CircleCI

This guide explains how to integrate the LoadFocus JMeter API Client with CircleCI for automated performance testing. --name is always the exact name of a JMeter test you already saved in LoadFocus.

Setup Steps

1. Add Environment Variables

Store your LoadFocus API credentials as environment variables in CircleCI:

Navigate to your project in CircleCI
Go to Project Settings > Environment Variables
Add the following variables:
- LOADFOCUS_API_KEY: Your LoadFocus API key
- LOADFOCUS_TEAM_ID: Your LoadFocus team ID

2. Configure CircleCI Workflow

Create or update your .circleci/config.yml file to include performance testing:

version: 2.1
jobs:
  performance_test:
    docker:
      - image: cimg/node:24.22
    steps:
      - checkout
      - run:
          name: Install LoadFocus JMeter API Client
          command: npm install -g @loadfocus/loadfocus-api-client
      - run:
          name: Configure LoadFocus API Client
          command: |
            loadfocus-api config set --apikey $LOADFOCUS_API_KEY --teamid $LOADFOCUS_TEAM_ID
      - run:
          name: Run Performance Tests
          command: |
            # --name is the exact name of a test you saved in LoadFocus
            loadfocus-api jmeter run-test \
              --name "My_JMeter_Test" \
              --thresholds "avgresponse<=200,errors==0,p95<=250" \
              --format json > performance_results.json
      - store_artifacts:
          path: performance_results.json
          destination: performance-test-results

# run-test exits with code 1 when a threshold is missed, which fails this job.
# performance_results.json starts with a few progress lines before the JSON object:
# keep only the JSON with: sed -n '/^{$/,$p' performance_results.json > results.json
workflows:
  version: 2
  build_test_deploy:
    jobs:
      - build_and_test
      - performance_test:
          requires:
            - build_and_test
      - deploy:
          requires:
            - performance_test
          filters:
            branches:
              only: main

3. Fail the Build on Performance Issues

The "Run Performance Tests" step above already fails the build when a threshold is missed, because run-test exits with code 1 and CircleCI stops the job on a non-zero exit. To print your own message first, handle the failure on the same line:

- run:
    name: Run Performance Tests
    command: |
      loadfocus-api jmeter run-test \
        --name "My_JMeter_Test" \
        --thresholds "avgresponse<=200,errors==0,p95<=250" \
        --format json > performance_results.json || {
          echo "Performance test failed to meet thresholds"
          exit 1
        }

Advanced Configuration

Parallel Testing

For running multiple performance tests in parallel:

performance_tests:
  docker:
    - image: cimg/node:24.22
  parallelism: 3
  steps:
    - checkout
    - run:
        name: Install LoadFocus JMeter API Client
        command: npm install -g @loadfocus/loadfocus-api-client
    - run:
        name: Configure LoadFocus API Client
        command: |
          loadfocus-api config set --apikey $LOADFOCUS_API_KEY --teamid $LOADFOCUS_TEAM_ID
    - run:
        name: Run Performance Tests
        command: |
          # Get test name based on index
          TESTS=("API_Test" "Frontend_Test" "Database_Test")
          INDEX=$(( $CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX % 3 ))
          TEST_NAME=${TESTS[$INDEX]}

          echo "Running test: $TEST_NAME"

          loadfocus-api jmeter run-test \
            --name "$TEST_NAME" \
            --thresholds "avgresponse<=200,errors==0,p95<=250" \
            --format json > "performance_results_${TEST_NAME}.json"
    - store_artifacts:
        path: performance_results_*.json
        destination: performance-test-results

Tips for CircleCI Integration

Resource Allocation: Ensure your CircleCI plan has sufficient resources for running performance tests, especially if they're long-running.

Timeout Settings: For longer tests, adjust the job timeout in CircleCI:

- run:
    name: Run Performance Tests
    command: loadfocus-api jmeter run-test --name "Test_Name" --wait-timeout 3600
    no_output_timeout: 60m

Conditional Testing: Only run performance tests on specific branches or for specific commits:

performance_test:
  # Only run if commit message contains [PERF-TEST]
  when:
    condition:
      or:
        - equal: [ main, << pipeline.git.branch >> ]
        - matches:
            pattern: ".*\\[PERF-TEST\\].*"
            value: << pipeline.git.commit.message >>

Notifications: Set up notifications for performance test failures:

- run:
    name: Notify on Performance Test Failure
    command: |
      curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
        -d "{\"text\":\"Performance test failed for $CIRCLE_PROJECT_REPONAME\"}" \
        $SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL
    when: on_fail

For more information, refer to the CircleCI documentation and the LoadFocus API Client documentation.

GitHub Actions

GitLab CI/CD