Bumblebee

The API Testing Challenge

Traditional API testing approaches fall short in today's complex application landscape

Current Testing Reality

⚠️

Manual Test Creation is Tedious

Writing comprehensive test cases by hand is time-consuming, error-prone, and never covers all edge cases.

🔍

Happy Path Bias

Traditional testing focuses on valid inputs and expected flows, rarely testing how systems handle invalid data, constraint violations, or malicious inputs.

🔗

State Management is Complex

Maintaining consistent application state across test sequences is difficult and often leads to flaky tests.

🔄

Maintenance Overhead

API changes break tests constantly, requiring extensive manual updates to keep test suites functional.

📊

Business Logic Gaps

Tests often validate simple response formats but miss complex business rule violations and data consistency issues.

🪫

Incomplete Coverage

Business Logic Tested ~50%

The Bumblebee Solution

Intelligent, Constraint-Driven Testing

Bumblebee transforms API testing from manual drudgery into intelligent automation that understands your business logic

🤖

Auto-Generated Tests

Generate thousands of intelligent test cases automatically from your OpenAPI spec and business constraints.

⚡

Adversarial Testing

Intentionally violates constraints and feeds invalid data to verify your system handles errors gracefully and doesn't break under adversarial conditions.

🔄

State-Aware Validation

Validate complex business logic by accessing real application state throughout your test execution flows.

✓

Result: 95%+ Coverage

Comprehensive business logic validation with minimal manual effort

Fuzz Testing vs. Bumblebee

Why intelligent constraint-based testing outperforms traditional fuzzing approaches

🎲

Traditional Fuzz Testing

Random input generation approach

❌

Random Data Generation

Generates completely random inputs without understanding data relationships or business constraints

❌

Stateless Testing

Each test is independent; no understanding of application state or workflow context

❌

Crash-Focused

Primarily looks for crashes and exceptions, missing business logic violations

❌

No Business Context

Cannot validate complex business rules or data consistency requirements

❌

Inefficient Coverage

Wastes time testing impossible scenarios while missing realistic edge cases

🧠

Bumblebee's Intelligent Testing

Constraint-driven, state-aware approach

✅

Constraint-Based Generation

Uses MiniZinc to generate data that satisfies or strategically violates business constraints

✅

State-Aware Execution

Maintains global state throughout test flows, enabling realistic user journey simulation

✅

Business Logic Validation

Validates complex business rules, data consistency, and constraint compliance

✅

Context-Aware Testing

Understands API relationships and generates tests that reflect real-world usage patterns

✅

Intelligent Coverage

Focuses testing on meaningful scenarios while ensuring comprehensive edge case coverage

Head-to-Head Comparison

Capability	Fuzz Testing	Bumblebee
Data Generation Strategy	Random/Mutated	Constraint-Driven
State Management	Stateless	State-Aware
Business Logic Validation	❌	✅
Workflow Testing	❌	✅
Intelligent Edge Cases	❌	✅
API Specification Integration	Limited	Full OpenAPI Support

💡

The Key Difference

Fuzz testing throws random data at your API hoping something breaks.
Bumblebee intelligently crafts test scenarios that validate your business logic works correctly.

Why Bumblebee?

Combine the power of constraint programming with intelligent test execution for comprehensive API testing

Constraint-Based Generation

Use MiniZinc constraints to automatically generate valid test inputs that satisfy complex business rules and data relationships.

Flow-Based Execution

Define execution graphs to test realistic user journeys and complex API interaction patterns.

State-Aware Testing

Maintain global system state throughout test execution, ensuring tests reflect real-world application behavior.

Auto-Generated from OpenAPI

Automatically generate complete test flows, MiniZinc data structures, and constraint templates directly from your OpenAPI specification.

Automated Validation

Validate API responses against constraints to ensure outputs meet expected business logic and data integrity rules.

Adversarial Test Generation

Intentionally violate constraints and submit invalid data to verify your API handles errors gracefully and fails securely when it should.

How It Works

Four simple steps to transform your API testing process

Initialize Project

Run bumblebee init with your OpenAPI specification. Flow files and MiniZinc data structures are automatically generated for all your endpoints.

Define Constraints

Write input and output constraints in the auto-generated MiniZinc files to specify valid test data and expected response validation rules.

Configure State Machine

Define your application's state transitions in JavaScript, specifying how API responses update the global system state.

Define Execution Graph

Create execution flows that specify the sequence of operations. Once defined, Bumblebee automatically tests all possible happy paths and all possible error paths. This eliminates the tedious manual work of specifying individual execution paths - a massive improvement over traditional testing approaches.

Run Automated Tests

Execute comprehensive test suites that automatically generate inputs, run operations, validate outputs, and maintain state consistency across your entire API.

