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Why one binary​

k6 ships as a single compiled Go binary. There is no JVM to size, no plugin manager, no separate GUI to install — one download (or one Docker pull) and you can run a script. That is the whole appeal over JMeter for a developer-centric workflow: k6 run script.js and you are testing.

How: install k6​

Pick one:

# macOS
brew install k6
# Windows
winget install k6 --source winget
# Docker (no local install)
docker run --rm -i grafana/k6 run - <script.js

The stdin form above (run - <script.js) only works for a single self-contained file — no local import. Every script in this track imports from ./lib/, so see the volume-mount form in the Tips section below.

Verify:

k6 version
k6 v2.2.0 (commit/devel, go1.26.5, darwin/arm64)

Optional: the k6 VS Code extension adds snippets for http.get, check, SharedArray and the rest of the API. Not required — the sample scripts in this track cover the patterns you need.

How: run against the playground​

Every script in this track targets the Pizza Playground. If it is not already running, follow Run It Locally first — this page does not repeat that setup.

With the playground up, download the sample, unzip it and run the first script from k6/sample/:

cd k6/sample
k6 run 01-first-test.js
running (10.1s), 0/1 VUs, 10 complete and 0 interrupted iterations
default ✓ [ 100% ] 1 VUs  10s

  █ THRESHOLDS

    checks
    ✓ 'rate==1' rate=100.00%

    http_req_duration
    ✓ 'p(95)<500' p(95)=10.66ms

  █ TOTAL RESULTS

    checks_total.......: 20      1.981358/s
    checks_succeeded...: 100.00% 20 out of 20
    checks_failed......: 0.00%   0 out of 20

    ✓ status is 200
    ✓ menu has pizzas

    HTTP
    http_req_duration..............: avg=6.53ms min=3.74ms med=5.92ms max=11.92ms p(90)=9.4ms p(95)=10.66ms
    http_req_failed................: 0.00% 0 out of 10
    http_reqs......................: 10    0.990679/s

Green thresholds and two checks passing means the toolchain and the playground are both wired up correctly.

Tips​

  • Docker can't reach 127.0.0.1 on the host. The playground listens on your machine, but inside the grafana/k6 container 127.0.0.1 means the container itself. Point the script at the host instead — and mount the sample directory rather than piping the script over stdin, since stdin gives k6 no local disk to resolve ./lib/config.js from:

    cd k6/sample
    docker run --rm -v "$PWD":/scripts -w /scripts -e BASE_URL=http://host.docker.internal:8080 grafana/k6 run 01-first-test.js

    The stdin form (run - <01-first-test.js) fails here with could not load JS test, because k6 has no filesystem to resolve the script's imports from — it only works for a script with no local imports. The volume mount above gives the container the whole k6/sample folder, so ./lib/config.js resolves.

    host.docker.internal works on Docker Desktop (macOS/Windows). On Linux, add --add-host=host.docker.internal:host-gateway to the docker run command first.