BDD (Behavior-Driven Development)

aid: bdd
name: BDD (Behavior-Driven Development)
description: >-
  Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) is a software development methodology that
  combines test-driven development with domain-driven design, encouraging
  collaboration between developers, QA, and business stakeholders through
  human-readable test scenarios. The BDD ecosystem includes frameworks, tools,
  and data providers that enable teams to write specifications in Gherkin syntax
  (Given-When-Then) and automate those scenarios as executable tests across APIs,
  UIs, and microservices.
type: Index
image: https://kinlane-productions.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
tags:
- Automation
- BDD
- Software Development
- Testing
- Gherkin
- Quality Assurance
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/bdd/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2025-01-01'
modified: '2026-04-19'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
- aid: bdd:cucumber
  name: Cucumber
  description: >-
    Cucumber is the world's most popular BDD framework, supporting Java, JavaScript,
    Ruby, Python, and C#. It uses Gherkin syntax for writing human-readable
    test scenarios and provides integrations with all major test runners, CI/CD
    platforms, and API testing tools. Cucumber School offers learning resources
    and the Cucumber Open platform provides team-based BDD tooling.
  humanURL: https://cucumber.io/
  tags:
  - BDD
  - Testing
  - Gherkin
  - Java
  - JavaScript
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://cucumber.io/docs/cucumber/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://cucumber.io/docs/guides/10-minute-tutorial/
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/cucumber/cucumber-jvm

  - url: graphql/bdd-graphql.md
    type: GraphQL
- aid: bdd:specflow
  name: SpecFlow
  description: >-
    SpecFlow is a BDD framework for .NET developers, enabling teams to write
    behavior specifications in Gherkin and execute them in C# applications.
    SpecFlow+ Runner and SpecFlow+ LivingDoc provide enhanced test execution
    and living documentation capabilities.
  humanURL: https://specflow.org/
  tags:
  - BDD
  - Testing
  - Gherkin
  - .NET
  - C#
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.specflow.org/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.specflow.org/projects/specflow/en/latest/Getting-Started/

- aid: bdd:behave
  name: Behave
  description: >-
    Behave is a Python BDD framework inspired by Cucumber that enables teams to
    write behavior specifications in Gherkin syntax and execute them using Python.
    It integrates with Django, Flask, FastAPI, and REST API testing tools.
  humanURL: https://behave.readthedocs.io/
  tags:
  - BDD
  - Testing
  - Gherkin
  - Python
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://behave.readthedocs.io/en/stable/
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/behave/behave

- aid: bdd:karate
  name: Karate
  description: >-
    Karate is a modern open-source BDD framework that unifies API testing, UI
    automation, performance testing, and mocking in a single framework. It uses
    a Gherkin-like DSL and is particularly powerful for REST and GraphQL API
    testing with JSON/XML validation, JavaScript scripting, and parallel execution.
  humanURL: https://karatelabs.github.io/karate/
  tags:
  - BDD
  - API Testing
  - REST Testing
  - Performance Testing
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://karatelabs.github.io/karate/
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/karatelabs/karate

- aid: bdd:jbehave
  name: JBehave
  description: >-
    JBehave is a pioneering BDD framework for Java and JVM languages. It supports
    web, REST API, and microservices testing with integration for JUnit, Spring,
    Maven, and Gradle. JBehave Web extends the framework for browser-based BDD testing.
  humanURL: https://jbehave.org/
  tags:
  - BDD
  - Testing
  - Java
  - JVM
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://jbehave.org/reference/latest/
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/jbehave/jbehave-core

common:
- type: Website
  url: https://cucumber.io/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://cucumber.io/docs/
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/cucumber
- type: Features
  data:
  - name: Gherkin Syntax
    description: Human-readable Given-When-Then scenario language for describing software behavior as executable specifications.
  - name: Multi-Language Support
    description: BDD frameworks available for Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, C#, Go, and most other programming languages.
  - name: API Testing Integration
    description: Frameworks like Karate and Cucumber enable BDD-style API testing for REST, GraphQL, and SOAP services.
  - name: Living Documentation
    description: BDD scenarios serve as living documentation that stays synchronized with the actual system behavior.
  - name: CI/CD Integration
    description: All major BDD frameworks integrate with Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, CircleCI, and other CI/CD platforms.
- type: UseCases
  data:
  - name: API Contract Testing
    description: Use BDD frameworks to write executable API contract tests that verify request/response behavior from a business perspective.
  - name: Acceptance Testing
    description: Write acceptance tests in Gherkin that business stakeholders can read and validate before implementation begins.
  - name: Regression Testing
    description: Build a regression test suite using BDD scenarios that can be run automatically on every code change.
  - name: Microservices Testing
    description: Test microservice integrations using BDD frameworks with HTTP clients and mock servers.
- type: Integrations
  data:
  - name: JUnit
    description: Java test runner integration for executing Cucumber and JBehave scenarios in Java projects.
  - name: Playwright
    description: Browser automation integration for UI-level BDD testing with Cucumber or SpecFlow.
  - name: REST Assured
    description: Java DSL for REST API testing commonly used with Cucumber for BDD-style API test suites.
  - name: Postman
    description: API testing platform that supports BDD-style test writing in the test scripts section.
  - name: Allure
    description: Test reporting framework that integrates with Cucumber, SpecFlow, and other BDD frameworks for rich HTML reports.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: [email protected]