Quick Start

Get up and running with Bumblebee in minutes

1. Initialize Your Project

                            # Install Bumblebee
                            npm install -g @bumblebee/cli

                            # Initialize project with your OpenAPI spec
                            bumblebee init --spec ./api/openapi.yaml

                            # This auto-generates:
                            # - Flow definitions for each endpoint
                            # - MiniZinc constraint templates
                            # - State machine scaffolding
                        

2. Define Your Constraints

Edit the auto-generated MiniZinc files to specify your test data constraints:

                            % flows/add_item_to_cart/input_constraints.mzn
                            constraint request.body.quantity > 0;
                            constraint request.body.quantity <= 100;
                            constraint bumblebeeRegular(request.body.itemId, "[49-57 65-90 97-122]{4}1114112*");

                            % flows/add_item_to_cart/output_constraints.mzn
                            constraint response.item.quantity = request.body.quantity;
                            constraint response.item.price > 0.0;
                        

3. Configure State Management

Define how your application state evolves:

                            // state-machine.js
                            class CartFlowState {
                                constructor() {
                                    this.cart = { items: [], total: 0 };
                                }

                                onOutput(operationName, response) {
                                    if (operationName === 'add_item_to_cart') {
                                        this.cart.items.push(response.item);
                                        this.updateTotal();
                                    }

                                    if (operationName === 'remove_item_from_cart') {
                                        this.cart.items = this.cart.items.filter(
                                            item => item.id !== response.removedId
                                        );
                                        this.updateTotal();
                                    }
                                }

                                getState() {
                                    return this.cart;
                                }
                            }
                        

4. Run Your Tests

                            # Run comprehensive test suite
                            bumblebee test --flow shopping-cart

                            # Generate test report
                            bumblebee test --report
                        

✅ That's it! Bumblebee will automatically generate thousands of test cases, execute them against your API, and validate all responses using your constraints.

State-Aware Constraint Programming

Access global application state directly in your MiniZinc constraints for sophisticated validation rules

Global State Integration

Your JavaScript state machine automatically exposes state variables to MiniZinc constraints, enabling context-aware validation that understands your application's current state.

🔄 State Variables Available in MiniZinc:

global_state.cart.items - Current cart contents
global_state.cart.total - Running total value
global_state.user.preferences - User settings
global_state.inventory - Available stock levels

💡 Pro Tip: State-aware constraints catch bugs that traditional stateless testing misses!

output_constraints.mzn

                            % Validate cart total consistency
                            constraint response.cart.total = 
                                sum(item in global_state.cart.items)(
                                    item.price * item.quantity
                                );

                            % Ensure we don't exceed inventory
                            constraint forall(item in response.cart.items)(
                                item.quantity <= global_state.inventory[item.id].available
                            );

                            % Respect user preferences
                            constraint if global_state.user.preferences.max_items > 0
                                then
                                    length(response.cart.items) <= global_state.user.preferences.max_items
                                endif;

                            % Business rule: VIP users get priority
                            constraint if global_state.user.tier = "VIP"
                                then response.processing_priority = "high"
                                else response.processing_priority = "normal"
                                endif;
                        

State-Driven Test Scenarios

🛒

Cart Consistency

Validates that cart totals, item counts, and pricing remain consistent across operations

📦

Inventory Bounds

Ensures operations respect real-time inventory limits and stock availability

👤

User Context

Applies user-specific business rules, preferences, and access controls

Smart Execution Control

Endpoint guards prevent invalid operations by checking global state before execution

State-Dependent Endpoint Guards

Each endpoint can have a guard function that depends on the global state. Bumblebee automatically evaluates these guards to determine whether the current system state allows for the endpoint to be called, ensuring realistic test execution flows.

🛡️ Guard Benefits:

Prevents invalid API calls in test sequences
Ensures realistic user journey simulation
Automatically skips impossible operations
Maintains logical execution flow integrity

💡 Smart Testing: Guards enable Bumblebee to automatically discover realistic execution paths without manual configuration!

endpoint-guards.js

                            // Guard for checkout endpoint
                            function canCheckout(globalState) {
                                return globalState.cart.items.length > 0 &&
                                        globalState.user.isLoggedIn &&
                                        globalState.cart.total > 0;
                            }

                            // Guard for remove item endpoint
                            function canRemoveItem(globalState, itemId) {
                                return globalState.cart.items.some(
                                    item => item.id === itemId
                                );
                            }

                            // Guard for VIP operations
                            function canAccessVipFeatures(globalState) {
                                return globalState.user.tier === "VIP" &&
                                        globalState.user.subscription.active;
                            }

