stress-testing
Test system behavior under extreme load conditions to identify breaking points, capacity limits, and failure modes. Use for stress test, capacity testing, breaking point analysis, spike test, and system limits validation.
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Install
Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.
npx skills add https://github.com/aj-geddes/useful-ai-prompts --skill stress-testing- 01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
- 02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads stress-testing automatically when relevant.
- 03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.
SKILL.md
The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.
Stress Testing
Table of Contents
Overview
Stress testing pushes systems beyond normal operating capacity to identify breaking points, failure modes, and recovery behavior. It validates system stability under extreme conditions and helps determine maximum capacity before degradation or failure.
When to Use
- Finding system capacity limits
- Identifying breaking points
- Testing auto-scaling behavior
- Validating error handling under load
- Testing recovery after failures
- Planning capacity requirements
- Verifying graceful degradation
- Testing spike traffic handling
Quick Start
Minimal working example:
// stress-test.js
import http from "k6/http";
import { check, sleep } from "k6";
import { Rate } from "k6/metrics";
const errorRate = new Rate("errors");
export const options = {
stages: [
// Stress testing: Progressive load increase
{ duration: "2m", target: 100 }, // Normal load
{ duration: "5m", target: 100 }, // Sustain normal
{ duration: "2m", target: 200 }, // Above normal
{ duration: "5m", target: 200 }, // Sustain above normal
{ duration: "2m", target: 300 }, // Breaking point approaching
{ duration: "5m", target: 300 }, // Sustain high load
{ duration: "2m", target: 400 }, // Beyond capacity
{ duration: "5m", target: 400 }, // System under stress
{ duration: "5m", target: 0 }, // Gradual recovery
],
thresholds: {
http_req_duration: ["p(99)<1000"], // 99% under 1s during stress
http_req_failed: ["rate<0.05"], // Allow 5% error rate under stress
errors: ["rate<0.1"],
},
// ... (see reference guides for full implementation)
Reference Guides
Detailed implementations in the references/ directory:
| Guide | Contents |
|---|---|
| k6 Stress Testing | k6 Stress Testing |
| Spike Testing | Spike Testing |
| Soak/Endurance Testing | Soak/Endurance Testing |
| JMeter Stress Test | JMeter Stress Test |
| Auto-Scaling Validation | Auto-Scaling Validation |
| Breaking Point Analysis | Breaking Point Analysis |
Best Practices
✅ DO
- Test in production-like environment
- Monitor all system resources
- Gradually increase load to find limits
- Test recovery after stress
- Document breaking points
- Test auto-scaling behavior
- Plan for graceful degradation
- Monitor for memory leaks
❌ DON'T
- Test in production without safeguards
- Skip recovery testing
- Ignore warning signs (CPU, memory)
- Test only success scenarios
- Assume linear scalability
- Forget database capacity
- Skip monitoring third-party dependencies
- Test without proper cleanup
FAQ
What does the stress-testing skill do?
Test system behavior under extreme load conditions to identify breaking points, capacity limits, and failure modes. Use for stress test, capacity testing, breaking point analysis, spike test, and system limits validation.
How do I install stress-testing?
Run npx skills add https://github.com/aj-geddes/useful-ai-prompts --skill stress-testing in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/stress-testing/ (personal) or .claude/skills/stress-testing/ (project).
Which AI agents can use stress-testing?
Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.
Is stress-testing safe to install?
No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.
Who maintains stress-testing?
It is published by aj-geddes in aj-geddes/useful-ai-prompts. It has 497 recorded installs.
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