web UI interactions that might rely on actual Kafka data or state cannot be tested using
karafka-testing
. This limitation means that end-to-end UI component testing will still require a live Kafka setup. -
Transactional Testing: While
karafka-testing
supports transactional message production, it may not fully capture all the intricacies of Kafka transactions in a real cluster environment. It's important to be mindful of potential discrepancies between mocked transactions and their real-world counterparts. -
Batch Size Ignored: The
karafka-testing
library does not respect themax_messages
setting configured for topics in thekarafka.rb
routes. It simply accumulates and consumes all messages sent to it during testing, bypassing the actual fetching engine of Karafka. This means that the behavior of batch processing may not be accurately reflected in your tests, as the library will consume all produced messages regardless of the configured batch size.