What is API Manual Testing?
API Manual Testing is the process of validating Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) without automation tools. It ensures that APIs work as expected, return correct responses, and handle errors properly.
Objectives
- Validate API endpoints
- Check request and response correctness
- Verify error handling
Advantages
- No coding required
- Quick validation of APIs
- Useful for exploratory API checks
Limitations
- Time-consuming for large API sets
- Not reusable like automation scripts
- Limited coverage compared to automation
API Manual Testing Process
- Understand API documentation and endpoints.
- Prepare test cases for different request methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE).
- Send requests using tools like Postman or cURL.
- Validate responses (status codes, body, headers).
- Check error handling and boundary conditions.
️ Tools for Manual API Testing
- Postman
- SoapUI
- Insomnia
- cURL
Best Practices
- Use proper test data for validation
- Test both positive and negative scenarios
- Validate security aspects (authentication, authorization)
- Document API testing steps
Example
Testing a login API manually:
- Request: POST /login with username & password
- Expected Response: 200 OK with user token
- Negative Test: Wrong password → 401 Unauthorized
