One really cool use of the mock server is running it while running selenium (browser) tests.
When you run a selenium test, a real browser is started; your app is run as if by a real user, and it makes real http requests to its API services. As you had to do in your local environment, you need to provide the app with access to those services. Again, your options are:
- deploying the services in a dedicated remote environment
- start the services along with your selenium tests
- mock them (with
mock-server)
If you chose the third option, you still have to start mock-server along with
your selenium tests, but it's probably much easier to start mock-server than
the API services. Moreover you get the benefit of being able to fully control
API responses, allowing you to easily simulate even the most intricate
scenarios.
With the help of mock-server running selenium tests, even in CI, becomes
almost as easy as running unit tests, as demonstrated in the
selenium tests example.