Traffic Parrot requires Java 17 or above. Traffic Parrot runs on most hardware platforms and operating systems supporting Java. That includes most server, desktop and laptop hardware providers as well as most operating systems like Windows, Linux and other UNIX systems.
You can choose to download Traffic Parrot with the Java JRE bundled in, which comes as a standard package with every release. That way these JVM and Java details will not concern you as the necessary dependencies are already bundled in the ZIP package you download.
Although Traffic Parrot is based on JVM and Java it can be used with a variety of technologies as it works over the wire and there is no need to know Java (except for advanced use-cases i.e. if you want to write Traffic Parrot plugins/extensions). For example, you can use Traffic Parrot to mock GoLang or .NET C# microservice APIs.
Traffic Parrot ships with a small default Java heap — -Xmx128m in the install's jvm.args file — which you raise for larger recordings, larger datasets, or multiple virtual services per instance (see JVM arguments). The figures below are sized for that default configuration; high request rates and performance testing need more — see Performance testing for sizing guidance.
| Minimum | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| Memory (RAM) | 512 MB (with the default -Xmx128m heap) | 1 GB or more (raise -Xmx to 512m or higher for larger workloads) |
| Disk space | ~200 MB without a bundled Java runtime | ~350 MB for the download that bundles a Java runtime; allow extra for recordings and logs |
| Java runtime | Java 17 or above — or choose the download that bundles a Java runtime, so no separate installation is required |
|---|---|
| Operating system | Windows, Linux, macOS, or any other operating system with a supported Java runtime |
| Web browser | A current version of Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, or Safari |