k6 inspect

Inspect a k6 script or archive

k6 inspect

Inspect a script or archive and output its configuration as JSON.

Synopsis

k6 inspect [flags] <file>

Description

The k6 inspect command analyzes a k6 test script or archive and outputs its configuration in JSON format. This is useful for:

• Understanding what options are configured in a script
• Debugging configuration issues
• Validating test configuration before execution
• Calculating execution requirements

The command parses the script, extracts all options (from both the script and CLI flags), and outputs them in a structured format.

Arguments

file · string · required

Path to the script file or archive to inspect

Examples

# Inspect a script and view its configuration
k6 inspect script.js

# Inspect with execution requirements calculation
k6 inspect --execution-requirements script.js

# Inspect an archive
k6 inspect archive.tar

# Parse and format the output with jq
k6 inspect script.js | jq .

Flags

--execution-requirements · boolean

Include calculations of execution requirements for the test. This adds:

• totalDuration - The total expected duration of the test
• maxVUs - The maximum number of VUs that will be used

Runtime Options

The following runtime option flags are also available:

-e, --env · string[]

Add/override environment variable with VAR=value

--include-system-env-vars · boolean

Pass the real system environment variables to the runtime

--compatibility-mode · string · default: "extended"

JavaScript compatibility mode: extended or base

-t, --type · string

Override test type: js or archive

Output Format

Standard Output

The standard output contains the test’s lib.Options structure:

{
  "vus": 10,
  "duration": "30s",
  "iterations": null,
  "scenarios": {
    "default": {
      "executor": "ramping-vus",
      "stages": [
        { "duration": "10s", "target": 10 },
        { "duration": "20s", "target": 0 }
      ]
    }
  },
  "thresholds": {
    "http_req_duration": ["p(95)<500"]
  }
}

Extended Output (with —execution-requirements)

With the --execution-requirements flag, additional fields are included:

{
  "vus": 10,
  "duration": "30s",
  "scenarios": { ... },
  "totalDuration": "30s",
  "maxVUs": 10
}

Use Cases

Pre-flight Validation

Validate your test configuration before running:

k6 inspect script.js --execution-requirements | jq '.maxVUs'

Configuration Debugging

Check how options from different sources are merged:

k6 inspect script.js -e MY_VAR=value | jq '.'

Capacity Planning

Calculate resource requirements:

k6 inspect --execution-requirements script.js | jq '{duration: .totalDuration, maxVUs: .maxVUs}'

Exit Codes

• 0 - Inspection successful
• Non-zero - Error occurred (invalid script, parsing error, etc.)

See Also

• k6 run - Run a test
• k6 archive - Create an archive
• Configuration file format