Commander

Define language independent tests for your command line scripts and programs in simple yaml files.

• It runs on windows, osx and linux
• It can validate local machines, ssh hosts and docker containers
• It is a self-contained binary - no need to install a heavy lib or language
• It is easy and fast to write

For more information take a look at the quick start, the examples or the integration tests.

Table of contents

• Installation
  • Any system with Go installed
  • Linux & osx
  • Windows
• Quick start
  • Complete YAML file
  • Executing
  • Adding tests
• Documentation
  • Usage
  • Tests
    • command
    • config
    • exit-code
    • stdout
      • contains
      • exactly
      • json
      • lines
      • line-count
      • not-contains
      • xml
      • file
    • stderr
    • skip
  • Config
    • dir
    • env
    • inherit-env
    • interval
    • retries
    • timeout
    • nodes
  • Nodes
    • local
    • ssh
    • docker
  • Development
• Misc

Installation

Any system with Go installed

Probably the easiest way to install commander is by using go get to download and install it in one simple command:

go install github.com/commander-cli/commander/v2/cmd/commander@latest

This works on any OS, as long as go is installed. If go is not installed on your system, follow one of the methods below.

Linux & osx

Visit the release page to get the binary for you system.

curl -L https://github.com/commander-cli/commander/releases/download/v2.5.0/commander-linux-amd64 -o commander
chmod +x commander

Windows

• Download the current release
• Add the path to your path environment variable
• Test it: commander --version

Quick start

A commander test suite consists of a config and tests root element. To start quickly you can use
the following examples.

# You can even let commander add tests for you!
$ ./commander add --stdout --file=/tmp/commander.yaml echo hello
tests:
  echo hello:
    exit-code: 0
    stdout: hello
written to /tmp/commander.yaml
# ... and execute!
$ ./commander test /tmp/commander.yaml
Starting test file /tmp/commander.yaml...
✓ echo hello
Duration: 0.002s
Count: 1, Failed: 0

Complete YAML file

Here you can see an example with all features for a quick reference

nodes:
  ssh-host1:
    type: ssh
    addr: 192.168.0.1:22
    user: root
    pass: pass
  ssh-host2:
    type: ssh
    addr: 192.168.0.1:22
    user: root
    identity-file: /home/user/id_rsa.pub
  docker-host1:
    type: docker
    image: alpine:2.4
  docker-host2:
    type: docker
    instance: alpine_instance_1
config: # Config for all executed tests
    dir: /tmp #Set working directory
    env: # Environment variables
        KEY: global
    timeout: 50s # Define a timeout for a command under test
    retries: 2 # Define retries for each test
    nodes:
    - ssh-host1 # define default hosts
tests:
    echo hello: # Define command as title
        stdout: hello # Default is to check if it contains the given characters
        exit-code: 0 # Assert exit-code
    it should skip:
        command: echo "I should be skipped"
        stdout: I should be skipped
        skip: true
    it should fail:
        command: invalid
        stderr:
            contains: 
                - invalid # Assert only contain work
            not-contains:
                - not in there # Validate that a string does not occur in stdout
            exactly: "/bin/sh: 1: invalid: not found"
            line-count: 1 # Assert amount of lines
            lines: # Assert specific lines
                1: "/bin/sh: 1: invalid: not found"
            json:
                object.attr: hello # Make assertions on json objects
            xml:
                "//book//auhtor": Steven King # Make assertions on xml documents
            file: correct-output.txt
        exit-code: 127
        skip: false
    it has configs:
        command: echo hello
        stdout:
            contains: 
              - hello #See test "it should fail"
            exactly: hello
            line-count: 1
        config:
            inherit-env: true # You can inherit the parent shells env variables
            dir: /home/user # Overwrite working dir
            env:
                KEY: local # Overwrite env variable
                ANOTHER: yeah # Add another env variable
            timeout: 1s # Overwrite timeout
            retries: 5
            nodes: # overwrite default nodes
              - docker-host1
              - docker-host2
        exit-code: 0

Executing

# Execute file commander.yaml in current directory
$ ./commander test 
# Execute a specific suite
$ ./commander test /tmp/test.yaml
# Execute a single test
$ ./commander test /tmp/test.yaml --filter "my test"
# Execute suite from stdin
$ cat /tmp/test.yaml | ./commander test -
# Execute suite from url
$ ./commander test https://your-url/commander_test.yaml
# Execute suites within a test directory
$ ./commander test --dir /tmp
# Execute suites in a different working directory 
$ ./commander test --workdir /examples minimal_test.yaml

Adding tests

You can use the add argument if you want to commander to create your tests.

