Post 1 — Introduction & Environment Setup
Covers:
- Course flow, expectations, timeline
- What performance testing is
- Why k6 stands out
- Installing k6 on xxxxxxxxx
- Running “Hello k6”
Exercises:
- Install k6
- Run first script
Interactive Element: “Share your first k6 output in the comments.”
Post 2 — k6 Essentials & First Load Test
Covers:
- Anatomy of a k6 script
- Requests, VUs, durations
- Using options inside scripts
- Groups
- Tags
Exercises:
- Build a GET test
- Add checks
- Add thresholds
Assessment: Small quiz in the blog + small assignment readers can submit.
Post 3 — Script Modularization, Reuse & Local Workflows
Covers:
- Helper modules
- Breaking scripts into files
- Setup/teardown
- Parameterized runs
Exercises:
- Modularize your test suite
- Add environment variables
Interactive Element: Comment prompt: “How do you structure your scripts?”
Post 4 — Scenarios & Advanced Workflows
Covers:
- All executors
- Ramp-up tests
- Spike tests
- Soak & stress models
- Multi-scenario scripts
Exercises:
- Create a ramping scenario
- Convert it into a multi-scenario user journey
Assessment: Readers create a workload model and share JSON config.
Post 5 — Metrics, Thresholds & Deep Analysis
Covers:
- Built-in metrics explained
- Custom metrics
- Threshold styles
- Analyzing JSON/HTML output
- Identifying bottlenecks
Exercises:
- Add custom metrics
- Build a threshold matrix
Interactive Element: Readers post a screenshot of their metrics dashboard.
Post 6 — Distributed Testing, CI/CD & Scaling
Covers:
- How distributed k6 works
- Load distribution strategies
- Running k6 Cloud
- Jenkins / GitHub Actions integration
- Dockerized k6 runs
Exercises:
- Execute k6 in Docker
- Trigger a CI-pipeline run
Mid-Course Project Announcement: Readers begin integrating all prior concepts.
Post 7 — Extensions, Observability & xk6
Covers:
- xk6 extensions overview
- Using Prometheus remote write
- Grafana dashboard
- Additional protocols (GRPC, WebSockets)
Exercises:
- Deploy Grafana dashboard
- Run a test with remote metrics
Assessment: Small challenge: “Integrate one extension.”
Post 8 — Designing a Full Performance Test Suite (Capstone)
Covers:
- Folder structure of a mature test suite
- Config-driven design
- Versioning & maintainability
- Automated reporting
Final Project: Readers build a mini-end-to-end performance testing suite.
Post 9 — Mid-Course Project Walkthrough (Optional Bonus)
Covers:
- Review of project design
- Example solution
- Common mistakes
Post 10 — Glossary, Further Resources & Where to Go Next
Covers:
- Glossary of key terms
- Useful tools
- Templates for reuse
- Suggestions for continuing learning
Final Project (As Part of Post 8)
Readers will:
- Build a complete multi-scenario test suite
- Integrate metrics + thresholds
- Add observability
- Run distributed load
- Produce findings
You will publish example outputs in the blog post for clarity.
Resource List for Readers
Attached to posts through downloadable links:
- Sample scripts
- Scenario templates
- Metrics cheat sheets
- Dockerfiles
- CI/CD YAML templates
- Grafana dashboards
- Suite scaffolding template
Glossary (Post 10)
- VU - Virtual User
- Iteration - Single execution of default function
- Check - Assertion for pass/fail per request
- Threshold - Condition to evaluate global results
- Scenario - Configurable workload profile
- Executor - Defines how VUs behave
- Custom metric - User-defined measurement
- Ramping
- Spike test
- Soak test
- Stress test
- xk6 - k6 extension framework
- Prometheus remote write
- Distributed load test - Running tests across multiple nodes
- Script modularization -
- Observability - Monitoring system behavior via metrics/logs/traces