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Pact command line tools

There are Pact implementations written in more than 10 languages (see the sidebar of this page for a full list).

Pact contract tests on the consumer side, and verification on the provider side, are usually written in the same language as the code they are testing, using one of Pact's native language DSL's.

Under the hood, these languages leverage the Pact Mock Server (Consumer side) & Pact Verifier (Provider Side) capabilties via the Pact FFI Interface. These capabilities are also exposed in a CLI form.

This document covers all available Pact tools and the multiple ways to install them on your system.

🛠️ Available Tools​

pact - All-in-one CLI​

  • Combines all Pact tools in a single binary
  • Extensible architecture with plugin system
  • Mock/Stub Server, Provider Verifier, Broker Client & Plugin CLI
  • Built-in extension management

pact-mock-server - Consumer testing​

  • HTTP mock server built with Rust
  • Real-time request validation
  • Support for Pact V2, V3, V4 specifications
  • Plugin support for custom protocols
  • provides a web api and command line interface to run pact mock servers.

pact-verifier - Provider verification​

  • Verify providers against consumer contracts
  • HTTP, Async/Sync Message & Pact Plugin support.
  • Verify from files, URLs, or Pact Broker
  • Flexible interaction filtering
  • Support for all Pact specifications

pact-stub-server - Integration testing​

  • Designed to support prototyping of mobile applications
  • Generate responses from Pact files
  • Load multiple Pact files simultaneously from file, url or broker
  • Watch mode, to reload files from disk

pact-broker-client - Pact Broker interactions​

  • Publish pacts to broker
  • Check deployment safety (can-i-deploy)
  • Record deployment events
  • Manage pacticipant versions, branches and tags

pact-plugin - Protocol extensions​

  • Install and manage Pact plugins
  • Support for gRPC, Avro, Csv & custom protocols

pact-legacy - Ruby-based tools​

  • Legacy compatibility tools
  • Ruby-based implementation
  • Original Pact-Ruby core with Pact V2 specification support. Superceded by Pact-Rust core.

🚀 Installation Methods​

Scripts (Cross-Platform - Linux/MacOS/Windows ARM64/AMD64)​

*nix Users (including WSL/msys2/mingw)​

Unified CLI

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pact-foundation/pact-cli/main/install.sh | sh

Pact Broker Client

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pact-foundation/pact-broker-cli/main/install.sh | sh

Pact Legacy

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pact-foundation/pact-standalone/master/install.sh | sh

PowerShell (Windows)​

Unified CLI

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pact-foundation/pact-cli/main/install.ps1 | iex

Pact Broker Client

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pact-foundation/pact-broker-cli/main/install.ps1 | iex

Cargo (Any Rust-supported target)​

Unified CLI

cargo install pact

Pact Verifier

cargo install pact_verifier_cli

Pact Mock Server

cargo install pact_mock_server_cli

Pact Stub Server

cargo install pact-stub-server

Pact Broker Client

cargo install pact-broker-cli

Pact Plugin

cargo install pact-plugin-cli

Homebrew (MacOS/Linux ARM64/AMD64)​

brew tap pact-foundation/tap

Unified CLI

brew install pact-foundation/tap/pact

Pact Mock Server

brew install pact-foundation/tap/pact-mock-server

Pact Verifier

brew install pact-foundation/tap/pact-verifier

Pact Stub Server

brew install pact-foundation/tap/pact-stub-server

Pact Plugin

brew install pact-foundation/tap/pact-plugin

Pact Broker Client

brew install pact-foundation/tap/pact-broker-client

Pact Legacy

brew install pact-foundation/tap/pact-legacy

Scoop (Windows ARM64/AMD64)​

# Unified CLI
scoop bucket add pact https://github.com/pact-foundation/scoop
scoop install pact

# Individual tools
scoop install pact-mock-server
scoop install pact-stub-server
scoop install pact-verifier
scoop install pact-plugin
scoop install pact-broker-client
scoop install pact-legacy

GitHub Actions Example​

- name: Install Pact via Scoop
  if: runner.os == 'Windows'
  shell: powershell
  run: |
    scoop bucket add pact https://github.com/pact-foundation/scoop
    scoop install pact
    scoop search pact
    pact --help

Chocolatey (Windows ARM64/AMD64)​

Unified CLI

Download the required package

curl https://github.com/pact-foundation/choco/releases/download/choco/pact.0.9.1.nupkg -OutFile pact.nupkg

Install the Unified CLI

choco install -y pact --source .

Windows on ARM - requires ForceARM64 parameter

choco install -y pact --params "'/ForceARM64:true'"  --source .

Pact Broker Client

curl https://github.com/pact-foundation/choco/releases/download/choco/pact-broker-client.0.5.0.nupkg -OutFile pact-broker-client.nupkg
choco install -y pact-broker-client --source .

Pact Mock Server

curl https://github.com/pact-foundation/choco/releases/download/choco/pact-mock-server.2.1.0.nupkg -OutFile pact-mock-server.nupkg
choco install -y pact-mock-server --source .

Pact Verifier

curl https://github.com/pact-foundation/choco/releases/download/choco/pact-verifier.1.3.0.nupkg -OutFile pact-verifier.nupkg
choco install -y pact-verifier --source .

