New Feature: HttpClient Testing Support by matrei · Pull Request #15478 · apache/grails-core

matrei · 2026-03-01T09:39:52Z

This pull request adds a new org.apache.grails:grails-testing-support-httpclient module and refactors the HTTP client usage in integration tests to use it, improving consistency and maintainability of test code.

Micronaut client is removed from tests in favor of `HttpClientSupport` based on the jdk http client.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds a new grails-testing-support-httpclient module (JDK HttpClient + Groovy extension assertions) and migrates multiple integration/functional tests across grails-test-examples/* to use the new support API, with corresponding dependency/doc/CI updates.

Changes:

Introduces grails-testing-support-httpclient (request helpers + HttpResponse fluent assertions + multipart builder) and publishes it.
Refactors many example integration tests to use HttpClientSupport instead of Micronaut’s HttpClient.
Updates docs and build/CI configuration to reflect the new module and test behavior.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 81 out of 81 changed files in this pull request and generated 8 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
settings.gradle	Registers the new testing-support module in the build.
grails-testing-support-httpclient/build.gradle	New module build with Groovy + JSON/XML + OpenTest4J dependency.
grails-testing-support-httpclient/src/main/groovy/org/apache/grails/testing/httpclient/MultipartBody.groovy	Adds a multipart/form-data body builder for tests.
grails-testing-support-httpclient/src/main/resources/META-INF/groovy/org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.ExtensionModule	Registers Groovy extension methods for `HttpResponse`.
grails-testing-support-httpclient/src/test/groovy/org/apache/grails/testing/httpclient/MultipartBodySpec.groovy	Unit tests for multipart charset behavior.
grails-testing-support-httpclient/src/test/groovy/org/apache/grails/testing/httpclient/HttpResponseExtensionsSpec.groovy	Unit tests for response assertion/parse extensions.
grails-testing-support-httpclient/src/test/groovy/org/apache/grails/testing/httpclient/HttpClientSupportSpec.groovy	Unit tests for the `HttpClientSupport` trait helpers.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/build.gradle	Switches integration tests to depend on the new httpclient support module.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/api/NamespacedBookSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` + fluent JSON assertions.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/VehicleSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and structured JSON checks.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/TestGsonControllerSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and `expectJson/expectContains` assertions.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/TestGmlControllerSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and `xml()` parsing.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/TestControllerSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and status/body assertions for 401.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/TeamSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and JSON assertions.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/ProxySpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and header/body assertions.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/ProjectSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and response JSON extraction.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/ProductSpec.groovy	Migrates product paging tests to new http helpers and assertions.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/PersonInheritanceSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and fluent checks.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/ObjectTemplateSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` with status/body checks.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/ModelInterceptorIntSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` for controller requests.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/InheritanceSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and JSON assertions.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/HttpClientSpec.groovy	Removes legacy Micronaut `HttpClient` base spec.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/EmbeddedSpec.groovy	Migrates embedded-domain rendering checks to new assertions.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/CustomerSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and `with(response.json())` validations.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/CircularSpec.groovy	Migrates circular rendering tests to new JSON/header assertions.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/BulletinSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and JSON parsing.
grails-test-examples/views-functional-tests/src/integration-test/groovy/functional/tests/BookSpec.groovy	Migrates CRUD/error rendering tests to new http helpers.
grails-test-examples/micronaut/build.gradle	Adds integration-test dependency on the new module.
grails-test-examples/micronaut/src/integration-test/groovy/micronaut/MicronautErsatzRoundtripSpec.groovy	Replaces Micronaut client calls with `HttpClientSupport` requests.
grails-test-examples/micronaut/src/integration-test/groovy/micronaut/MicronautErsatzPatternSpec.groovy	Replaces Micronaut client calls with new helpers.
