Scripts

A pre-request script runs before Nouto sends a request. A post-response script runs after the response arrives. Use scripts to compute headers, store values from a response for later requests, test responses in code, and choose the next request in a collection run. For checks that don’t need code, use assertions.

Scripts use the global nt object. The Script API reference documents every member.

Add a script to a request

1. Open a request and select the Scripts tab.
2. Select Pre-request Script or Post-response Script.
3. Type the script. To start from an example, click a snippet button above the editor. The snippet goes in at the cursor.
4. Send the request.

The editor suggests nt members as you type. The tab label changes to Scripts * when the request has a script.

The snippet buttons depend on the selected script:

Script	Snippets
Pre-request	Set Header, Get Variable, Set Variable, Log, UUID, Base64 Encode, Timestamp, Random Int
Post-response	Test Status, Test Body, Set Variable, Log Response, Hash, Set Next Request, Get Header

Pre-request scripts

A pre-request script can change the outgoing request through nt.request. Changes to the URL, method, and headers apply to the request that Nouto sends. nt.response is undefined here.

This script signs the request with an HMAC-style signature and adds a request ID:

const secret = nt.getVar('apiSecret');
const timestamp = String(nt.timestamp.unix());
const signature = nt.hash.sha256(nt.request.method + nt.request.url + timestamp + secret);

nt.request.setHeader('X-Timestamp', timestamp);
nt.request.setHeader('X-Signature', signature);
nt.request.setHeader('X-Request-ID', nt.uuid());

Post-response scripts

A post-response script reads the response through nt.response. Use it to store values for later requests and to test the response.

This script saves a token and runs two tests:

const body = nt.response.json();
if (body.token) {
  nt.setVar('authToken', body.token);
}

nt.test('Status is 200', () => {
  expect(nt.response.status).to.equal(200);
});

nt.test('Response has a users array', () => {
  expect(Array.isArray(body.users)).to.equal(true);
});

console.log('Duration: ' + nt.response.duration + ' ms');

nt.setVar() saves to the active environment. If no environment is active, Nouto discards the value. To save a global variable instead, pass 'global' as the third argument.

Script output

After you send the request, the response panel shows a Scripts tab with a section for each script that ran: Pre-request Script and Post-response Script. Each section shows:

• An OK or Error badge, and the time the script took
• The error message, if the script threw
• Console output, labeled with the level: log, info, warn, or error
• For the post-response script, the nt.test() results, headed Tests: 2/3 passed

In the Collection Runner, click a request’s row to see its Script Tests and Script Logs.

Script inheritance

Collections and folders can have scripts too. To edit them, right-click the collection or folder in the sidebar, select Settings…, and open the Scripts tab. These scripts run for every request inside the collection or folder.

When a request in a collection runs, Nouto runs the scripts from the outermost level inward, in both phases:

1. The collection’s pre-request script
2. Each folder’s pre-request script, starting with the outermost folder
3. The request’s pre-request script
4. Nouto sends the request.
5. The collection’s post-response script
6. Each folder’s post-response script, starting with the outermost folder
7. The request’s post-response script

A variable set by one script in the chain is available to the scripts after it.

To run only a request’s own scripts, open the request’s Scripts tab and select Own Only under Script Inheritance. The default, Inherit, runs the whole chain. The Script Inheritance setting appears only for requests saved in a collection.

Errors

If a script throws an error, Nouto stops it and skips the remaining scripts in the same phase. The Scripts tab shows the error. When a pre-request script fails, Nouto still sends the request.

Asynchronous code

The VS Code extension and the CLI run each script inside an async function, so you can use await at the top level. nt.delay() and the nt.cookies methods return promises there:

await nt.delay(500);
const cookies = await nt.cookies.getAll();
console.log('Cookies in the active jar: ' + cookies.length);

The desktop app doesn’t support await. A top-level await is a syntax error. Every nt member returns its result directly, and nt.delay() blocks:

nt.delay(500);
const cookies = nt.cookies.getAll();
console.log('Cookies in the active jar: ' + cookies.length);

nt.sendRequest() is available only in the desktop app. See Platform differences for every behavior that differs between the two.

Sandbox

Scripts run in a sandbox without module loading, file system access, or timers. In VS Code and the CLI, the synchronous part of a script can run for 5 seconds and the whole script for 30 seconds. In the desktop app, a script can run for 30 seconds. See Sandbox and limits.