Pact Plugin

curl https://github.com/pact-foundation/choco/releases/download/choco/pact-plugin.0.2.0.nupkg -OutFile pact-plugin.nupkg
choco install -y pact-plugin --source .

Pact Stub Server

curl https://github.com/pact-foundation/choco/releases/download/choco/pact-stub-server.0.7.0.nupkg -OutFile pact-stub-server.nupkg
choco install -y pact-stub-server --source .

Pact Legacy

curl https://github.com/pact-foundation/choco/releases/download/choco/pact-legacy.2.5.6.nupkg -OutFile pact-legacy.nupkg
choco install -y pact-legacy --source .

Chocolatey GitHub Actions Example​

- name: Install Pact via Chocolatey
  if: runner.os == 'Windows'
  shell: powershell
  run: |
    curl https://github.com/pact-foundation/choco/releases/download/choco/pact.0.9.1.nupkg -OutFile pact.nupkg
    if ("${{ runner.arch }}" -eq "ARM64") {
      choco install -y pact --source . --params "'/ForceARM64:true'"
    } else {
      choco install -y pact --source .
    }
    pact --help

GitHub Actions​

Direct action installation available:

Unified CLI

- uses: pact-foundation/pact-cli@main
- name: Show help
  run: |
    pact --help
    pact broker --help

Pact Broker Client

- uses: pact-foundation/pact-broker-cli@main
- name: Show help
  run: pact-broker-cli --help

Docker (ARM64/AMD64)​

Available on DockerHub & GitHub Container Registry

# Unified CLI
docker run --rm -it pactfoundation/pact:latest
docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/pact-foundation/pact:latest

# Individual tools
docker run --rm -it pactfoundation/pact-broker-cli:latest
docker run --rm -it pactfoundation/pact-mock-server:latest
docker run --rm -it pactfoundation/pact-stub-server:latest
docker run --rm -it pactfoundation/pact-verifier:latest
docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/pact-foundation/pact-broker-cli:latest
docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/pact-foundation/pact-mock-server:latest
docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/pact-foundation/pact-stub-server:latest
docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/pact-foundation/pact-verifier:latest

🏗️ Platform Support​

Platformx86_64ARM64Notes
Linux✅✅All installation methods
macOS✅✅All installation methods
Windows✅✅Some methods require ARM64 flags
Docker✅✅Multi-architecture images

🚦 Quick Start Guide​

1. Choose Your Installation Method​

  • Cross-platform: Use installation scripts
  • Rust developers: Use Cargo
  • macOS/Linux: Use Homebrew
  • Windows: Use Scoop or Chocolatey
  • CI/CD: Use GitHub Actions or Docker
  • Containers: Use Docker images
# Install unified CLI (method varies by platform)
pact --help

# List available extensions
pact extension list

# Install available extensions
pact extension install pactflow-ai
pact extension install pact-legacy

# Run pactflow-ai
pact pactflow-ai

# Run a legacy tool
pact pact-broker-legacy

3. Basic Usage Examples​

Start Master Mock server for consumer testing

pact mock start --port 1234

Create a mock server

pact mock create --file examples/foo-bar.json --port 1234

Verify a provider

pact verifier --hostname localhost --port 4567 --file ./examples/fail.json --state-change-url http://localhost:4567/provider-state

Start a pact broker with docker

pact broker docker start

Publish some pacts

pact broker publish ./pacts --auto-detect-version-properties --broker-base-url http://localhost:9292

Check deployment safety for a provider

pact broker can-i-deploy --pacticipant "Example API" --version 4fdf20082263d4c5038355a3b734be1c0054d1e1 --to test --broker-base-url http://localhost:9292

Check deployment safety for a consumer

pact broker can-i-deploy --pacticipant "Example App" --version 5556b8149bf8bac76bc30f50a8a2dd4c22c85f30 --to test --broker-base-url http://localhost:9292

Same command as above, with the legacy tooling

pact extensions install pact-legacy
pact pact-broker-legacy can-i-deploy --pacticipant "Example App" --version 5556b8149bf8bac76bc30f50a8a2dd4c22c85f30 --to test --broker-base-url http://localhost:9292

📚 Documentation & Resources​

🤝 Community & Support​

  • GitHub Issues: Report issues in respective tool repositories
  • Slack: Join the Pact community
  • Stack Overflow: Tag questions with pact
  • Documentation: Comprehensive guides at docs.pact.io

🎯 Which Tool Should I Use?​

For New Projects​

→ Unified CLI (pact) - Single binary with all tools and extensions

For Existing Workflows​

→ Individual tools - Drop-in replacements for existing Ruby tools

Migrations​

The following examples show the migration path from the legacy pact-ruby tooling to the new Rust based which supports all the latest Pact features.

For CI/CD Pipelines​

→ Docker images or GitHub Actions - Consistent, reproducible environments

For Development​

→ Package managers (Homebrew, Scoop, Chocolatey) - Easy installation and updates

Ready to get started? Choose your preferred installation method above and dive into contract testing with Pact! 🚀