# Endpoint testing

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AVA doesn't have a built-in method for testing endpoints, but you can use any HTTP client of your choosing, for example [`ky`](https://github.com/sindresorhus/ky). You'll also need to start an HTTP server, preferably on a unique port so that you can run tests in parallel. For that we recommend [`async-listen`](https://github.com/vercel/async-listen).

Since tests run concurrently, it's best to create a fresh server instance at least for each test file, but perhaps even for each test. This can be accomplished with `test.before()` and `test.beforeEach()` hooks and `t.context`. If you start your server using a `test.before()` hook you should make sure to execute your tests serially.

Check out the example below:

```js
import {createServer} from 'node:http';

import {listen} from 'async-listen';
import test from 'ava';
import ky, {HTTPError} from 'ky';

import app from './app.js';

test.before(async t => {
	t.context.server = createServer(app);
	t.context.prefixUrl = await listen(t.context.server);
});

test.after.always(t => {
	t.context.server.close();
});

test.serial('get /user', async t => {
	const {email} = await ky('user', {prefixUrl: t.context.prefixUrl}).json();

	t.is(email, 'ava@rocks.com');
});

test.serial('404', async t => {
	await t.throwsAsync(
		ky('password', {prefixUrl: t.context.prefixUrl}),
		{message: /Request failed with status code 404 Not Found/, instanceOf: HTTPError},
	);
});
```

Other libraries you may find useful:

- [`supertest`](https://github.com/visionmedia/supertest)
- [`get-port`](https://github.com/sindresorhus/get-port)