                            // Guard for payment processing
                            function canProcessPayment(globalState) {
                                return globalState.cart.total >= 0.01 &&
                                        globalState.user.paymentMethod !== null &&
                                        !globalState.user.account.suspended;
                            }
                        

Automatic Path Discovery

Traditional Approach

Manually define each test path
Hard-code valid operation sequences
Miss edge cases and state combinations
Brittle tests that break on state changes

Bumblebee's Smart Guards

Automatically discover valid paths
Skip impossible operations dynamically
Test all reachable state combinations
Adapt to state changes automatically

⚡ Result: Comprehensive testing with zero manual path specification

Beyond Happy Path Testing

Bumblebee actively breaks your constraints to ensure robust error handling and security

⚠️ Traditional Testing Problem

Most testing frameworks only validate that valid inputs produce expected outputs. They rarely test what happens when constraints are violated, invalid data is submitted, or systems are pushed beyond their limits.

⚡ Bumblebee's Approach

Bumblebee intentionally violates your constraints to verify that your API gracefully handles invalid inputs, enforces business rules, and fails securely when it should.

Constraint Violation Testing

❌ Input Violations

Submit negative quantities, invalid IDs, oversized strings, malformed data

💥 Business Rule Violations

Exceed inventory limits, violate user permissions, break pricing rules

🔒 State Violations

Access unauthorized resources, manipulate protected state, race conditions

Example: Cart Constraint Violations

Watch Bumblebee systematically test constraint violations:

✅ Valid Constraint

quantity > 0 && quantity <= 100

🔥 Violations Tested

quantity = -5 (negative values)
quantity = 999 (exceeds maximum)
quantity = 0 (boundary violation)
quantity = "invalid" (type violation)

What Gets Verified

✓ Proper Error Responses

API returns appropriate HTTP status codes and error messages

✓ State Integrity

Invalid operations don't corrupt application state

✓ Security Boundaries

System fails securely and doesn't expose sensitive information

🛡️ Result: Bulletproof APIs that handle any input gracefully

See It In Action

Example of state management and constraint-based validation in action

state-machine.js - JavaScript State Management

                    class ShoppingCartState {
                        constructor() {
                            this.cart = {
                                items: [],
                                total: 0
                            };
                        }

                        // Update state based on API responses
                        onOutput(operationName, response) {
                            switch (operationName) {
                                case 'add_item_to_cart':
                                    // Intelligent state updates preserve business logic
                                    this.addItemToCart(response.item);
                                    break;

                                case 'remove_item_from_cart':
                                    this.removeItemFromCart(response.itemId);
                                    break;
                            }
                        }

                        addItemToCart(item) {
                            const existingItem = this.cart.items.find(
                                i => i.id === item.id
                            );

                            if (existingItem) {
                                existingItem.quantity += item.quantity;
                            } else {
                                this.cart.items.push(item);
                            }

                            this.updateTotal();
                        }

                        getState() {
                            return this.cart;
                        }
                    }
                

Bumblebee

The API Testing Challenge

Current Testing Reality

Manual Test Creation is Tedious

Happy Path Bias

State Management is Complex

Maintenance Overhead

Business Logic Gaps

Incomplete Coverage

Intelligent, Constraint-Driven Testing

Auto-Generated Tests

Adversarial Testing

State-Aware Validation

Fuzz Testing vs. Bumblebee

Traditional Fuzz Testing

Random Data Generation

Stateless Testing

Crash-Focused

No Business Context

Inefficient Coverage

Bumblebee's Intelligent Testing

Constraint-Based Generation

State-Aware Execution

Business Logic Validation

Context-Aware Testing

Intelligent Coverage

Head-to-Head Comparison

The Key Difference

Why Bumblebee?

Constraint-Based Generation

Flow-Based Execution

State-Aware Testing

Auto-Generated from OpenAPI

Automated Validation

Adversarial Test Generation

How It Works

Initialize Project

Define Constraints

Configure State Machine

Define Execution Graph

Run Automated Tests

Quick Start

1. Initialize Your Project

2. Define Your Constraints

3. Configure State Management

4. Run Your Tests

State-Aware Constraint Programming

Global State Integration

🔄 State Variables Available in MiniZinc:

State-Driven Test Scenarios

Cart Consistency

Inventory Bounds

User Context

Smart Execution Control

State-Dependent Endpoint Guards

🛡️ Guard Benefits:

Automatic Path Discovery

Traditional Approach

Bumblebee's Smart Guards

Beyond Happy Path Testing

⚠️ Traditional Testing Problem

⚡ Bumblebee's Approach

Constraint Violation Testing

Example: Cart Constraint Violations

What Gets Verified

See It In Action

90%

5x

100%

∞