🗂️ Folder Structure Overview for API Automation Framework

📘 Introduction

A well-organized folder structure is the foundation of a scalable and maintainable API automation framework. It ensures that your codebase is easy to navigate, reusable components are centralized, and tests are logically grouped. In this section, we’ll explore a recommended folder structure for RestAssured-based frameworks and explain the purpose of each folder.

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📁 Recommended Folder Structure

api-tests/
├── src/
│   ├── main/
│   │   └── java/
│   │       └── com.example.api/
│   │           ├── config/
│   │           ├── utils/
│   │           ├── payloads/
│   │           └── endpoints/
│   └── test/
│       └── java/
│           └── com.example.tests/
│               ├── base/
│               ├── tests/
│               └── data/
├── resources/
│   ├── config.properties
│   ├── user-schema.json
│   └── test-data.json
└── pom.xml (or build.gradle)

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🧩 Purpose of Each Folder

1. config/

• Centralize configuration details like base URLs and tokens

public class EnvironmentConfig {
    public static final String BASE_URI = "https://api.example.com";
}

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2. utils/

• Store reusable utilities

public class DataGenerator {
    public static String generateUniqueEmail() {
        return "user_" + UUID.randomUUID().toString() + "@example.com";
    }
}

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3. payloads/

• Store request payload builders

public class UserPayloads {
    public static String createUserPayload(String name, String email) {
        return "{ "name": "" + name + "", "email": "" + email + "" }";
    }
}

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4. endpoints/

• Define API endpoints

public class UserEndpoints {
    public static final String GET_USERS = "/users";
}

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5. base/

• Common setup for tests

public class BaseTest {
    @BeforeClass
    public void setup() {
        RestAssured.baseURI = EnvironmentConfig.BASE_URI;
    }
}

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6. tests/

• Store test classes

public class UserTests extends BaseTest {
}

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7. data/

• Store external test data

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8. resources/

• Store config, schema, test data

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✅ Best Practices

1. Keep it modular
2. Centralize configuration
3. Reuse components
4. Externalize test data
5. Document structure

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🏁 Conclusion

A well-designed folder structure is essential for building a scalable and maintainable API automation framework. By following this structure, your framework remains clean and extendable.