Cloud tests from the CLI

Running k6 tests from the web application helps you get a feel for the tool or build a proof of concept. For regular use, however, you'll probably prefer to run cloud tests from the command line.

Testers have many reasons they might prefer to run tests from the CLI:

• To store tests in version control
• To modularize scripts for collaboration and easier maintenance.
• To work in the local environment.
• To integrate testing in CI/CD pipelines.

Instructions

1. First, you need to have a k6 Cloud account. If you don't have one, sign up and get 50 cloud tests with the Free Trial.

2. Install k6.

3. Authenticate to k6 Cloud from the CLI. To log in, either use your username and password or your API token.

   Log in with username and password

   Log in with the API Token

   $ k6 login cloud

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   k6 login stores your API Token in a local config file to authenticate to k6 Cloud when running cloud commands. Unless running tests on multiple cloud accounts, you need to run k6 login only once.

4. Run your test in the cloud. (k6 cloud automatically uploads your script and any dependencies to our cloud).

   CLI

   CLI with the API Token

   Docker

   $ k6 cloud script.js

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   You'll see k6 print some information and the URL of your test results.

           /\      |‾‾|  /‾‾/  /‾/
      /\  /  \     |  |_/  /  / /
     /  \/    \    |      |  /  ‾‾\
    /          \   |  |‾\  \ | (_) |
   / __________ \  |__|  \__\ \___/ .io
   
   execution: cloud
   script: test.js
   output: https://app.k6.io/runs/TEST_RUN_ID

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5. Navigate to the URL to check your test results. When the test is running, the test-result page is shown.

   

   Learn more about test results on Analyzing Results.

K6_CLOUD_TOKEN k6 cloud script.js 

k6 cloud --config nondefault/location/config.json script.js

Cloud execution options

All k6 Options, such as --vus and --duration, are the same between the k6 run and k6 cloud commands. k6 aims to run the same script in different execution modes without making any script modifications.

However, you can set some cloud-specific options for your script.

All cloud options are optional.

export const options = {
  ext: {
    loadimpact: {
      name: 'Hello k6 cloud!',
      projectID: 123456,
      staticIPs: true,
      distribution: {
        distributionLabel1: { loadZone: 'amazon:us:ashburn', percent: 50 },
        distributionLabel2: { loadZone: 'amazon:ie:dublin', percent: 50 },
      },
      note: 'Anything that may be worth noting about your test.',
    },
  },
};

Note: The deleteSensitiveData option is unavailable in default subscriptions. If you want to activate it, contact our CS team at support@k6.io.

Running tests under a different project than your default one

As a rule, tests and test runs are created and run under your default project in your default organization.

To create and run tests under a different project, like one you've been invited to, you must pass the Project ID to k6.

Select the project on the sidebar menu. Then find the Project ID in the header of the Project Dashboard page.

You can pass the Project ID to k6 in two ways:

• Specify it in the script options:

  script.js

  1export const options = {
  2  ext: {
  3    loadimpact: {
  4      projectID: 123456,
  5    },
  6  },
  7};

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• Set the K6_CLOUD_PROJECT_ID environment variable when running your test.

Run locally and stream to the cloud

At times, you might want to run a test locally, but see the results on k6 Cloud. For example, you may want to test a local environment that is not connected to the wider internet.

To do, this you can use k6 run -out cloud. For detailed instructions, refer to Results visualization.

k6 charges your subscription for cloud streaming

Data storage and processing are primary cloud costs, so k6 run --out cloud will consume VUh or test runs from your subscription.

Load zones

Cloud execution tags

Tags provide great flexibility to slice and dice the test-result data.

When a test runs in k6 Cloud, k6 adds two tags to all metrics:

The cloud tags are automatically added when collecting test metrics and work as regular tags.

For example, you can filter the results for a particular load zone in the k6 Cloud Results view.

Or define a Threshold based on the results of a load zone.

import http from 'k6/http';

export const options = {
  vus: 50,
  duration: '30s',
  thresholds: {
    'http_req_duration{load_zone:amazon:us:ashburn}': ['p(95)<500'],
    'http_req_duration{load_zone:amazon:ie:dublin}': ['p(95)<800'],
  },
  ext: {
    loadimpact: {
      distribution: {
        ashburnDistribution: { loadZone: 'amazon:us:ashburn', percent: 50 },
        dublinDistribution: { loadZone: 'amazon:ie:dublin', percent: 50 },
      },
    },
  },
};
export default function () {
  http.get('https://test.k6.io/');
}

Cloud environment variables

When you run tests in k6 Cloud, you can use three additional environment variables to find out in which load zone, server instance, and distribution label the script is currently running.

You can read the values of these variables in your k6 script as usual.

export const options = {
  vus: 50,
  duration: '30s',
  ext: {
    loadimpact: {
      distribution: {
        ashburnDistribution: { loadZone: 'amazon:us:ashburn', percent: 50 },
        dublinDistribution: { loadZone: 'amazon:ie:dublin', percent: 50 },
      },
    },
  },
};
export default function () {
  if (__ENV.LI_DISTRIBUTION === 'ashburnDistribution') {
    // do something
  } else if (__ENV.LI_DISTRIBUTION == 'dublinDistribution') {
    // do something
  }
}

Differences between local and cloud execution

While the cloud and local execution modes are almost completely compatible, they differ in a few particularities.

Iterations

Local execution supports iterations based on test length (-i or --iterations on CLI, and iterations in script options), which is not yet supported by the cloud-execution mode.

Using setup/teardown life-cycle functions

Depending on the test size, the test might run from one or more cloud servers.

Setup and teardown, on the other hand, execute only once, and each will execute from only one server. However, there's no guarantee that the cloud server that runs setup() will be the same one that runs teardown().

Besides this quirk, your setup and teardown life cycle functions run as normal when running cloud tests.

Disable cloud logs

When a cloud tests runs from the CLI, cloud log output prints to the terminal. To disable this, either pass --show-logs=false as an option to k6, or set an environment variable K6_SHOW_CLOUD_LOGS=false.

System environment variables

Environment variables set in the local terminal before executing k6 won't be forwarded to the k6 cloud service. Thus they won't be available to your script when executing in the cloud. With cloud execution, you must use the CLI flags (-e/--env) to set environment variables like -e KEY=VALUE or --env KEY=VALUE.

For details, refer to the environment variables document.