--- id: api/commands/fixture title: fixture | Cypress Documentation description: Load a fixed set of data located in a file in Cypress. section: api source_path: docs/api/commands/fixture.mdx version: ce02913654e2655ee63448bdc92bb92c7b46a619 updated_at: '2026-04-22T19:37:51.587Z' --- # fixture Load a fixed set of data located in a file. ## Syntax ```javascript cy.fixture(filePath) cy.fixture(filePath, encoding) cy.fixture(filePath, options) cy.fixture(filePath, encoding, options) ``` ### Usage **Correct Usage** ```javascript cy.fixture('users').as('usersJson') // load data from users.json cy.fixture('logo.png').then((logo) => { // load data from logo.png }) ``` ### Arguments **filePath *(String)*** A path to a file within the [`fixturesFolder`](/llm/markdown/app/references/configuration.md#Folders--Files) , which defaults to `cypress/fixtures`. You can nest fixtures within folders and reference them by defining the path from the fixturesFolder: ```javascript cy.fixture('users/admin.json') // Get data from {fixturesFolder}/users/admin.json ``` **encoding *(String)*** The encoding to be used when reading the file. The following encodings are supported: - `'ascii'` - `'base64'` - `'binary'` - `'hex'` - `'latin1'` - `'utf8'` - `'utf-8'` - `'ucs2'` - `'ucs-2'` - `'utf16le'` - `'utf-16le'` - `null` Using `null` explicitly will return the fixture as a [`Cypress.Buffer`](/llm/markdown/api/utilities/buffer.md) instance, regardless of file extension. **options *(Object)*** Pass in an options object to change the default behavior of `cy.fixture()`. | Option | Default | Description | | --------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `timeout` | [`responseTimeout`](/llm/markdown/app/references/configuration.md#Timeouts) | Time to wait for `cy.fixture()` to resolve before [timing out](#Timeouts) | ### Yields [Learn about subject management](/llm/markdown/app/core-concepts/introduction-to-cypress.md#Subject-Management) - `cy.fixture()` yields the contents of the file. Formatting is determined by its file extension. - The yielded subject is **not** updated if the contents change on disk. ## Examples ### JSON #### Load a users.json fixture ```javascript cy.fixture('users.json').as('usersData') ``` #### Omit the fixture file's extension When no extension is passed to `cy.fixture()`, Cypress will search for files with the specified name within the [`fixturesFolder`](/llm/markdown/app/references/configuration.md#Folders--Files) (which defaults to `cypress/fixtures`) and resolve the first one. ```javascript cy.fixture('admin').as('adminJSON') ``` The example above would resolve in the following order: 1. `cypress/fixtures/admin.json` 2. `cypress/fixtures/admin.js` 3. `cypress/fixtures/admin.coffee` 4. `cypress/fixtures/admin.html` 5. `cypress/fixtures/admin.txt` 6. `cypress/fixtures/admin.csv` 7. `cypress/fixtures/admin.png` 8. `cypress/fixtures/admin.jpg` 9. `cypress/fixtures/admin.jpeg` 10. `cypress/fixtures/admin.gif` 11. `cypress/fixtures/admin.tif` 12. `cypress/fixtures/admin.tiff` 13. `cypress/fixtures/admin.zip` #### Use import statement If you are loading a JSON fixture, you can simply use the `import` statement and let the bundler load it: ```js // cypress/e2e/spec.cy.js import user from '../fixtures/user.json' it('loads the same object', () => { cy.fixture('user').then((userFixture) => { expect(user, 'the same data').to.deep.equal(userFixture) }) }) ``` ### Images #### Image fixtures are sent as base64 by default ```javascript cy.fixture('images/logo.png').then((logo) => { // logo will be encoded as base64 // and should look something like this: // aIJKnwxydrB10NVWqhlmmC+ZiWs7otHotSAAAOw==... }) ``` #### Change encoding of Image fixture ```javascript cy.fixture('images/logo.png', null).then((logo) => { // logo will be read as a buffer // and should look something like this: // Buffer([0, 0, ...]) expect(Cypress.Buffer.isBuffer(logo)).to.be.true }) ``` ### Playing MP3 file ```javascript cy.fixture('audio/sound.mp3', 'base64').then((mp3) => { const uri = 'data:audio/mp3;base64,' + mp3 const audio = new Audio(uri) audio.play() }) ``` ### Accessing Fixture Data #### Using .then() to access fixture data ```javascript cy.fixture('users').then((json) => { cy.intercept('GET', '/users/**', json) }) ``` #### Using fixtures to bootstrap data [Check out our example recipe using `cy.fixture()` to bootstrap data for our application.](/llm/markdown/app/references/recipes.md#Server-Communication) #### Modifying fixture data before using it You can modify fixture data directly before visiting a URL or mounting a component that makes a network request to that URL. ```js