Locust is an open-source, distributed, performance testing tool used to simulate real user scenarios and measure a system’s performance. It is written in Python and can be used to test the performance of web services, web applications, and APIs.
To use Locust, you need to define a user behavior model that will be used to generate virtual user requests. You can define this model in terms of a user behavior class that consists of a set of tasks that a user might perform. Each task can be configured with different parameters such as the number of requests, the rate of requests, and the content of the requests.
Once the user behavior is defined, you can launch a Locust test by running a distributed cluster of virtual users known as workers. Each worker will generate requests based on the user behavior model that you have defined. You can configure the number of workers and their properties such as the rate of request generation and the type of requests.
The workers will generate the requests and measure the performance of the system under test. The performance metrics such as the response time, the throughput, and the number of errors will be collected and reported.
The main advantage of using Locust is that it allows you to run a realistic load test that is based on real user behavior instead of synthetic load tests that are based on arbitrary requests. This allows you to accurately measure the performance of your system under different conditions.
In summary, a worker in Locust is a virtual user that is used to generate requests to a system under test. The user behavior is defined by a user behavior class that consists of tasks that a user might perform. Each worker generates requests based on the user behavior model and measures the performance of the system.
