Deployment-time testing with Grafana k6 and Flagger

Deployment-time testing using Grafana k6 and Flagger addresses the challenges of testing microservices in Kubernetes by enabling performance verification before production traffic hits the services. Grafana k6 serves as a versatile performance testing tool capable of running various test cases, while Flagger facilitates the analysis of Kubernetes deployments, supporting canary or blue/green releases and traffic mirroring. The integration of these tools at Grafana Labs involves a Flagger webhook handler that executes k6 scripts, providing a pre-rollout check for each deployment. This setup allows for automated testing, documentation of API endpoints, and observation of results through Grafana k6 Cloud, enhancing deployment reliability and offering valuable insights to developers. The integration is actively being improved, with future enhancements planned based on internal pilot projects and community feedback.