Now that we have a better understanding what phester should do and how much work it would be to create it, we should re-consider using existing tools instead.
An initial survey turned up the following options:
* [[https://github.com/eykrehbein/strest|strst]] (typescript, new/small project, yaml based, lacks some features)
* [[https://github.com/taverntesting/tavern|tavern]] (python, new/small project, yaml based, lacks some features)
* [[https://behat.org/|behat]] (php, established, feature rich & complex, focus on cucumber style logic tests)
* [[https://codeception.com/|codeception]] (php, established, feature rich & complex, focus on fluent style logic tests)
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* https://www.cypress.io/ based on node.js, tests are written in node.js; seems to want to avoid the kind of fixture creation described in the phester spec.
* https://robotframework.org/ written in python. Cucumber-ish tests
* https://www.soapui.org/open-source.html A drag-and drop UI approach to test specification
* https://github.com/apiaryio/dredd Written in node.js, tests are YAML files defining APIs. Mature
These should be discussed, and more should perhaps be found and considered.