Karate CLI

Command-line launcher for the Karate testing framework. Downloads and manages JRE and Karate JAR automatically.

Easy to remember domain: karate.sh

Install

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://karate.sh/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://karate.sh/install.ps1 | iex

One-shot install (downloads CLI + JRE + Karate JAR immediately):

# macOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://karate.sh/install.sh | sh -s -- --all

# Windows (PowerShell)
iex "& { $(irm https://karate.sh/install.ps1) } -All"

Quick Start

# First-time setup (downloads JRE and Karate JAR)
karate setup

# Run your tests
karate test.feature

# Check system status
karate doctor

Commands

Command	Description
karate setup	Interactive setup wizard
karate setup --all	Non-interactive setup (JAR + JRE)
karate setup --item jar	Install JAR only (use system JRE)
karate setup --item jre	Install JRE only
karate update	Check for and install updates
karate update --all	Update all components non-interactively
karate doctor	System diagnostics
karate doctor --json	JSON output (for CI/scripts)
karate version	Show version info

To update the CLI itself, re-run the install command.

All other commands pass through to Karate:

karate test.feature           # Run tests
karate -t @smoke test.feature # Run with tags
karate mock server.js         # Start mock server

Configuration

Global config: ~/.karate/karate-cli.json Project config: .karate/karate.json

{
  "channel": "stable",
  "karate_version": "latest",
  "jvm_opts": "-Xmx512m"
}

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
KARATE_HOME	Override global home (default: ~/.karate)
JAVA_HOME	System Java installation (used if Java 21+)
NO_COLOR	Disable colored output

Requirements

• Java 21+ (managed automatically, or uses system Java if available)
• macOS (Intel/Apple Silicon), Linux (x64/ARM64), Windows (x64)

Documentation

• Architecture & Spec
• Contributing

License

MIT