requests

Requests Library Skill

Quick Reference

RequestsLibrary provides HTTP client keywords for REST API testing, wrapping Python's requests library. It supports JSON, XML, form data, file uploads, and all authentication methods.

Installation

pip install robotframework-requests

Library Import

*** Settings ***
Library    RequestsLibrary
Library    Collections    # Often needed for dict/list operations

Two Usage Styles

Style 1: Sessionless (Simple, Recommended for Most Cases)

Direct HTTP calls without session management:

${response}=    GET    https://api.example.com/users
${response}=    POST   https://api.example.com/users    json=${data}
${response}=    PUT    https://api.example.com/users/1  json=${data}
${response}=    DELETE https://api.example.com/users/1

Style 2: With Session (For Multiple Calls to Same API)

Create a session once, reuse for multiple requests:

Create Session    api    https://api.example.com    verify=${True}
${response}=    GET On Session    api    /users
${response}=    POST On Session   api    /users    json=${data}
${response}=    DELETE On Session    api    /users/1

Core Keywords Quick Reference

HTTP Methods

Keyword	Usage	Description
GET	GET ${URL}	Retrieve resource
POST	POST ${URL} json=${data}	Create resource
PUT	PUT ${URL} json=${data}	Replace resource
PATCH	PATCH ${URL} json=${data}	Partial update
DELETE	DELETE ${URL}	Remove resource
HEAD	HEAD ${URL}	Get headers only
OPTIONS	OPTIONS ${URL}	Get allowed methods

Request Options

Option	Example	Description
json	json=${dict}	Send JSON body
data	data=${form}	Send form data
params	params=${query}	URL query parameters
headers	headers=${headers}	Custom headers
expected_status	expected_status=201	Verify status code
timeout	timeout=30	Request timeout (seconds)
verify	verify=${False}	SSL verification

Working with JSON

Send JSON Data

&{user}=    Create Dictionary    name=John    [email protected]
${response}=    POST    ${API_URL}/users    json=${user}

Parse JSON Response

${response}=    GET    ${API_URL}/users/1
${json}=    Set Variable    ${response.json()}
${name}=    Set Variable    ${json}[name]
${email}=   Set Variable    ${json}[email]

Access Nested JSON

# Response: {"user": {"profile": {"name": "John"}}}
${name}=    Set Variable    ${response.json()}[user][profile][name]

Response Validation

Status Code Verification

# In request (recommended)
${response}=    GET    ${URL}    expected_status=200
${response}=    POST   ${URL}    json=${data}    expected_status=201
${response}=    DELETE ${URL}    expected_status=204

# Post-request
Status Should Be    200    ${response}
Should Be Equal As Integers    ${response.status_code}    200

# Accept any status (for error testing)
${response}=    GET    ${URL}/notfound    expected_status=anything

Response Content Validation

Should Be Equal    ${response.json()}[status]    success
Should Contain     ${response.text}    success
Dictionary Should Contain Key    ${response.json()}    id
Should Not Be Empty    ${response.json()}[name]

Headers

Set Request Headers

&{headers}=    Create Dictionary
...    Authorization=Bearer ${TOKEN}
...    Content-Type=application/json
...    Accept=application/json
${response}=    GET    ${URL}    headers=${headers}

Check Response Headers

${content_type}=    Set Variable    ${response.headers}[Content-Type]
Should Contain    ${content_type}    application/json

Common Patterns

CRUD Operations

*** Test Cases ***
CRUD User Lifecycle
    # Create
    &{user}=    Create Dictionary    name=John    [email protected]
    ${response}=    POST    ${API}/users    json=${user}    expected_status=201
    ${user_id}=    Set Variable    ${response.json()}[id]

    # Read
    ${response}=    GET    ${API}/users/${user_id}    expected_status=200
    Should Be Equal    ${response.json()}[name]    John

    # Update
    &{updates}=    Create Dictionary    name=John Updated
    ${response}=    PUT    ${API}/users/${user_id}    json=${updates}    expected_status=200
    Should Be Equal    ${response.json()}[name]    John Updated

    # Delete
    ${response}=    DELETE    ${API}/users/${user_id}    expected_status=204

Authentication Patterns

# Bearer Token
&{headers}=    Create Dictionary    Authorization=Bearer ${TOKEN}
${response}=    GET    ${URL}    headers=${headers}

# Basic Auth (using auth parameter)
${auth}=    Create List    ${USERNAME}    ${PASSWORD}
${response}=    GET    ${URL}    auth=${auth}

Query Parameters

&{params}=    Create Dictionary    page=1    limit=10    sort=name
${response}=    GET    ${API}/users    params=${params}
# Results in: GET /users?page=1&limit=10&sort=name

Response Object Properties

Property	Description	Example
status_code	HTTP status code	${response.status_code}
text	Response body as text	${response.text}
json()	Parse JSON response	${response.json()}
headers	Response headers dict	${response.headers}[Content-Type]
content	Response body as bytes	${response.content}
cookies	Response cookies	${response.cookies}
elapsed	Request duration	${response.elapsed.total_seconds()}

Request Should Be Successful

# Verifies the response status code is in the 2xx range
${response}=    GET    ${URL}/users
Request Should Be Successful    ${response}

Session Keywords

Specialized Session Types

# Client certificate authentication session
Create Client Cert Session    alias    ${URL}    client_certs=${CURDIR}/client.pem

# Digest authentication session
Create Digest Session    alias    ${URL}    auth=${auth}

# NTLM authentication session
Create Ntlm Session    alias    ${URL}    auth=${auth}

Security Warning

Create Session has verify=${False} by default -- SSL verification is OFF. For production environments, always explicitly enable SSL verification:

# INSECURE (default) -- do NOT use in production
Create Session    api    ${URL}

# SECURE -- explicitly enable SSL verification
Create Session    api    ${URL}    verify=${True}

When to Load Additional References

Load these reference files for specific use cases:

• All HTTP methods and options -> references/http-methods.md
• Request parameters, headers, SSL, proxies -> references/request-options.md
• Response assertions -> references/response-validation.md
• OAuth, JWT, API keys -> references/authentication.md
• Full keyword listing -> references/keywords-reference.md
• Error debugging -> references/troubleshooting.md

Companion Skills

Need	Skill
Generate user keywords	keyword-builder
Generate test cases	testcase-builder
Design resource file layout	resource-architect
Search for keywords across libraries	libdoc-search
Explain keyword arguments in detail	libdoc-explain
Parse test results from output.xml	results