vcr_deep_request_matching_and_hooks

🎯 Deep Customization of Request Matching and Hooks

When working with complex APIs, default request matching can fail—especially when dynamic query params or timestamps are involved. You can define custom request matchers and leverage before_record/before_playback hooks to normalize or scrub volatile data, ensuring your cassettes remain stable across runs.

# spec/support/vcr.rb
VCR.configure do |c|
  c.cassette_library_dir = "spec/vcr_cassettes"
  c.hook_into :webmock

  # Custom matcher that ignores dynamic timestamp query params
  c.register_request_matcher :uri_without_timestamp do |request_1, request_2|
    uri1 = URI(request_1.uri)
    uri2 = URI(request_2.uri)

    q1 = URI.decode_www_form(uri1.query || "").reject { |k, _| k == "timestamp" }
    q2 = URI.decode_www_form(uri2.query || "").reject { |k, _| k == "timestamp" }

    uri1.path == uri2.path && q1.sort == q2.sort
  end

  # Use our custom matcher along with default method matcher
  c.default_cassette_options = {
    match_requests_on: [:method, :uri_without_timestamp]
  }

  # Scrub authentication tokens before recording
  c.before_record do |interaction|
    if interaction.request.headers['Authorization']
      interaction.request.headers['Authorization'] = ['REDACTED_TOKEN']
    end
  end

  # Restore or transform data before playback if needed
  c.before_playback do |interaction|
    # e.g. re-inject a fresh token placeholder
    interaction.request.headers['Authorization'] = ['LIVE_TOKEN']
  end
end

This setup ensures dynamic query params and sensitive headers won't break your tests, while still simulating real API behavior.