# Karate Labs > Karate Labs builds unified API and UI test automation. It began as the open-source Karate framework (MIT-licensed, 8,800+ GitHub stars, trusted by 76 of the Fortune 500 and 650+ companies) and now spans an AI-native test runtime and a release-governance layer. Every Karate Labs product runs 100% locally or self-hosted. There is no cloud or SaaS offering, and customer data never leaves the customer's network. Karate Labs' commercial products build on the open-source framework: - Karate Agent is an AI-native test runtime for API and browser testing, with business-rule verification and a "safe to ship" verdict, in one self-hosted, bring-your-own-LLM container. It emits ordinary, deterministic Karate tests that run in CI without the agent or a model in the build. - Karate Xplorer is a free, 100% local desktop API client (a Postman alternative) with one-click export to Karate. - Karate Enterprise bundles the async protocol pack, the IDE Enterprise tier, Karate Agent, API Coverage, Contract Testing and API Governance, and the mutation, test data, and business rules capabilities under one commercial license. ## Products - [Karate framework](https://karatelabs.io/product): MIT-licensed test automation framework. API, UI, performance, and service mocks in one Gherkin DSL. - [Karate Agent](https://karatelabs.io/agent): AI-native test runtime. API testing, AI browser automation, mocks, and a safe-to-ship verdict in one self-hosted container. BYO-LLM, Docker-native. - [How Karate Agent works](https://karatelabs.io/agent/how-it-works): Interactive and Autonomous modes, a six-step workflow, and a single-jar architecture from laptop to CI. - [Karate Agent features](https://karatelabs.io/agent/features): Token-efficient LLM API, display-text locators, BYO-LLM, self-hosted deployment, MCP integration, enterprise SPA support. - [Karate Agent use cases](https://karatelabs.io/agent/use-cases): Nine enterprise jobs: suites from specs, manual-regression modernization, governed healing, packaged apps, rating verification, test data, mutation grading, contract proof, MCP embedding. - [Karate Agent vs alternatives](https://karatelabs.io/agent/compare): How it compares to Selenium, Playwright, BrowserBase, Testim, Mabl, and Browser Use. - [Karate Agent pricing](https://karatelabs.io/agent/pricing): Commercial self-hosted licence, annual and sized by team, with no per-execution fees. LLM tokens are billed direct by your own provider. - [Karate Xplorer](https://karatelabs.io/xplorer): Free, local-first Postman alternative. REST, GraphQL, and SOAP with AI-assisted authoring and one-click export to Karate. - [Xplorer features](https://karatelabs.io/xplorer/features): Zero-migration Postman import, request chaining, environments, and OpenAPI Try It. 100% local. - [Download Xplorer](https://karatelabs.io/xplorer/download): Signed desktop installers for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Free, no sign-in, no telemetry. ## Core capabilities - [API testing](https://karatelabs.io/api-testing): Test REST, GraphQL, and SOAP with about 60% less code than REST-assured. Open-source, plain-English syntax, parallel execution. - [UI testing](https://karatelabs.io/ui-testing): Browser and desktop UI automation with a Playwright-compatible driver. Cross-browser, cross-OS, parallel. - [Browser automation](https://karatelabs.io/browser-automation): Guide to Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, Puppeteer, and AI-powered alternatives. - [API performance testing](https://karatelabs.io/api-performance-testing): Reuse functional Karate tests as Gatling load tests. One framework for both. - [API contract testing and mocks](https://karatelabs.io/api-mocks): Run one contract spec against both your mock and the real service. Stateful test doubles in the same syntax as your tests, no broker required. - [Contract testing](https://karatelabs.io/contract-testing): Spec-first contract testing without a broker. One functional suite runs against your mock and your real provider in a single session, returning a measured divergence set rather than a fidelity score. - [API governance](https://karatelabs.io/api-governance): Deterministic OpenAPI grading across five dimensions into a ship verdict and a maturity level, including the questions a document linter cannot ask. - [OpenAPI linting](https://karatelabs.io/openapi-linting): Deterministic linting with severity, JSON pointer and line on every finding, plus evidence rules that read the coverage graph. - [Async API testing](https://karatelabs.io/async-testing): Kafka, gRPC, WebSocket, ActiveMQ, and RabbitMQ. Produce, consume, and assert alongside HTTP. - [API mutation testing](https://karatelabs.io/api-mutation-testing): Karate perturbs your API's behavior, a seeded defect in a behavioral model or a tampered live response, then replays your suite and scores what your assertions would catch. Black-box, no source code needed. - [Test data generation](https://karatelabs.io/test-data-generation): Boundary, pairwise, and covering-array test data generated from executable business rules, every row with the computed expected result and the requirement it proves. Export JSON or CSV for Playwright, Postman, or any framework. - [Business rules testing](https://karatelabs.io/business-rules-testing): The rate book, eligibility, and pricing logic as one executable artifact: the spec the business reads, the oracle, the mock's brain, and the test-data generator. Graded by the engine, checked against the live system. Guarantees read proven for this input domain or sampled; see formal verification (https://karatelabs.io/formal-verification). - [Formal verification for AI-generated code](https://karatelabs.io/formal-verification): A