duration
or
--duration value or -d value
or
K6_DURATION

A string specifying the total duration a test run should be run for. During this time each VU will execute the script in a loop.

Default: null

Examples

export let options = {
    duration: "3m"
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

ext

An object used to set configuration options for third-party collectors (like plugins).

Default: null

Examples
This is an example of how to specify the test name (test runs/executions with the same name will be logically grouped together for trending and comparison purposes) when streaming results to Load Impact Insights.

export let options = {
    ext: {
        loadimpact: {
            name: "My test name"
        }
    }
};

hosts

An object with overrides to DNS resolution, similar to what you can do with /etc/hosts on Linux/Unix or C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts on Windows.

Default: null

Examples:
Set up overrides so all requests to test.loadimpact.com will be routed to 1.2.3.4 (HTTP Host header will still be set to "test.loadimpact.com").

export let options = {
    hosts: {
        "test.loadimpact.com": "1.2.3.4"
    }
};

insecureSkipTLSVerify
or
--insecure-skip-tls-verify
or
K6_INSECURE_SKIP_TLS_VERIFY

A boolean, true or false. When this option is enabled (set to true), all of the verifications that would otherwise be done to establish trust in a server provided TLS certificate will be ignored.

Default: false

Examples

export let options = {
    insecureSkipTLSVerify: true
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

iterations
or
--iterations value or -i value
or
K6_ITERATIONS

A number specifying a fixed number of iterations to execute of the script, as opposed to specifying a duration of time during which the script would run in a loop.

Note: The number of iterations is split between all VUs.

Default: 1

Examples

export let options = {
    iterations: 10
}; 


export let options = {
    vus: 10,
    iterations: 100
};

In this example, 10 VUs will run 10 iterations each.

Available in k6 run command (not supported yet for cloud executed tests using k6 cloud command)

linger
or
--linger or -l
or
K6_LINGER

A boolean, true or false, specifying whether the k6 process should linger around after test run completion. The primary use case for this is when making use of the k6 web UI.

Default: false

Examples

export let options = {
    linger: true
};

Available in k6 run command

--no-usage-report
or
K6_NO_USAGE_REPORT

Don't send anonymous stats to the developers

Default: false

$ k6 run --no-usage-report ~/script.js

Available in k6 run command

--no-thresholds
or
K6_NO_THRESHOLDS

Don't run thresholds

Default: false

$ k6 run --no-thresholds ~/script.js

Available in k6 run command

maxRedirects
or
--max-redirects value
or
K6_MAX_REDIRECTS

The maximum number of HTTP redirects that k6 will follow before giving up on a request and erroring out.

Default: 10

Examples

export let options = {
    maxRedirects: 10
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

batch
or
--batch
or
K6_BATCH

The maximum number of simultaneous/parallel connections in total that an http.batch() call in a VU can make.

Default: 10

Example

export let options = {
    batch: 15
};

If you have a batch() call that you've given 20 URLs to and --batch is set to 15, then the VU will make 15 requests right away in parallel and queue the rest, executing them as soon as a previous request is done and a slot opens.

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

batchPerHost
or
--batch-per-host
or
K6_BATCH_PER_HOST

The maximum number of simultaneous/parallel connections per host that an http.batch() call in a VU can make.

Default: No Limit

Example

export let options = {
    batchPerHost: 10
};

This option is similar to --batch, only it restricts requests based on the destination host.

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

noConnectionReuse
or
--no-connection-reuse
or
K6_NO_CONNECTION_REUSE

A boolean, true or false, specifying whether k6 should disable keep-alive connections

Default: false

Examples

export let options = {
    noConnectionReuse: true
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

noVUConnectionReuse
or
--no-vu-connection-reuse
or
K6_NO_VU_CONNECTION_REUSE

A boolean, true or false, specifying whether k6 should reuse TCP connections between iterations of a VU

Default: false

Examples

export let options = {
    noVUConnectionReuse: true
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

noUsageReport
or
--no-usage-report
or
K6_NO_USAGE_REPORT

A boolean, true or false. By default, k6 sends a usage report each time it is run, so that we can track how often people use it. If this option is set to true, no usage report will be made. To learn more, have a look at the Usage reports documentation.

Default: false

Examples

export let options = {
    noUsageReport: true
};

Available in k6 run commands

paused
or
--paused or -p
or
K6_PAUSED

A boolean, true or false, specifying whether the test should start in a paused state. To resume a paused state you'd use the k6 resume command.

Default: false

Examples

export let options = {
    paused: true
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

rps
or
--rps
or
K6_RPS

The maximum number of requests to make per second, in total across all VUs.

Default: 0 (unlimited)

Examples

export let options = {
    rps: 500
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

stages
or
--stage DURATION:TARGET
or
-s DURATION:TARGET
or
K6_STAGES

A list of VU { target: ..., duration: ... } objects that specify the target number of VUs to ramp up or down to for a specific period.

Default: based on vus and duration

Examples
The following config would have k6 ramping up from 1 to 10 VUs for 3 minutes, then staying flat at 10 VUs for 5 minutes, then ramping up from 10 to 35 VUs over the next 10 minutes before finally ramping down to 0 VUs for another 3 minutes.

export let options = {
    stages: [
        { duration: "3m", target: 10 },
        { duration: "5m", target: 10 },
        { duration: "10m", target: 35 },
        { duration: "3m", target: 0 },
    ]
};

You can also set stages using command-line flag or environment variables. To do that, you need to use the following pattern:

duration:target,duration:target...

