Step CI

Step CI is an open-source framework for automated API testing and quality assurance. You describe tests as workflows in YAML, JSON, or JavaScript, and it can exercise REST, GraphQL, gRPC, tRPC, and SOAP endpoints inside a single run, which is unusual: most API testers pick one protocol and stop. It is language-agnostic and self-hosted by design, so it can hit services on your own network, and it integrates with the major CI/CD platforms including GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, CircleCI, Jenkins, and Azure Pipelines. Installation is a single npm or Homebrew command, and the docs site walks through the workflow schema.

The honest caveat is maintenance. The main repository's last push was in August 2024, over two years ago, which is a long quiet stretch for a testing tool in a fast-moving ecosystem. It still works for its documented scope and the workflow model is genuinely nice, but teams adopting it should be comfortable self-supporting or forking, and should check whether the protocol support covers their current stack before committing.

1. Install the CLI: npm install -g stepci (Node.js LTS) or brew install stepci.
2. Write a workflow file (YAML, JSON, or JavaScript) describing your tests and assertions.
3. Run it locally: stepci run workflow.yml.
4. Add the same command to your CI pipeline (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, etc.) for continuous API quality checks.