# Add a test to the default commander.yaml
$ ./commander add echo hello
written to /tmp/commander.yaml
# Write to a given file
$ ./commander add --file=test.yaml echo hello
written to test.yaml
# Write to stdout and file
$ ./commander add --stdout echo hello
tests:
  echo hello:
    exit-code: 0
    stdout: hello
written to /tmp/commander.yaml
# Only to stdout
$ ./commander add --stdout --no-file echo hello
tests:
  echo hello:
    exit-code: 0
    stdout: hello

Documentation

Usage

NAME:
   Commander - CLI app testing
USAGE:
   commander [global options] command [command options] [arguments...]
COMMANDS:
     test     Execute the test suite
     add      Automatically add a test to your test suite
     help, h  Shows a list of commands or help for one command
GLOBAL OPTIONS:
   --help, -h     show help
   --version, -v  print the version

Tests

Tests are defined in the tests root element. Every test consists of a command and an expected result,
i.e. an exit-code.

tests: # root element
  echo test: # test case - can either be the command or a given title
    stdout: test
    exit-code: 0

A test is a map which configures the test.
The key (echo test in the example above) of the test can either be the command itself or the title of the test which will be displayed in the test execution.

If the same command is tested multiple times it is useful to set the title of the test manually and use the command property.
Further the title can be useful to describe tests better. See the commander test suite as an example.

• name: title or command under test
• type: map
• default: {}

Examples:

tests:
  echo test: # command and title will be the same
    stdout: test
    exit-code: 0
  my title: # custom title
    command: exit 1 # set command manually
    exit-code: 1

command

command is a string containing the command to be tested. Further the command property is automatically parsed from
the key if no command property was given.

• name: command
• type: string
• default: can't be empty
• notes: Will be parsed from the key if no command property was provided and used as the title too

echo test: # use command as key and title
  exit-code: 0
it should print hello world: # use a more descriptive title...
  command: echo hello world  # ... and set the command in the property manually
  stdout: hello world
  exit-code: 0

config" class="reference-link">config

config sets configuration for the test. config can overwrite global configurations.

• name: config
• type: map
• default: {}
• notes:
  • for more information look at config

echo test:
  config:
    timeout: 5s

exit-code

exit-code is an int type and compares the given code to the exit-code of the given command.

• name: exit-code
• type: int
• default: 0

exit 1: # will pass
  exit-code: 1
exit 0: # will fail
  exit-code: 1

stdout

stdout and stderr allow to make assertions on the output of the command.
The type can either be a string or a map of different assertions.

If only a string is provided it will check if the given string is contained in the output.

• name: stdout
• type: string or map
• default:
• notes: stderr works the same way

echo test:
  stdout: test # make a contains assertion
echo hello world:
  stdout:
    line-count: 1 # assert the amount of lines and use stdout as a map

contains

contains is an array or string. It checks if a string is contained in the output.
It is the default if a string is directly assigned to stdout or stderr.

• name: contains
• type: string or array
• default: []
• notes: default assertion if directly assigned to stdout or stderr

echo hello world:
  stdout: hello # Default is a contains assertion
echo more output:
  stdout:
    contains:
      - more
      - output

exactly

exactly is a string type which matches the exact output.

• name: exactly
• type: string
• default:

echo test:
  stdout:
    exactly: test

json

json is a map type and allows to parse json documents with a given GJSON syntax to query for specific data.
The key represents the query, the value the expected value.