grails-test-examples/micronaut/src/integration-test/groovy/micronaut/MicronautDeclarativeClientSpec.groovy	Removes redundant Micronaut client roundtrip checks (keeps Ersatz/declarative client tests).
grails-test-examples/issue-views-182/build.gradle	Switches integration tests to use new module dependency.
grails-test-examples/issue-views-182/src/integration-test/groovy/views182/HttpClientCommonSpec.groovy	Removes legacy Micronaut client base spec.
grails-test-examples/issue-views-182/src/integration-test/groovy/views182/CustomErrorSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and status/body assertions.
grails-test-examples/issue-15228/build.gradle	Switches integration tests to use new module dependency.
grails-test-examples/issue-15228/src/integration-test/groovy/issue11767/app/GsonViewRespondSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and JSON assertions.
grails-test-examples/issue-11767/build.gradle	Adds integration-test dependency on new module; removes Micronaut client test deps.
grails-test-examples/issue-11767/src/integration-test/groovy/issue11767/app/ConfigLoadingSpec.groovy	Migrates HTTP calls to `HttpClientSupport`.
grails-test-examples/issue-11102/build.gradle	Adds integration-test dependency on new module; removes Micronaut client deps.
grails-test-examples/issue-11102/src/integration-test/groovy/issue11102/HttpClientCommonSpec.groovy	Removes legacy Micronaut client base spec.
grails-test-examples/issue-11102/src/integration-test/groovy/issue11102/TestControllerSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and status/body assertions.
grails-test-examples/hibernate5/issue450/build.gradle	Adds integration-test dependency on new module.
grails-test-examples/hibernate5/issue450/src/integration-test/groovy/example/BookControllerSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and fluent body assertions.
grails-test-examples/hibernate5/grails-multiple-datasources/build.gradle	Adds integration-test dependency on new module; removes Micronaut client deps.
grails-test-examples/hibernate5/grails-multiple-datasources/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/MultiDataSourceWithSessionSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and fluent body assertions.
grails-test-examples/demo33/build.gradle	Adds integration-test dependency on new module.
grails-test-examples/demo33/src/integration-test/groovy/demo/JsonControllerSpec.groovy	Migrates ad-hoc HTTP usage to `HttpClientSupport`.
grails-test-examples/cache/build.gradle	Adds integration-test dependency on new module; removes Micronaut client deps.
grails-test-examples/cache/src/integration-test/groovy/com/demo/AdvancedCachingIntegrationSpec.groovy	Migrates caching endpoint tests to new helper/JSON parsing.
grails-test-examples/async-events-pubsub-demo/build.gradle	Adds integration-test dependency on new module; removes Micronaut client deps.
grails-test-examples/async-events-pubsub-demo/src/integration-test/groovy/pubsub/demo/TaskControllerSpec.groovy	Migrates async error handling test to new helper.
grails-test-examples/app1/build.gradle	Adds integration-test dependency on new module; removes Micronaut client test deps.
grails-test-examples/app1/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/urlmappings/UrlMappingsSpec.groovy	Migrates URL mapping integration tests to new helpers/assertions.
grails-test-examples/app1/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/springevents/SpringEventsSpec.groovy	Migrates Spring events endpoint tests to new helpers/assertions.
grails-test-examples/app1/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/interceptors/InterceptorOrderingSpec.groovy	Migrates interceptor endpoint tests to new helpers/assertions.
grails-test-examples/app1/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/interceptors/InterceptorAdvancedMatchingSpec.groovy	Migrates interceptor matching tests to new helpers/assertions.
grails-test-examples/app1/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/flow/FlashChainForwardSpec.groovy	Migrates flow tests, adds manual redirect handling with a no-redirect client.
grails-test-examples/app1/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/errorhandling/ErrorHandlingSpec.groovy	Migrates error-handling endpoint tests to new helpers/assertions.
grails-test-examples/app1/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/cors/CorsAdvancedSpec.groovy	Migrates CORS tests to new helpers/assertions.
grails-test-examples/app1/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/caching/CachingSpec.groovy	Migrates caching endpoint tests to new helpers/assertions.
grails-test-examples/app1/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/async/AsyncPromiseSpec.groovy	Migrates async endpoint tests to new helpers/assertions.
grails-test-examples/app1/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/BookRestfulControllerSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and `jsonList()` parsing.
grails-test-examples/app1/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/AtResourceSpec.groovy	Migrates to `HttpClientSupport` and status assertions.
grails-doc/src/en/guide/testing/integrationTesting.adoc	Documents the new httpclient testing support module and provides examples.
grails-doc/src/en/guide/introduction/whatsNew.adoc	Adds “What’s New” entry for the new module.
gradle/publish-root-config.gradle	Adds the new module to the list of published projects.
gradle/functional-test-config.gradle	Tweaks Geb timeout property usage (comment clarifies default).
gradle.properties	Adds `openTest4jVersion` for the new module dependency.
DEVELOPMENT.md	Clarifies what `gebAtCheckWaiting` does.
.github/workflows/groovy-joint-workflow.yml	Enables `-PgebAtCheckWaiting` for CI build job.