cy.fixture('user').then((user) => { user.firstName = 'Jane' cy.intercept('GET', '/users/1', user).as('getUser') }) -{cy.visit('/users')::cy.mount()}- cy.wait('@getUser').then(({ request }) => { expect(request.body.firstName).to.eq('Jane') }) ``` ## Notes ### Shortcuts #### Using the fixture StaticResponse property Fixtures can also be referenced directly without using the `.fixture()` command by using the special property `fixture` on the [`cy.intercept()`](/llm/markdown/api/commands/intercept.md) `StaticResponse` object. ```javascript cy.intercept('GET', '/users/**', { fixture: 'users' }) ``` ### Validation #### Automated File Validation Cypress automatically validates your fixtures. If your `.json`, `.js`, or `.coffee` files contain syntax errors, they will be shown in the Command Log. ### Encoding #### Default Encoding Cypress automatically determines the encoding for the following file types: - `.json` - `.js` - `.coffee` - `.html` - `.txt` - `.csv` - `.png` - `.jpg` - `.jpeg` - `.gif` - `.tif` - `.tiff` - `.zip` For other types of files, they will be read as `utf8` by default, unless specified in the second argument of `cy.fixture()`. You can specify `null` as the encoding in order to read the file as a [`Cypress.Buffer`](/llm/markdown/api/utilities/buffer.md) instance instead. ### this context If you store and access the fixture data using `this` test context object, make sure to use `function () { ... }` callbacks. Otherwise the test engine will NOT have `this` pointing at the test context. ```javascript describe('User page', () => { beforeEach(function () { // "this" points at the test context object cy.fixture('user').then((user) => { // "this" is still the test context object this.user = user }) }) // the test callback is in "function () { ... }" form it('has user', function () { // this.user exists expect(this.user.firstName).to.equal('Jane') }) }) ``` ### Loaded just once Please keep in mind that fixture files are assumed to be unchanged during the test, and thus Cypress loads them just once. Even if you overwrite the fixture file itself, the already loaded fixture data remains the same. If you wish to dynamically change the contents of a file during your tests, consider [`cy.readFile()`](/llm/markdown/api/commands/readfile.md) instead. For example, if you want to reply to a network request with different object, the following **will not work**: ```js // 🚨 DOES NOT WORK cy.intercept('GET', '/todos/1', { fixture: 'todo' }).as('todo') // application requests the /todos/1 resource // the intercept replies with the object from todo.json file cy.wait('@todo').then(() => { cy.writeFile('/cypress/fixtures/todo.json', { title: 'New data' }) }) // application requests the /todos/1 resource again // the intercept replies with the originally loaded object // from the todo.json file and NOT { "title": "New data" } ``` In this situation, avoid using the fixture file and instead respond to the network request with the object ```js // ✅ RESPOND WITH OBJECT cy.fixture('todo.json').then((todo) => { cy.intercept('GET', '/todos/1', { body: todo }).as('todo') // application requests the /todos/1 resource // the intercept replies with the initial object cy.wait('@todo').then(() => { // modify the response object todo.title = 'New data' // and override the intercept cy.intercept('GET', '/todos/1', { body: todo }) }) }) ``` ## Rules ### Requirements [Learn about chaining commands](/llm/markdown/app/core-concepts/introduction-to-cypress.md#Chains-of-Commands) - `cy.fixture()` requires being chained off of `cy`. ### Assertions [Learn about assertions](/llm/markdown/app/core-concepts/introduction-to-cypress.md#Assertions) - `cy.fixture()` will only run assertions you have chained once, and will not [retry](/llm/markdown/app/core-concepts/retry-ability.md). ### Timeouts [Learn about timeouts](/llm/markdown/app/core-concepts/introduction-to-cypress.md#Timeouts) - `cy.fixture()` should never time out. Because `cy.fixture()` is asynchronous it is technically possible for there to be a timeout while talking to the internal Cypress automation APIs. But for practical purposes it should never happen. ## Command Log - `cy.fixture()` does *not* log in the Command Log ## See also - [Guide: Variables and Aliases](/llm/markdown/app/core-concepts/variables-and-aliases.md) - [`cy.intercept()`](/llm/markdown/api/commands/intercept.md) - [`.then()`](/llm/markdown/api/commands/then.md) - [`.readFile()`](/llm/markdown/api/commands/readfile.md) for a similar command without caching and with builtin retryability - [Recipe: Bootstrapping App Test Data](/llm/markdown/app/references/recipes.md#Server-Communication)