mockzilla

Mockzilla is a self-hosted API mocking platform designed to help you build, manage, and test mocked APIs in development and staging environments. It provides a web UI for configuring mocks, along with capabilities to generate dynamic responses, organize mocks into collections, and leverage AI-assisted skills to assist with mock creation. The server runs behind a container and exposes a single port where you can access the UI and the mock endpoints. Use it to rapidly prototype APIs, simulate backend behaviors, and validate frontend integrations without relying on real backend services.

Once you have the server running, navigate to http://localhost:36666 to view the UI. From there you can create new mocks, define routes, set response bodies (including templates and dynamic fields), and test them directly. The platform supports in-memory storage by default, with options to persist data via an external PostgreSQL database for production workloads. If you opt for persistence, ensure your PostgreSQL instance is reachable from the Mockzilla container and provide the DATABASE_URL environment variable when launching the container.

Prerequisites:

• Docker installed on your host machine
• Optional: Docker Compose if you prefer an orchestration workflow

Step-by-step installation:

1. Pull the latest image (only if you want to rely on Docker Hub images):

docker pull andrecrjr/mockzilla:latest

2. Run the image with in-container port mapping (36666 by default) and optional persistence:

docker run -d \
  --name mockzilla \
  -p 36666:36666 \
  andrecrjr/mockzilla:latest

3. If you need data persistence with PostgreSQL, provide DATABASE_URL:

docker run -d \
  --name mockzilla \
  -p 36666:36666 \
  -e DATABASE_URL=postgresql://username:password@host:5432/database_name \
  andrecrjr/mockzilla:latest

4. Verify the container is running and accessible:

docker ps
curl -I http://localhost:36666

Optional: For development or local testing, you can also use Makefile targets or Docker Compose if provided by the project, but the above commands cover a straightforward self-hosted setup.

Tips and common considerations:

• If you’re using the PostgreSQL option, ensure the database is accessible from your host/container network and that the credentials in DATABASE_URL are correct.
• The default port is 36666; you can override it by setting the PORT environment variable inside the container depending on the image configuration.
• The in-memory PGLite option is fastest for development but data will be lost on container restart unless you mount a volume to /data as described in the README.
• When using Docker, you can easily switch between in-memory and persistent storage by adding or removing the -e DATABASE_URL flag and by mounting a volume to /data.
• The UI is built with Next.js in Bun; for production deployments, consider using the recommended production image and follow the persistence guidelines provided in the docs.
• If you encounter connectivity issues, check Docker networking, ensure the port is not blocked by a firewall, and verify that the container logs (docker logs mockzilla) provide any onboarding errors.