• name: json
• type: map
• default: {}
• notes: Syntax taken from GJSON

cat some.json: # print json file to stdout
  name.last: Anderson # assert on name.last, see document below

some.json file:

{
  "name": {"first": "Tom", "last": "Anderson"},
  "age":37,
  "children": ["Sara","Alex","Jack"],
  "fav.movie": "Deer Hunter",
  "friends": [
    {"first": "Dale", "last": "Murphy", "age": 44, "nets": ["ig", "fb", "tw"]},
    {"first": "Roger", "last": "Craig", "age": 68, "nets": ["fb", "tw"]},
    {"first": "Jane", "last": "Murphy", "age": 47, "nets": ["ig", "tw"]}
  ]
}

More examples queries:

"name.last"          >> "Anderson"
"age"                >> 37
"children"           >> ["Sara","Alex","Jack"]
"children.#"         >> 3
"children.1"         >> "Alex"
"child*.2"           >> "Jack"
"c?ildren.0"         >> "Sara"
"fav\.movie"         >> "Deer Hunter"
"friends.#.first"    >> ["Dale","Roger","Jane"]
"friends.1.last"     >> "Craig"

lines

lines is a map which makes exact assertions on a given line by line number.

• name: lines
• type: map
• default: {}
• note: starts counting at 1 ;-)

echo test\nline 2:
  stdout:
    lines:
      2: line 2 # asserts only the second line

line-count

line-count asserts the amount of lines printed to the output. If set to 0 this property is ignored.

• name: line-count
• type: int
• default: 0

echo test\nline 2:
  stdout:
    line-count: 2

not-contains

not-contains is a array of elements which are not allowed to be contained in the output.
It is the inversion of contains.

• name: not-contains
• type: array
• default: []

echo hello:
  stdout:
    not-contains: bonjour # test passes because bonjour does not occur in the output
echo bonjour:
  stdout:
    not-contains: bonjour # test fails because bonjour occurs in the output

xml

xml is a map which allows to query xml documents viá xpath queries.
Like the [json][#json] assertion this uses the key of the map as the query parameter to, the value is the expected value.

• name: xml
• type: map
• default: {}
• notes: Used library xmlquery

cat some.xml:
  stdout:
    xml:
      //book//author: J. R. R. Tolkien

some.xml file:

<book>
    <author>J. R. R. Tolkien</author>
</book>

file

file is a file path, relative to the working directory that will have
its entire contents matched against the command output. Other than
reading from a file this works the same as exactly.

The example below will always pass.

output should match file:
  command: cat output.txt
  stdout:
    file: output.txt

stderr

See stdout for more information.

• name: stderr
• type: string or map
• default:
• notes: is identical to stdout

# >&2 echos directly to stderr
">&2 echo error": 
  stderr: error
  exit-code: 0
">&2 echo more errors":
  stderr:
    line-count: 1

skip

skip is a boolean type, setting this field to true will skip the test case.

• name: skip
• type: bool
• default: false

echo test:
  stdout: test
  skip: true

Config" class="reference-link">Config

You can add configs which will be applied to all tests within a file or just for a specific test case, i.e.:

config:
  dir: /home/root # Set working directory for all tests
tests:
  echo hello:
    config: # Define test specific configs which overwrite global configs
      timeout: 5s
  exit-code: 0

You also have the option to define a separate config file that will
be applied globally to all test cases being ran using the --config flag.

The following will set the working directory for all tests that do not
explicitly set config.dir in the file config or the
test case config. In short, the lowest level config values takes precednce.

./commander test --config foo/bar/my-conifg.yaml foo/bar/test-suite.yaml

# foo/bar/my-conifg.yaml`
config:
  dir: /home/root # Set working directory for all tests

# foo/bar/test-suite.yaml
tests:
  echo hello:
    config: # Define test specific configs which overwrite global configs
      timeout: 5s
  exit-code: 0

dir

dir is a string which sets the current working directory for the command under test.
The test will fail if the given directory does not exist.

