Documentationbreadcrumb arrow Learning pathsbreadcrumb arrow Run your first k6 performance test
Run your first k6 performance test
16 min
Milestone 1
Understand the value
2 min
Milestone 2
Install k6
2 min
Milestone 3
Write test script
2 min
Milestone 4
Run locally
2 min
Milestone 5
Send to Grafana Cloud
2 min
Milestone 6
Analyze results
2 min
Milestone 7
Destination reached
2 min

Open in Grafana Cloud

Complete this learning path directly in your Grafana Cloud stack, or in the Grafana Play stack, with an interactive learning experience.

This feature is coming soon, check back later to open this path directly in your Grafana Cloud stack with an interactive learning experience.

Run your first k6 performance test

k6 is a modern performance testing tool that helps developers simulate realistic user behavior and test how their systems behave under load. By writing k6 test scripts, you can identify potential issues such as slow response times or system failures before they occur in production.

This journey guides you through the complete process of creating and running a k6 performance test, from understanding the value of performance testing to analyzing results in Grafana Cloud. You’ll learn how to write test scripts, run them locally, send results to Grafana Cloud, and visualize metrics in dashboards.

Grafana Cloud users: you can also try the interactive onboarding in the k6 app. Go to Testing & synthetics > Performance to:

  • Explore test authoring tools (k6 Studio, OpenAPI to k6)
  • Run tests from the UI or CLI
  • Understand results

This guide complements the in-product onboarding with step-by-step instructions you can follow at your own pace.

The image below shows an example k6 test results dashboard displaying key performance metrics.

Example k6 test results dashboard showing performance metrics

Here’s what to expect

When you complete this journey, you’ll be able to:

  • Understand the value of performance testing with k6
  • Install k6 on your machine
  • Write your first k6 test script
  • Run a test locally and view results
  • Send test results to Grafana Cloud
  • Analyze test results in Grafana Cloud dashboards

Before you begin

Before you run your first k6 performance test, ensure that you have:

  • A Grafana Cloud account. To create an account, refer to Grafana Cloud.
  • Basic knowledge of JavaScript or TypeScript (k6 scripts are written in JavaScript/TypeScript).
  • A code editor to write your scripts, such as Visual Studio Code or Cursor editors.
  • Access to a terminal or command line interface.
  • A basic understanding of HTTP requests and web applications.

Troubleshooting

If you get stuck, we’ve got your back! Where appropriate, troubleshooting information is just a click away.

More to explore

We understand you might want to explore other capabilities not strictly on this path. We’ll provide you opportunities where it makes sense.

Are you ready?
Let's go!