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This test times out regularly in CI.

jdaugherty

This is such an incredible amount of work:

it's a clear API
it doesn't pollute our dependencies
it's useful for all Grails apps and we adopted it ourselves (so the benefits are immediately clear in this PR)
we own the API so we can enhance it more rapidly than Micronaut or Spring Boot

I have some minor concerns, mainly:

the assumption is this is used in specs, but we're not following the recommended pattern for spec enhancement (using an extension)
the naming - I'd like to propose an alternative with the assumption of a future addition
could including this library with extensions cause a difference in behavior between prod/dev and test? Ancillary to this, I think using a delegate pattern may be better for testing, but I can definitely see the http client enhancements useful for a grails app itself. Interested to discuss this one.

jdaugherty · 2026-03-05T20:08:21Z

I know this is a new feature, but i'd argue we should back port it. We don't have to announce it for 7.0.x, but the reason it should exist in 7.0.x is for easier maintenance given how much clean up on the tests have been done

matrei · 2026-03-06T13:27:02Z

Thank you @jdaugherty for excellent feedback!
I'm re-hauling the PR again, new changes coming soon.

Add marker annotation for Spring test configuration classes that should be auto-imported into Integration tests.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 92 out of 92 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

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jdaugherty · 2026-03-11T13:51:53Z

+@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
+@Target([ElementType.TYPE])
+@TestConfiguration(proxyBeanMethods = false)
+@interface IntegrationTestAutoConfiguration {


So instead of a spock extension, you went with the bean approach. I assume that's why this change is now for 7.1.x instead of 7.0.x? I don't think it's a problem to use the test configuration approach, but can you give background on what led you down this path?

As it is a new feature, it was always intended it for 7.1.x.
For proper IDE support I think we need an object to work with.

@jdaugherty So, a bit more context on why I went the @TestConfiguration route. I read here that using Traits on Specifications is not supported/recommended.

Now that I think about this some more, maybe this was overly cautious, as we apparently do that a lot already in Grails testing support:

UrlMappingsUnitTest

TagLibUnitTest

EnvironmentAwareSpec

GrailsUnitTest

GrailsWebUnitTest

DataTest

JsonViewTest

MocksDomains

etc.

I'll revert to using a trait...

My biggest concern of putting this in 7.1.x is this actually makes it easier to test grails-core. Would it be possible to put this in 7.0.x and only publish it in 7.1.x for external use? I want to make merges easier ...

I think that should be possible by referencing grails-testing-support-http-client as a project dependency instead of as a "usual" dependency in the test projects and remove it from publishing.

# Conflicts: # grails-test-examples/app1/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/async/AsyncPromiseSpec.groovy

testlens-app · 2026-03-13T15:20:00Z

🚨 TestLens detected 1 failed tests 🚨

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Finally, trigger a rerun by checking the rerun checkbox.

Test Summary

Check	Project/Task	Test	Runs
CI / Functional Tests (Java 17, indy=true)	:grails-test-examples-scaffolding:integrationTest	UserControllerSpec > User list	❌

🏷️ Commit: 32a9787
▶️ Tests: 23355 executed
⚪️ Checks: 34/34 completed

Test Failure

UserControllerSpec > User list (:grails-test-examples-scaffolding:integrationTest in CI / Functional Tests (Java 17, indy=true))

geb.waiting.WaitTimeoutException: condition did not pass in 10 seconds (failed with exception)
	at geb.waiting.Wait.waitFor(Wait.groovy:128)
	at geb.waiting.PotentiallyWaitingExecutor.execute(PotentiallyWaitingExecutor.groovy:31)
	at geb.Page.verifyThisPageAtOnly(Page.groovy:424)
	at geb.Page.getAtVerificationResult(Page.groovy:217)
	at geb.Page.verifyAt(Page.groovy:188)
	at geb.Browser.doAt(Browser.groovy:1208)
	at geb.Browser.at(Browser.groovy:410)
	at geb.Browser.to(Browser.groovy:566)
	at geb.Browser.to(Browser.groovy:543)
	at geb.Browser.to(Browser.groovy:532)
	at grails.plugin.geb.support.delegate.BrowserDelegate$Trait$Helper.to(BrowserDelegate.groovy:160)
	at com.example.UserControllerSpec.User list(UserControllerSpec.groovy:46)
Caused by: Assertion failed: 

title == pageTitle
|     |  |
|     |  'User List'
|     false
'Please sign in'

	at com.example.pages.UserListPage._clinit__closure1(UserListPage.groovy:28)
	at com.example.pages.UserListPage._clinit__closure1(UserListPage.groovy)
	at geb.waiting.Wait.waitFor(Wait.groovy:117)
	... 11 more