proof tells you the code matches the spec; Karate tells you whether the spec matches the business, and whether your tests would notice when either one moves. Guarantees proven for this input domain or sampled, with the cause named; TLC results land on the requirement they argue for. Rocq, Lean, Verus and Dafny proofs bound to their theorem and code, a review gate on AI-written theorem statements, and greens bought by refusal named are on the roadmap. ## AI-native testing - [AI test automation](https://karatelabs.io/ai-test-automation): How LLM-powered testing works and how to choose a platform. - [LLM browser automation](https://karatelabs.io/llm-browser-automation): DOM-first vs vision-based, supported LLMs, token costs, and self-hosted deployment. - [AI regression testing](https://karatelabs.io/ai-regression-testing): Suites that self-heal on failure and eliminate locator maintenance. - [Testing AI-generated code](https://karatelabs.io/testing-ai-generated-code): Verify Cursor, Copilot, and Claude Code output. MCP puts testing in the generation loop. - [Testing for AWS Kiro](https://karatelabs.io/kiro): Read .kiro/specs in place as the requirement source, grade every completed task against real test evidence, and get a release verdict a ticked checkbox can't influence. Install the Karate Power and Kiro asks for the verdict itself over MCP. - [QA for vibe coding](https://karatelabs.io/qa-for-vibe-coding): Behaviour-level AI verification via MCP with Cursor, Claude Code, and Copilot. - [Self-hosted AI testing](https://karatelabs.io/self-hosted-ai-testing): Run the agent, browser, and LLM entirely on your infrastructure. Air-gapped with local LLMs via Ollama. - [Bring your own LLM](https://karatelabs.io/bring-your-own-llm): Benchmark-verified on open-weight Gemma 4 26B and Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B (Apache 2.0), each on a single 24 GB GPU via Ollama. Also works with Claude, GPT, Gemini, Llama and DeepSeek. No lock-in. - [Docker browser testing](https://karatelabs.io/docker-browser-testing): Session-per-container isolation, headless execution, Kubernetes, and a REST API for any CI/CD pipeline. ## Enterprise and governance - [Karate Enterprise](https://karatelabs.io/karate-enterprise): Async protocol pack, IDE Enterprise tier, Karate Agent, API Coverage, Contract Testing and API Governance, plus the mutation, test data, and business rules capabilities, under one license. - [Enterprise AI testing](https://karatelabs.io/enterprise-ai-testing): The precision layer for AI testing in the regulated enterprise. Local-first, BYO-LLM, air-gap ready. - [API coverage](https://karatelabs.io/api-coverage): Measure what tests actually exercise across OpenAPI, gRPC, GraphQL, and Kafka, with requirement-to-test traceability. - [Velocity](https://karatelabs.io/velocity): Ship faster without shipping blind. Every requirement traced to a test that actually exercised it. - [Trust and governance](https://karatelabs.io/trust-governance): Know what is safe to ship, even when AI wrote it. Grade exercised-vs-claimed and compute a release verdict. - [Control](https://karatelabs.io/control): The proof you sign off on stays inside your walls. Self-hosted, BYO-LLM, no data egress. ## Compare - [Comparisons hub](https://karatelabs.io/compare): Honest side-by-side vs Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, Postman, ReadyAPI, REST-assured, Katalon, and computer-use agents. - [Postman alternatives compared](https://karatelabs.io/postman-alternatives): Twelve API clients and test frameworks reviewed, including Bruno, Hoppscotch, Insomnia, Thunder Client, HTTPie, Apidog, Hurl, REST Assured, Schemathesis and k6. Splits the category into API clients and test automation frameworks, because Postman bundles both and most alternatives replace only one half. - [Karate vs Selenium](https://karatelabs.io/compare/selenium) - [Karate vs Playwright](https://karatelabs.io/compare/playwright) - [Karate vs Cypress](https://karatelabs.io/compare/cypress) - [Karate vs Postman](https://karatelabs.io/compare/postman) ## Industries - [Banking](https://karatelabs.io/industries/banking): API and UI test automation for banking and financial services. - [Insurance](https://karatelabs.io/industries/insurance): End-to-end testing across the insurance estate on velocity, trust, and control. ## IDE plugins - [IntelliJ plugin](https://karatelabs.io/intellij): Autocomplete, inline run, visual debugger, and AI-assisted authoring. - [VS Code plugin](https://karatelabs.io/vscode): Syntax highlighting, gutter run buttons, Test Explorer integration, and advanced debugging. ## Company - [Pricing](https://karatelabs.io/pricing): Start free with open source, add IDE Pro and Xplorer, and scale to self-hosted enterprise with SSO. - [About Karate Labs](https://karatelabs.io/company): 10 years of open source, 2M+ monthly downloads, 650+ companies, and 76 of the Fortune 500. - [Trust and security](https://karatelabs.io/trust): Runs locally. No customer data leaves your network, and zero security incidents in four years. - [Contact](https://karatelabs.io/contact-us): Request a demo or talk to sales about enterprise deployments. ## Optional - [Learning center](https://karatelabs.io/learning): Free courses, video tutorials, getting-started guides, and code examples. - [Blog](https://karatelabs.io/blog): Engineering insights, product updates, and industry analysis. - [Claude proved 123 libraries crash-free](https://karatelabs.io/blog/claude-proved-123-libraries-crash-free): What the proofs cover and where the spec needs checking. - [AI verification debt](https://karatelabs.io/blog/ai-verification-debt): Why cheap proofs move the bottleneck to the spec.