Feature Testing with HTTP Requests

Feature tests exercise a request the way a real user or client would — hitting a route, passing through middleware, and checking the resulting response.

Generating a Feature Test

php artisan make:test PostControllerTest

Making Requests in Tests

public function test_guest_cannot_create_a_post()
{
    $response = $this->post('/posts', ['title' => 'Hello']);

    $response->assertRedirect('/login');
}

public function test_authenticated_user_can_create_a_post()
{
    $user = User::factory()->create();

    $response = $this->actingAs($user)->post('/posts', [
        'title' => 'My First Post',
    ]);

    $response->assertStatus(201);
    $this->assertDatabaseHas('posts', ['title' => 'My First Post']);
}

Useful Assertions

• assertStatus(), assertOk(), assertRedirect()
• assertJson(), assertJsonStructure() for API responses
• assertDatabaseHas(), assertDatabaseMissing() for database state

Feature tests confirm the whole request works end to end. But real applications often call external services or complex dependencies that shouldn't run during a test — which is where mocking and stubbing help.