Muted Tests

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UserControllerSpec > User list

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jdaugherty · 2026-03-14T16:15:26Z

I see 7.1.x commits in the commit history for merging to 7.0.x @matrei

matrei · 2026-03-14T16:18:06Z

Replaced by #15505

feat: httpclient testing support

8f6070a

matrei added this to the grails:7.1.0 milestone Mar 1, 2026

matrei added this to Apache Grails Mar 1, 2026

matrei added the feature label Mar 1, 2026

github-actions Bot added maintenance test labels Mar 1, 2026

matrei added 3 commits March 1, 2026 10:47

chore: add license header

948572f

fix: align bom property names

66c6bc4

test: try to resolve http client read timeouts

5b6aa22

matrei marked this pull request as draft March 1, 2026 12:15

matrei added 6 commits March 1, 2026 15:14

fix: bom issues with forge on micronaut 3

8a118d8

ci: add extendTestClientTimeouts to groovy joint workflow

5a1c27a

test: typo

9aa9008

build: change back to property gebAtCheckWaiting

14018b7

Micronaut client is removed from tests in favor of `HttpClientSupport` based on the jdk http client.

chore: whitespace

343f2ac

feat: http client testing support with the JDK http client

dfe40a4

matrei marked this pull request as ready for review March 5, 2026 14:09

matrei added 3 commits March 5, 2026 15:11

chore: add license headers

0f56df3

docs: fix javadoc

896ac0e

test: fix flaky test assertion

fcb450b

matrei changed the title ~~HttpClient testing support~~ New Feature: HttpClient Testing Support Mar 5, 2026

matrei removed the maintenance label Mar 5, 2026

matrei moved this to In Progress in Apache Grails Mar 5, 2026

matrei requested a review from Copilot March 5, 2026 14:51

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of matrei March 5, 2026 14:52 View session

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matrei added 3 commits March 5, 2026 16:18

build: set moduleVersion in extension module descriptor

5b1a8f3

chore: typos

2f19b03

test: set extra long timeout on async test

01b03f6

This test times out regularly in CI.

jdaugherty reviewed Mar 5, 2026

View reviewed changes

jdaugherty mentioned this pull request Mar 5, 2026

Improve Groovy Joint Validation Build CI stability #15484

Merged

matrei marked this pull request as draft March 6, 2026 13:27

matrei added 2 commits March 9, 2026 20:48

feat: add @IntegrationTestAutoConfiguration support

d5b7934

Add marker annotation for Spring test configuration classes that should be auto-imported into Integration tests.

docs: add some javadoc to IntegrationTestAstTransformation

476e652

github-actions Bot added the maintenance label Mar 9, 2026

fix: use Spring Boot TestConfiguration to autowire HttpClient

e1f1fb5

matrei force-pushed the feat/http-client-testing-support branch from 75d4501 to e1f1fb5 Compare March 9, 2026 20:59

chore: add license headers

4f5df15

matrei marked this pull request as ready for review March 9, 2026 21:59

matrei requested a review from Copilot March 10, 2026 08:28

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Comment thread ...s-test-examples/issue-11102/src/integration-test/groovy/issue11102/TestControllerSpec.groovy

Comment thread ...atasources/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/MultiDataSourceWithSessionSpec.groovy

Comment thread grails-doc/src/en/guide/testing/integrationTesting.adoc

fix: add missing imports

0756bc8

jdaugherty reviewed Mar 11, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread grails-testing-support-http-client/README.md Outdated

jdaugherty reviewed Mar 11, 2026

View reviewed changes

fix: go back from Spring Test configuration to trait

141362f

matrei changed the base branch from 7.1.x to 7.0.x March 13, 2026 14:27

Merge branch '7.1.x' into feat/http-client-testing-support

32a9787

# Conflicts: # grails-test-examples/app1/src/integration-test/groovy/functionaltests/async/AsyncPromiseSpec.groovy

matrei mentioned this pull request Mar 14, 2026

new module grails-testing-support-http-client #15505

Merged

matrei changed the base branch from 7.0.x to 7.1.x March 14, 2026 16:17

matrei closed this Mar 14, 2026

github-project-automation Bot moved this from In Progress to Done in Apache Grails Mar 14, 2026

matrei deleted the feat/http-client-testing-support branch March 23, 2026 12:39

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