Blast
A simple tool for API load testing and batch jobs with configurable rate, concurrent workers, and protocol-agnostic design.
What is Blast?
Blast is a command-line tool for API load testing and batch job processing. It enables developers to send requests at a fixed, adjustable rate with configurable concurrent workers, supporting both performance testing and bulk API operations. It solves the need for a simple, extensible tool to simulate load and handle repetitive API tasks efficiently.
Developers and engineers who need to perform API load testing, benchmark system performance, or automate batch API jobs, particularly those working with scalable services or microservices.
Developers choose Blast for its simplicity, protocol-agnostic design, and real-time rate control, allowing easy extension to custom protocols and interactive adjustment during execution without complex setup.
Overview
Blast is a simple tool for API load testing and batch jobs
Use Cases
Best For
- Load testing APIs with precise request rate control
- Processing bulk API jobs from CSV data sources
- Simulating high-concurrency scenarios with configurable workers
- Benchmarking system performance under variable load
- Automating repetitive API tasks with resume capabilities
- Extending load testing to custom protocols via worker interface
Not Ideal For
- Teams needing graphical dashboards for real-time load test visualization
- Projects requiring out-of-the-box support for protocols like WebSocket or gRPC without custom coding
- Distributed load testing across multiple coordinated nodes without additional orchestration
- Users who prefer GUI-based configuration over CLI and config files
Pros & Cons
Pros
Allows interactive adjustment of request rates during execution via CLI input, enabling fine-tuned load testing without restarting, as demonstrated in the status output examples.
Uses a simple Go interface for workers, making it trivial to add custom protocols, though this requires programming, as shown in the worker examples.
Supports resuming from log files to skip previously successful CSV data items, saving time on retries for bulk API operations, as configured with the 'resume' option.
Provides detailed summaries of concurrency, rates, durations, and status codes every ten seconds or on demand, aiding in performance analysis during tests.
Cons
Only includes dummy and HTTP workers by default; extending to new protocols demands implementing the Worker interface in Go, which can be a barrier for non-developers.
The README lists automatic rate adjustment based on latency as a to-do item, so users must manually tune rates, potentially missing optimal load scenarios.
Designed for single-machine execution, lacking built-in support for distributed load testing, which may limit scalability for very high-volume scenarios.
Frequently Asked Questions
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