$ k6 run --stage 5s:10,5m:20,10s:5 ~/script.js

$ K6_STAGES="5s:10,5m:20,10s:5" k6 run  ~/script.js

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

tags
or
--tag NAME:VALUE

Specify tags that should be set test wide across all metrics. If a tag with the same name has been specified on a request, check or custom metrics it will have precedence over a test wide tag.

Default: null

Examples

export let options = {
    tags: {
        "name": "value"
    }
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

--include-system-env-vars

Pass the real system environment variables to the runtime

Default: true for k6 run, but false for all other commands to prevent inadvertent sensitive data leaks.

$ k6 run --include-system-env-vars ~/script.js

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

--e or --env VAR=value

Add/override environment variable with VAR=value

$ k6 run -e FOO=bar ~/script.js

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

-o or --out

Specify the results output

k6 run --out influxdb=http://localhost:8086/k6 script.js

Please go to Results ouput for more information on all output plugins available and how to configure them.

Since version 0.21, this option can be specified multiple times.

Available in k6 run command

thresholds

A collection of threshold specifications to configure under what condition(s) a test is considered successful or not, when it has passed or failed, based on metric data. To learn more, have a look at the Thresholds documentation.

Default: null

Examples

export let options = {
    thresholds: {
        http_req_duration:
            ["avg<100", "p(95)<200"],
        "http_req_connecting{cdnAsset:true}":
            ["p(95)<100"]
    }
};

Available in k6 run commands

throw
or
--throw or -w
or
K6_THROW

A boolean, true or false, specifying whether to throw errors on failed HTTP requests or not.

Default: false

Examples

export let options = {
    throw: true
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

blacklistIPs
or
--blacklist-ip
or
K6_BLACKLIST_IPS

Blacklist an IP ranges from being called

Examples

export let options = {
    blacklistIPs: ["10.0.0.0/8"]
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

summaryTrendStats
or
--summary-trend-stats
or
K6_SUMMARY_TREND_STATS

Define stats for trend metrics (response times), one or more as 'avg,p(95),...'

Examples

export let options = {
    summaryTrendStats: ["avg","p(95)"]
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

tlsAuth

A list of TLS client certificate configuration objects. Each object needs to specify for which host(s)/domain(s) the given client certificate is valid for.

Default: null

Examples

export let options = {
    tlsAuth: [
        { domains: ["example.com"], 
          cert: open("mycert.pem"),
          key: open("mycert-key.pem") }

    ]

};

tlsCipherSuites

A list of cipher suites allowed to be used by in SSL/TLS interactions with a server. For a full listing of available ciphers go here.

Default: null (meaning all supported SSL/TLS cipher suites are allowed)

Examples

export let options = {
    tlsCipherSuites: [
        "TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA",
        "TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256",
    ]
};

tlsVersion

Either a string representing the only SSL/TLS version allowed to be used in interactions with a server, or an object specifying the "min" and "max" versions allowed to be used.

Default: null (meaning all supported SSL/TLS versions are allowed)

Examples
Specifying a specific version to allow:

export let options = {
    tlsVersion:  "tls1.2"
};

Specifying a min and max version to allow:

export let options = {
    tlsVersion: {
        min: "ssl3.0",
        max: "tls1.2"
    }
};

userAgent
or
--user-agent
or
K6_USER_AGENT

String specifying the user-agent string to use in User-Agent headers when sending HTTP requests.

Default: "k6/0.20 (https://k6.io/)" (depending on the version you're using).

Examples

export let options = {
    userAgent: "MyK6UserAgentString/1.0"
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

httpDebug
or
--http-debug
or
K6_HTTP_DEBUG

Log all HTTP requests and responses.

Excludes body by default, to include body use '--http-debug=full'

export let options = {
    httpDebug: "full"
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

vus
or
--vus value or -u value
or
K6_VUS

A number specifying the number of VUs to run concurrently. If you'd like more control look at the stages option above.

Default: 1

Examples

export let options = {
    vus: 10
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

vusMax
or
--max value or -m value
or
K6_VUS_MAX

A number specifying max number of virtual users, if more than vus. This option is typically used when the intent is to dynamically scale number of VUs up and down during the test using the k6 scale command. Since instantiating a VU is an expensive operation in k6 this options is used to preallocate vusMax number of VUs.

Default: 0

Examples

export let options = {
    vusMax: 10
};

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

systemTags
or
--system-tags
or
K6_SYSTEM_TAGS

Specify which System Tags will be in the collected metrics. Some collectors like the cloud one may require that certain system tags be used.

You can specify the tags as an array from the JS scripts or as a comma-separated list via the CLI.

Default: proto, subproto, status, method, url, name, group, check, error, tls_version

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

setupTimeout
or
K6_SETUP_TIMEOUT

Specify how long the setup() function is allow to run before it's terminated and the test fails.

Default: 10s

teardownTimeout
or
K6_TEARDOWN_TIMEOUT

Specify how long the teardown() function is allow to run before it's terminated and the test fails.

Default: 10s

--config config.json or -c config.json

Specify the config file in JSON format to read the options values. If the config file is not specified, k6 will look for config.json in the loadimpact/k6 directory inside the regular directory for configuration files on the operating system.

For example in Linux/BSDs, it will look for config.json inside ${HOME}/.config/loadimpact/k6

Available in k6 run and k6 cloud commands

discardResponseBodies
or
--discard-response-bodies
or
K6_DISCARD_RESPONSE_BODIES

Specify if response bodies should be discarded by changing the default value of responseType to none for all http requests.

Highly recommended to be set to true and then only for the requests where the response body is actually needed for scripting to set responseType to text or binary. Lessens the amount of memory required and the amount of GC - reducing the load on the testing machine, and probably producing more reliable test results.

Default: false