Simulating Responses for Testing & Prototyping
Why Simulate Responses?
Simulated responses let you test how an application behaves under different conditions - like errors, empty data, or slow responses - without needing the real server to actually produce them.
Saving Multiple Examples
A single request can have several saved examples - such as a success case, a 404 case, and a validation error case - each returned by the mock server depending on how the request is matched.
Common Scenarios to Simulate
| Scenario | Why It's Useful |
|---|---|
| Error responses (4xx/5xx) | Test how the app handles failures |
| Empty or null data | Test edge-case UI states |
| Large datasets | Test pagination or performance handling |
Prototyping New Features
Simulated responses also let teams prototype and demo a feature that depends on an API endpoint that hasn't been built yet.
Simulating responses is closely tied to how an API is planned in the first place - let's zoom out and look at API design and development.
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