Section 3 · Establishing a baseline

Module 3 transition from a first run into a measured baseline with thresholds

Estimated time: 1 min

Establishing a baseline

What you learned in Module 2:

  • How k6 runs your test (virtual users, iterations, three script parts)
  • How to install k6, write a script, and run it locally
  • How to send the same run to Grafana Cloud k6 for stored results and dashboards
  • Which built-in metrics k6 reports and when to lean on local vs cloud execution

What you’ll do in this module:

  • What is a baseline? Why it comes before stress, spike, and soak
  • Key baseline metrics: Latency, throughput, errors, and check pass rate
  • Designing a load profile: Stages and ramping
  • Checks vs thresholds: Per-response correctness vs whole-run pass or fail
  • Results to thresholds: Set thresholds from what you measured
  • When thresholds fail: Terminal output, exit codes, and regression patterns
  • Establish a baseline path: The hands-on path
  • Baseline complete: Debrief and what carries into the wrap-up

Estimated time: 20-25 minutes