Dredd HTTP API Testing Framework

Dredd is an HTTP API testing framework designed to validate API description documents, such as OpenAPI (formerly Swagger) and API Blueprint, against a running backend API. It ensures that the API implementation adheres to its documented contract by generating requests based on the specification and comparing the actual responses to the described expectations. The current stable version is 14.1.0, with ongoing development and a release cadence that includes major version updates for parser improvements, schema validation, and dependency management. Dredd's key differentiators include its strong focus on documentation-driven testing, support for various API description formats, and its extensible hook system. This hook system allows developers to write custom test logic in multiple languages (including Node.js), enabling advanced scenarios like authentication, data setup, and cleanup, making it a valuable tool for integration into CI/CD pipelines for continuous contract compliance.