wiremock-stubs

Overview

This skill covers the JVM Java API for WireMock stub-mapping authoring and request verification (wiremock-quickstart (opens in new window)). WireMock also has standalone JAR + Docker modes for non-JVM consumers - the matching skill for JS / TS is msw-handlers.

When to use

• The project is JVM-based (Java / Kotlin / Scala) and tests need to mock HTTP dependencies.
• Integration tests must run without the real upstream (third-party API rate limits, billing, flaky network).
• The team needs request recording - WireMock records actual upstream calls during a "proxy mode" run, then replays them.
• Parallel test execution requires per-test ports - WireMock's dynamic-port mode handles this.

Install

Maven

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.wiremock</groupId>
  <artifactId>wiremock</artifactId>
  <version>${wiremock.version}</version>
  <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

(Per wiremock-quickstart (opens in new window); pin ${wiremock.version} to the team's chosen 3.x release.)

Gradle

testImplementation 'org.wiremock:wiremock:3.x'   // pin to the chosen release

Authoring stubs

JUnit 4 with @Rule

Per wiremock-quickstart (opens in new window):

import com.github.tomakehurst.wiremock.junit.WireMockRule;
import org.junit.Rule;

public class MyServiceTest {

    @Rule
    public WireMockRule wireMockRule = new WireMockRule(8089);

    @Test
    public void example() {
        stubFor(post("/my/resource")
            .withHeader("Content-Type", containing("xml"))
            .willReturn(ok()
                .withHeader("Content-Type", "text/xml")
                .withBody("<response>SUCCESS</response>")));

        // ... test the SUT against http://localhost:8089
    }
}

JUnit 5 with @WireMockTest

For JUnit 5, use @WireMockTest (or WireMockExtension for finer control):

import com.github.tomakehurst.wiremock.junit5.WireMockTest;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;

@WireMockTest(httpPort = 8089)
class MyServiceTest {

    @Test
    void example() {
        stubFor(get("/orders/42")
            .willReturn(jsonResponse(
                "{\"order_id\": 42, \"status\": \"shipped\"}", 200)));

        // exercise SUT against http://localhost:8089/orders/42
    }
}

Pair @WireMockTest with dynamic-port allocation (wireMockConfig().dynamicPort()) for parallel tests, then read the assigned port via WireMockRuntimeInfo.

Stub matching, response shaping, and scenarios

The request-matcher DSL (get / urlPathMatching / withHeader / withQueryParam / matchingJsonPath / withCookie, first-match-wins), the response builders (ok() / okJson() / withFixedDelay / withChunkedDribbleDelay), and stateful scenario stubs are cataloged in references/matchers-and-scenarios.md.

Request verification

After exercising the SUT, assert on requests received:

verify(postRequestedFor(urlEqualTo("/orders"))
    .withRequestBody(matchingJsonPath("$.sku", equalTo("SKU-1"))));

verify(exactly(1), getRequestedFor(urlPathEqualTo("/health")));

verify() throws on mismatch - fails the test with a clear explanation of expected vs. actual requests.

CI integration

# .github/workflows/integration.yml (excerpt)
- name: Run integration tests
  run: mvn -B verify   # WireMock starts in-process per @WireMockTest annotation

- name: Upload WireMock logs
  if: failure()
  uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
  with:
    name: wiremock-logs
    path: |
      target/wiremock-*.log
      target/surefire-reports/
    retention-days: 14

WireMock writes to JUL by default; route to your project's logger to capture stub-match misses (a common cause of "test passed locally, failed on CI" puzzles).

Anti-patterns

Limitations

• JVM-focused. Standalone mode works from any language but loses the type-safety of the Java DSL.
• In-memory state only. Scenario state resets when the WireMock server restarts; persistent state requires the standalone mode + on-disk file storage.
• HTTP-only. No WebSocket / gRPC - for those, use a different mock server.

References

• wiremock-quickstart (opens in new window) - install, JUnit 4 / 5 setup, stub-mapping DSL, dynamic ports, request matching.
• WireMock Docs - https://wiremock.org/docs/
• msw-handlers - JS / TS counterpart (for browser + Node).
• mountebank-imposters - multi-protocol alternative (HTTP + TCP + SMTP).