keycloak/test-framework/docs/CONFIG.md

Configuring

There are a few alternative approaches for configure the test framework, with the following ordinal:

• System properties
• Environment variables
• .env.test file in the project hierarchy
• keycloak-test.properties on the classpath
• A properties file specified with KC_TEST_CONFIG environment variable

The general syntax for configuration keys depend on the source. Keys in property files are . separated and lower-case, while for environment variables they are _ separated and upper-case. For example:

• Properties: kc.test.myproperty
• Environment: KC_TEST_MYPROPERTY

Best practices

For a test module define default configuration in src/test/resources/keycloak-test.properties. This file should be committed to version control systems and shared with other users.

When running tests in CI use environment variables, which are especially useful in matrix jobs.

When running tests locally use .env.test. This file should not be committed to version control systems. This makes it easy to use the same settings when running from Maven or running from the IDE.

Using system properties

This is not the most convenient way as it is both cumbersome to set system properties when running tests from the IDE, and when running tests using Maven. Environment variables are recommended instead of system properties.

Example:

mvn test -Dkc.test.browser=firefox

Using environment variables

When running tests from the CLI using environment variables is the recommended way. For example:

KC_TEST_BROWSER=firefox mvn test 

As with system properties, using environment variables within the IDE can be cumbersome.

Using .env.test file

When running tests from an IDE using the .env.test file is very convenient, especially as this can be added to .gitignore allowing developers to quickly have their own personal preference when running tests.

Example .env.test file:

KC_TEST_BROWSER=firefox

For multi-modal Maven projects the .env.test file can be located in the current module, or one of its parent modules. This allows sharing configuration across multiple test modules.

Using a properties file

Using a property file allows creating a set of configuration which can be committed to a Git repository to be shareable.

By default keycloak-test.properties is loaded from the classpath. To use a different config file use the KC_TEST_CONFIG option with the path to the file.

For example create the file /tmp/mytestconfig.properties with the following contents:

kc.test.browser=firefox

Then run tests with:

KC_TEST_CONFIG=/tmp/mytestconfig.properties mvn test