Life-cycle events

The life-cycle events API allows you to attach listeners to the internal library events, such as when a new request is made or a mocked response is sent. This API is primarily designed for third-party extensions or for debugging request handlers.

Life-cycle events happen post-factum and cannot affect related requests/responses.

This API is not meant for mocking. Use setupWorker/setupServer instead.

Usage

The life-cycle events API is exposed under the .events property of the worker/server instance:

1const worker = setupWorker(...handlers)
2worker.events
3
4// or
5
6const server = setupServer(...handlers)
7server.events

The API itself resembles the EventEmitter but is stripped down to the following methods:

on, to react to a given event;
removeListener, to remove a listener for a given event;
removeAllListeners, to remove all listeners.

Such limitation is intended, as you mustn't emit internal events—that is done for you by the library.

Methods

`on`

Use the .on method to add an event listener to a given life-cycle event.

1worker.events.on('request:start', (req) => {
2  console.log(req.method, req.url.href)
3})

`removeListener`

Removes the listener for the given life-cycle event.

Removing listeners is particularly handy to reset the events introspection during tests.

1// Previously attached listener.
2const listener = () => console.log('new request')
3worker.events.on('request:start', listener)
4
5worker.events.removeListener('request:start', listener)

`removeAllListeners`

Removes all life-cycle events listeners.

1worker.events.removeAllListeners()

Optionally, accepts a life-cycle event name to specify which group of listeners to remove, in case there are multiple.

1// Removes all listeners for the "request:start" event,
2// but keeps all the other listeners.
3worker.events.removeAllListeners('request:start')

Events

`request:start`

A new request has been dispatched.

Parameter name	Type	Description
`req`	`MockedRequest`	A request representation.

1worker.events.on('request:start', (req) => {
2  console.log('new request:', req.method, req.url.href)
3})

`request:match`

A dispatched request has a corresponding request handler.

Parameter name	Type	Description
`req`	`MockedRequest`	A request representation.

1worker.events.on('request:match', (req) => {
2  console.log('%s %s has a handler!', req.method, req.url.href)
3})

`request:unhandled`

A dispatched request doesn't have any corresponding request handler.

Parameter name	Type	Description
`req`	`MockedRequest`	A request representation.

1worker.events.on('request:unhandled', (req) => {
2  console.log('%s %s has no handler', req.method, req.url.href)
3})

`request:end`

A request has ended. Emits for all requests regardless if their responses were mocked or bypassed.

Parameter name	Type	Description
`req`	`MockedRequest`	A request representation.

1worker.events.on('request:end', (req) => {
2  console.log('%s %s ended', req.method, req.url.href)
3})

`response:mocked`

A mocked response has been sent.

Parameter name	Type	Description
`res`	`Response` (worker), `IsomorphicResponse` (server)	The response that's been sent.
`reqId`	`string`	UUID of the associated request.

1worker.events.on('response:mocked', async (res, reqId) => {
2  const responseText = await res.text()
3  console.log('sent a mocked response', reqId, responseText)
4})

Note that the res instance differs between the browser and Node.js. Take this difference into account when operating with it.

1server.events.on('response:mocked', (res, reqId) => {
2  const responseText = res.body
3  console.log('sent a mocked response', reqId, responseText)
4})

`response:bypass`

An original response has been sent.

Parameter name	Type	Description
`res`	`Response` (worker), `IsomorphicResponse` (server)	The response that's been sent.
`reqId`	`string`	UUID of the associated request.

1worker.events.on('response:bypass', async (res, reqId) => {
2  const responseText = await res.text()
3  console.log('sent an original response', reqId, responseText)
4})

Just as with the response:mocked event, the res instance is different between the browser and Node.js.

1server.events.on('response:bypass', (res, reqId) => {
2  const responseText = res.body
3  console.log('sent an original response', reqId, responseText)
4})

Examples

Tracking a request

Although each life-cycle events emits in isolation, it includes a request ID (reqId) parameter to connect related requests and responses.

1const allRequests = new Map()
2
3worker.events.on('request:start', (req) => {
4  const { id } = req
5  // Store this request by id in an internal Map.
6  allRequests.set(id, req)
7})
8
9worker.events.on('response:mocked', (res, reqId) => {
10  // Get a request associated with this response.
11  const req = allRequests.get(reqId)
12})

Asserting request payload

The life-cycle events API can be used for retrieving a request reference and writing request assertions (i.e. whether the correct request payload was sent).

Request assertions should be avoided whenever possible. Always prefer testing the logic/UI dependent on the response to ensure request/response validity. Read more about Request assertions.

1import { matchRequestUrl } from 'msw'
2import { setupServer } from 'msw/node'
3import { handlers } from './handlers'
4
5const server = setupServer(...handlers)
6
7function waitForRequest(method: string, url: string) {
8  let requestId = ''
9
10  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
11    server.events.on('request:start', (req) => {
12      const matchesMethod = req.method.toLowerCase() === method.toLowerCase()
13      const matchesUrl = matchRequestUrl(url, req.url)
14
15      if (matchesMethod && matchRequestUrl) {
16        requestId = req.id
17      }
18    })
19
20    server.events.on('request:match', (req) => {
21      if (req.id === requestId) {
22        resolve(req)
23      }
24    })
25
26    server.events.on('request:unhandled', (req) => {
27      if (req.id === requestId) {
28        reject(
29          new Error(`The ${req.method} ${req.url.href} request was unhandled.`),
30        )
31      }
32    })
33  })
34}
35
36beforeAll(() => server.listen())
37afterAll(() => server.close())
38
39it('sends the user credentials to the backend', async () => {
40  // Establish a request listener but don't resolve it yet.
41  const pendingRequest = waitForRequest('POST', '/login')
42
43  // Perform the request itself.
44  // Here you would use any tested code that makes a request.
45  await fetch('/login', {
46    method: 'POST',
47    headers: {
48      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
49    },
50    body: JSON.stringify({
51      email: 'user@example.com',
52      password: 'super+secret123',
53    }),
54  })
55
56  // Await the request and get its reference.
57  const request = await pendingRequest
58
59  expect(request.body).toEqual({
60    email: 'user@example.com',
61    password: 'super+secret123',
62  })
63})