AppDynamics integration for BrowserStack Load Testing

Learn how to send BrowserStack Load Testing metrics and a dashboard to Splunk AppDynamics so you can correlate load-test traffic with application performance.

Use this guide to connect BrowserStack Load Testing with Splunk AppDynamics. You can then correlate test activity with backend performance, infrastructure health, and user experience in one place.

BrowserStack publishes metrics to AppDynamics Analytics, creates a custom dashboard you can open from your test results, and posts lifecycle events as overlays on that dashboard.

Prerequisites

Before you enable the AppDynamics integration, make sure you have:

• Splunk AppDynamics SaaS tenant: A SaaS Controller, such as https://yourco.saas.appdynamics.com. The on-premises Controller is not supported.
• API client access: Permission to create an API client under Administration in your Controller.
• Analytics API key access: Permission to create an Analytics API key with the Manage Schema and Publish Custom Events permissions.
• An application: An application already configured in your AppDynamics tenant that you want to correlate the load test against.
• Your AppDynamics region: The region your Analytics tenant runs in, such as US or FRA.
• BrowserStack Load Testing account: Access to BrowserStack Load Testing with admin access to at least one project.

Integration overview

BrowserStack Load Testing streams metrics and events to your AppDynamics tenant so you can analyze how your systems behave under load.

For an overview of all APM options, see Application Performance Monitoring integration.

Core capabilities:

• Metric streaming: BrowserStack aggregates performance data into 10-second buckets and publishes it to AppDynamics Analytics.
• Virtual user metrics: Track how many virtual users (VUs) are active, how long tests run, and how many requests they generate.
• Error and latency metrics: Monitor error rates and response-time percentiles to identify performance regressions.
• Browser metrics: For browser-based load tests, capture core web vitals such as LCP, FCP, CLS, and INP.
• Dimensions: Each metric carries dimensions, such as load test name, region, and executor, so that you can filter results inside AppDynamics.
• Native dashboard: BrowserStack creates a preconfigured dashboard in your Controller on the first run and returns a deep link to it from the load-test report.

Get your AppDynamics credentials

AppDynamics uses two separate credentials: an API client for the Controller and an Analytics API key for publishing metrics and events. Follow these steps in your AppDynamics tenant to collect the values you paste into BrowserStack.

After you generate the credentials, store them securely. You can reference them in your BrowserStack Load Testing configuration through environment variables.

Select your AppDynamics region

AppDynamics SaaS runs Analytics on a different endpoint in each region, and every Controller URL uses the same <account>.saas.appdynamics.com format regardless of region. BrowserStack cannot infer the region from the Controller URL, so you select it explicitly when you configure the integration.

Choose the region code that matches your Analytics tenant:

Supported metrics

BrowserStack Load Testing publishes the following metrics to the browserstackLoadTestMetrics2026V2 schema in AppDynamics Analytics. All metrics are sent automatically when AppDynamics is connected.

Every metric carries the testRunId, loadTestName, region, and executerName dimensions so that you can filter and group results. The executerName dimension uses this exact spelling in the schema, so match it in any query.

Lifecycle events

BrowserStack Load Testing posts lifecycle events to the same schema, so you can align spikes or drops in performance with changes in test state. Use these events as overlays on your AppDynamics dashboard to understand what was happening during a particular time range.

The following lifecycle events are supported:

Configure AppDynamics from the BrowserStack UI

This is the most common path. Collect the six values from your AppDynamics Controller, then paste them into the BrowserStack Connect form.

1. In BrowserStack, go to Load Testing > Projects > Settings > Integrations.
2. Under Application Performance Monitoring, find the AppDynamics tile and select Connect.
3. Enter your Controller URL, Application Name, API Client Name, API Client Secret, Analytics API Key, and AppDynamics Region.
4. Select Save. BrowserStack runs a short health check and shows a green Connected badge when all six values are valid. If a field is wrong, BrowserStack shows an inline error so that you can correct it.

Configure AppDynamics from the CLI

You configure the AppDynamics integration in the browserstack-load.yml file. The following example enables AppDynamics and sends metrics and events to your Controller.

This configuration lives under the top-level integrations block in browserstack-load.yml alongside any other APM tools you configure.

Configuration reference

Each field under the connection block maps to a value you collected from your AppDynamics Controller:

connection.controllerUrl

The URL of your AppDynamics SaaS Controller, for example https://yourco.saas.appdynamics.com.

connection.applicationName

The name of the application in your AppDynamics tenant that you want to correlate the load test against. The name must match exactly, including case.

connection.apiClientName

The name of the API client you created in the Controller. Enter the name only, without the @account suffix. Store this in an environment variable, such as APPDYNAMICS_CLIENT_NAME.

connection.apiClientSecret

The secret generated when you created the API client. Store this securely in an environment variable, such as APPDYNAMICS_CLIENT_SECRET.

connection.analyticsApiKey

The Analytics API key used to publish metrics and events. Store this securely in an environment variable, such as APPDYNAMICS_ANALYTICS_API_KEY.

connection.region

The region your Analytics tenant runs in. Valid values are US, FRA, LON, BOM, SIN, and SYD.

metrics

Specifies which metrics to send. Use metrics: all to send every metric, or list specific metric names under select and assign tags to each group.

events

Specifies which lifecycle events to send. Use events: all to send every event, or list specific event names under select.

Best practices:

• Store the API client secret and Analytics API key in environment variables instead of hard-coding them in the YAML file.
• Verify that your Analytics API key has the Manage Schema and Publish Custom Events permissions.
• Match the region to the AppDynamics tenant where you want to receive load-test data.

Verify the integration

After your next test run completes:

1. In BrowserStack, open the test run’s detail page.
2. Select APM Tools in the side panel.
3. In the AppDynamics card, select Open in AppDynamics.
4. Your AppDynamics dashboard for this load test opens in a new tab, populated with metrics and events from the run.

Troubleshooting

If the integration fails to save or no data appears in AppDynamics, use the following table to resolve common issues:

Where your credentials are stored

BrowserStack stores your credentials encrypted at rest. The Load Testing service never sees the raw API client secret or Analytics API key, and credentials are sent to AppDynamics only. To revoke access, select Disconnect on the AppDynamics tile in Integrations. BrowserStack stops publishing immediately. The dashboard and previously published metrics remain in your AWS account.

Limitations

• BrowserStack supports Splunk AppDynamics SaaS only. The on-premises Controller is not supported. Contact BrowserStack Support if you need on-premises integration.
• The region is a required field. BrowserStack cannot derive it from the Controller URL, so you must select it explicitly.
• Trace correlation with the W3C traceparent and tracestate headers is not supported. Dashboard metrics and lifecycle events are unaffected.

Next steps

After you save your changes, run your load test from the CLI or dashboard. When the test completes, open AppDynamics and search for the configured metric names to validate that data is flowing correctly. Then build dashboards and alerts based on the metrics that matter most to your team.