Explain Code

Understand Gatling simulations and patterns with AI analysis

Select any portion of your Gatling code and ask the AI Assistant to explain it. This is useful for understanding existing simulations, learning Gatling patterns, and getting clarity on specific configuration options.

How to use Explain Code#

1. Select code#

Highlight any section of your Gatling simulation in VS Code.

2. Open context menu#

Right-click on the selection and choose “Explain Code” from the context menu.

3. Read the explanation#

The AI Assistant opens in the sidebar with a detailed explanation of your selected code.

What it explains#

The assistant can explain:

• Request definitions: HTTP methods, headers, authentication, body content
• Checks and assertions: Validation rules, response parsing, status checks
• User behavior: Think times, pauses, scenario flow
• Load injection: Ramp-up strategies, user ramping, duration patterns
• Gatling concepts: Sessions, feeders, chainable builders, DSL usage
• Performance implications: How code affects test behavior and metrics
• Best practices: Why code is written a certain way

Follow-up questions#

After getting an explanation, you can ask follow-up questions in the chat:

After an explanation:

“Why use injectOpen instead of injectClosed?”

About performance:

“Will this request pattern cause connection pooling issues?”

For alternatives:

“Is there a better way to handle authentication in Gatling?”

For best practices:

“What’s the recommended way to load test data for this scenario?”

Common questions to ask#

Understanding patterns#

• “Why is a pause used here instead of a wait?”
• “What’s the difference between exec and feed in this context?”
• “Why extract this value with saveAs instead of discarding it?”

Performance implications#

• “How does this load injection pattern affect CPU usage?”
• “Will adding more assertions slow down the test?”
• “What’s the performance cost of this think time strategy?”

Best practices#

• “Is this the recommended way to structure scenarios in Gatling?”
• “Should I use exec or chain requests differently?”
• “What’s the best practice for handling authentication tokens?”

Debugging#

• “Why is this check failing?”
• “What does this error message mean?”
• “How can I debug this response data extraction?”

Tips for effective explanations#

Select meaningful chunks#

❌ Too small: Single line like pause(2)

✅ Good size: Complete request with checks, or a scenario block

Include context#

Selecting a larger block provides better context:

// Include the scenario name and setup
scenario("User Journey")
  .exec(http("Search").get("/search"))
  .pause(2)
  .exec(http("ViewResult").get("/product/${id}"))
  .pause(3)

Explain variations#

Select different implementations of the same concept to compare:

// Request 1: Using static values
http("Search").get("/search?q=laptop")

// Request 2: Using parameterized values
http("Search").get("/search").queryParam("q", "${searchTerm}")

Then ask: “What’s the difference between these two approaches?”

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