Crankfire Documentation
An optimized, batteries-included load testing CLI for modern APIs and real-time systems.
Crankfire helps you model realistic workloads against HTTP, WebSocket, SSE, and gRPC services (selecting one protocol mode per run) with:
- Live terminal dashboard and JSON reports
- Advanced arrival and load patterns (ramp, step, spike, Poisson arrivals)
- OAuth2/OIDC authentication helpers
- CSV/JSON data feeders with template substitution
- Protocol-aware metrics and error breakdowns
Use the navigation links below to explore the docs.
What is Crankfire?
Crankfire is a single binary written in Go that focuses on:
- Realistic traffic: Arrival models, patterns, and weighted endpoints model real user behavior.
- Deep protocol support: HTTP, WebSocket, SSE, and gRPC share a common configuration model.
- Operational visibility: Interactive dashboard, progress ticker, and detailed JSON summaries.
- Automation-friendly: Designed to slot into CI/CD pipelines and SRE workflows.
If you have ever stitched together multiple tools or scripts to run distributed load tests, Crankfire aims to give you a single, cohesive experience.
Who is it for?
- Backend and API engineers who need fast feedback on performance and regressions.
- SREs and platform teams running repeatable load/scalability tests.
- QA and performance engineers who want configurable but approachable test definitions.
Getting Started
- Quickstart: See Getting Started for installation and your first test.
- Usage recipes: See Usage Examples for copy‑pasteable commands.
Deep Dives
- Configuration & CLI Reference
- HAR Import
- Authentication
- Data Feeders
- Request Chaining
- Protocols (HTTP, WebSocket, SSE, gRPC)
- Thresholds & Assertions
- Thresholds Quick Reference
- Dashboard & Reporting
- Developer Guide