API Overview

The following denotes the HTTP-based API for BrowserStack. It provides browser-as-a-service for automated cross-browser testing. The goal is to provide a simple service which can easily be used by any browser testing framework.

Schema

All requests are made to http://api.browserstack.com/VERSION/ and all returned data is done so in JSON-format. The version this documentation outlines is 2.

$ curl -i http://api.browserstack.com/2

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Status: 200 OK
X-API-Version: 2
Content-Length: 2

{}

All date formats are given in ISO-8601 which can be processed natively with Date.parse in compatible JavaScript environments.

Error Handling

All requests are pre-processed and validated. This section outlines how we handle errors within the API and respond to them.

1. All API requests are validated. The following is an example output for a required parameter that wasn't given.

   HTTP/1.1 422 Unprocessable Entity
   Content-Length: 136
   
   {
     "message": "Validation Failed",
     "errors": [
       {
         "field": "type",
         "code": "required"
       }
     ]
   }
   

   Possible error codes are required and invalid.

Authentication

All methods need to authenticate who you are. Before spawning browser workers and deleting a worker for example. Authentication is done using your username/password within the HTTP request. For example:

$ curl -u "username:PASSWORD" http://api.browserstack.com/2

A 401 Unauthorized response is given if an unauthorized request is made.

HTTP Verbs

The API is kept concise and simple by making use of relevant HTTP verbs on each requests. The specifications for these are vague and their use within this API is specific but in general we follow the following rules:

• HEAD - Performs the request to asses the status of a resource and expects no content response.
• GET - Used to retrieve resources.
• POST - Used to create new resources.
• PUT - Used to update resources.
• DELETE - Used to delete resources.

API Documentation

Getting Available Browsers

Fetches all available browsers.

GET /browsers

Output

{
  'win':
    [
      {
        browser: 'ie',
        version: 7.0,
      },
      {
        browser: 'firefox',
        version: 2.0,
      },
      {
        browser: 'chrome',
        version: 14.0,
      } ...
    ]
  ,
  'mac':
    [
      {
        browser: 'firefox',
        version: 11.0,
      },
      {
        browser: 'chrome',
        version: 14.0,
      } ...
    ]
  ,
  'ios':
    [
      {
        device: 'iPhone 4',
        version: '4.0'
      },
      {
        device: 'iPad 2',
        version: '4.3.2'      
      }...
    ]
}

Create a New Browser Worker

A browser worker is simply a new browser instance. A user can start multiple browser worker at a time. All browser workers when created are pushed in a queue and they run when their turn comes. We make sure that your browser worker starts running as soon as possible. Your testing time is calculated from the time when browser worker starts running.

POST /worker

This call requires authentication. A 401 Unauthorized response is given if an unauthorized request is made.

Once a worker has been spawned you can then control this browser instance remotely.

Parameters

A valid request must contain a os, browser OR device, version, and a url. timeout is optional but defaults to 300 seconds.

os

A valid OS. A list of supported OS's are given using the GET /browsers. See the Getting Available Browsers above for details.

browser

A valid browser. A list of supported browsers are given using the GET /browsers. See the Getting Available Browsers above for details.

device

A valid device. A list of supported devices are given using the GET /browsers. See the Getting Available Browsers above for details.

version

A valid browser version. List of supported browser versions are given using the GET /browsers. See the Getting Available Browsers above for details.

(timeout=300)

A number in seconds before the worker is terminated. Set this to 0 to keep the worker alive indefinitely.

IMPORTANT! If you have set the timeout to 0. Make sure you remember to terminate the worker otherwise it will continue to use up your credits. Irrespective of timeout parameter, a browser worker is alive for a maximum time of 300 seconds.

(url)

A valid url to navigate the browser to.

Make sure the url is encoded. JavaScript: encodeURI(url), PHP: urlencode($url),

Response

The response will be returned when the worker has been setup and initialized. This involves loading the HTML data or navigating to the url given depending on the setup parameters. Use the id returned to perform any further communications etc.

HTTP/1.1 200 Success
Content-Type: application/json
X-API-Version: 2

{
  "id": "da39a3ee"
}

Terminating a worker

Use this method to terminate a worker. Useful if you set the worker up to run indefinitely or if you've received all the information needed and you want to save on credit time.

DELETE /worker/:id

The id is the id returned when you first created the worker. Once called the browser instance will be immediately terminated and will no longer be accessible.

This call requires authentication. If the request was made unauthorized a 401 Unauthorized response is given. Alternatively if the authorized user is not the owner of the worker or id does not exist a 403 Forbidden response is given.

Getting Worker Status

Sometimes you will need to check on the status of a worker. Not to be confused with the state of the javascript environment within the worker this method simply determines whether the worker is in queue, running or terminated.

	GET /worker/:id

This call requires authentication. If the request was made unauthorized a 401 Unauthorized response is given. Alternatively if the authorized user is not the owner of the worker a 403 Forbidden response is given.

If the worker has been terminated an empty response is given. Otherwise you get a response with status and browser details.

{
  status: 'running',
  browser: 'ie', 
  version: '6.0',
  os: 'win'
}

If you want to know the list of your current workers with their status, use the following method.

	GET /workers

This method will return the list of workers whose status is either queue or running. For example:

[
  {
    id: 3253,
    status: 'running',
    browser: 'ie', 
    version: '6.0',
    os: 'win'
  },
  {
    id: 3254,
    status: 'queue',
    device: 'Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9',
    version: '2.2',
    os: 'android'
  } ...
]