How to Automate API Testing in CI/CD Using GitHub Actions + Bruno CLI 🚀

#api #testing #cicd #opensource

CI/CD is table stakes for modern dev teams — and if you're building APIs, test automation should be too. GitHub Actions is a fantastic platform for integrating tests directly into your dev flow.

Bruno CLI makes it dead simple to run your API tests as part of every commit and pull request. No more manual testing or flaky setup — just repeatable, scriptable tests that run on autopilot.

⚠️ This guide assumes you’ve already got a GitHub repo with Bruno collections. If not, start here.

✅ Prerequisites

Before you set up the GitHub Action, make sure you’ve got:

A GitHub repo with Bruno collections committed
Some familiarity with GitHub Actions YAML syntax

Organizing Your Bruno Collections

Structure your repo like this:

your-api-project/
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       └── api-tests.yml
├── collections/
│   ├── authentication/
│   │   ├── login.bru
│   │   └── logout.bru
├── environments/
│   ├── development.bru
│   ├── ci.bru
│   └── production.bru
└── bruno.json

Why it matters:

.github/workflows/ → stores GitHub Actions
collections/ → organized Bruno test collections
environments/ci.bru → test-specific environment config

⚙️ GitHub Actions Workflow

Create a file at .github/workflows/api-tests.yml:

name: API Tests

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'

      - name: Install Bruno CLI
        run: npm install -g @usebruno/cli

      - name: Run API Tests
        run: bru run --env ci --reporter-html results.html

      - name: Upload Test Results
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: test-results
          path: results.html

What this does:

Runs on push/PR to main
Sets up Node 20, installs Bruno CLI
Executes API tests with ci environment
Uploads the HTML test report as an artifact

Securing Sensitive Data with GitHub Secrets

If you use secrets like API keys or tokens, pass them safely like this:

- name: Run API Tests with Secrets
  run: |
    bru run --env ci \
      --env-var API_KEY=${{ secrets.API_KEY }} \
      --env-var JWT_TOKEN=${{ secrets.JWT_TOKEN }}
  env:
    API_BASE_URL: ${{ secrets.API_BASE_URL }}