• name: dir
• type: string
• default: current working dir

dir: /home/root

env

env is a hash-map which is used to set custom env variables. The key represents the variable name and the value setting the value of the env variable.

• name: env
• type: hash-map
• default: {}
• notes:
  • read env variables with ${PATH}
  • overwrites inherited variables, see #inherit-env

env:
  VAR_NAME: my value # Set custom env var
  CURRENT_USER: ${USER} # Set env var and read from current env

inherit-env

inherit-env is a boolean type which allows you to inherit all environment variables from your active shell.

• name: inherit-env
• type: bool
• default: false
• notes: If this config is set to true in the global configuration it will be applied for all tests and ignores local test configs.

inherit-env: true

interval

interval is a string type and sets the interval between retries.

• name: interval
• type: string
• default: 0ns
• notes:
  • valid time units: ns, us, µs, ms, s, m, h
  • time string will be evaluated by golang’s time package, further reading time/#ParseDuration

interval: 5s # Waits 5 seconds until the next try after a failed test is started

retries

retries is an int type and configures how often a test is allowed to fail until it will be marked as failed for the whole test run.

• name: retries
• type: int
• default: 0
• notes: interval can be defined between retry executions

retries: 3 # Test will be executed 3 times or until it succeeds

timeout

timeout is a string type and sets the time a test is allowed to run.
The time is parsed from a duration string like 300ms.
If a tests exceeds the given timeout the test will fail.

• name: timeout
• type: string
• default: no limit
• notes:
  • valid time units: ns, us, µs, ms, s, m, h
  • time string will be evaluated by golang’s time package, further reading time/#ParseDuration

timeout: 600s

Nodes

Commander has the option to execute tests against other hosts, i.e. via ssh.

Available node types are currently:

• local, execute tests locally
• ssh, execute tests viá ssh
• docker, execute tests inside a docker container

nodes: # define nodes in the node section
  ssh-host:
    type: ssh # define the type of the connection 
    user: root # set the user which is used by the connection
    pass: password # set password for authentication
    addr: 192.168.0.100:2222 # target host address
    identity-file: ~/.ssh/id_rsa # auth with private key
tests:
  echo hello:
    config:
      nodes: # define on which host the test should be executed
        - ssh-host
    stdout: hello
    exit-code: 0

You can identify on which node a test failed by inspecting the test output.
The [local] and [ssh-host] represent the node name on which the test were executed.

✗ [local] it should test ssh host
✗ [ssh-host] it should fail if env could not be set

local

The local node is the default execution and will be applied if nothing else was configured.
It is always pre-configured and available, i.e. if you want to execute tests on a node and locally.

nodes:
  ssh-host:
    addr: 192.168.1.100
    user: ...
tests:
  echo hello:
    config:
      nodes: # will be executed on local and ssh-host
        - ssh-host
        - local
    exit-code: 0

ssh

The ssh node type will execute tests against a configured node using ssh.

Limitations:

• The inhereit-env config is disabled for ssh hosts, nevertheless it is possible to set env variables
• Private registries are not supported at the moment

nodes: # define nodes in the node section
  ssh-host:
    type: ssh # define the type of the connection 
    user: root # set the user which is used by the connection
    pass: password # set password for authentication
    addr: 192.168.0.100:2222 # target host address
    identity-file: ~/.ssh/id_rsa # auth with private key
tests:
  echo hello:
    config:
      nodes: # define on which host the test should be executed
        - ssh-host
    stdout: hello
    exit-code: 0

docker

The docker node type executes the given command inside a docker container.

Notes: If the default docker registry should be used prefix the container with the registry docker.io/library/

nodes:
  docker-host:
    type: docker
    image: docker.io/library/alpine:3.11.3
    docker-exec-user: 1000 # define the owner of the executed command
    user: user # registry user
    pass: password # registry password, it is recommended to use env variables like $REGISTRY_PASS
config:
  nodes:
    - docker-host
tests:
  "id -u":
     stdout: "1001"

Development

See the documentation at development.md

Misc

Heavily inspired by goss.

Similar projects:

• bats
• icmd
• testcli