NeuralTrust | The leading security platform for generative AI

In this guide we will see how to configure and use the HttpTarget class to interact with any HTTP-based LLM API endpoint.

Basic Configuration

The HttpTarget class requires a few essential parameters to work:

from trusttest.targets.http import HttpTarget, PayloadConfig

target = HttpTarget(
    url="https://api.example.com/chat",
    headers={
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        "Authorization": "Bearer your-token"
    },
    payload_config=PayloadConfig(
        format={
            "messages": [
                {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
                {"role": "user", "content": "{{ message }}"}
            ]
        },
        message_regex="{{ message }}"
    ),
    concatenate_field="choices.0.message.content"
)

Key Parameters

url: The endpoint URL for the LLM API
headers: HTTP headers to include in requests
payload_config: Configuration for request payload formatting
concatenate_field: Path to extract the response content from the JSON response

Validate Configuration

To verify that your HttpTarget is properly configured and working, you can test it with a simple message:

from trusttest.targets.http import HttpTarget, PayloadConfig

target = HttpTarget(
    url="https://api.example.com/chat",
    headers={
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        "Authorization": "Bearer your-token"
    },
    payload_config=PayloadConfig(
        format={
            "messages": [
                {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
                {"role": "user", "content": "{{ message }}"}
            ]
        },
        message_regex="{{ message }}"
    ),
    concatenate_field="choices.0.message.content"
)


response = target.respond("Hello World")
print(response)

This will:

Send a simple “Hello World” message to your configured endpoint
Print the response if successful
Raise an exception if there are any configuration issues

Advanced Configuration

Token Authentication

For APIs that require token-based authentication on request, you can use the TokenConfig:

from trusttest.targets.http import HttpTarget, PayloadConfig, TokenConfig

target = HttpTarget(
    url="https://api.example.com/chat",
    payload_config=PayloadConfig(
        format={"prompt": "{{ message }}"},
        message_regex="{{ message }}"
    ),
    token_config=TokenConfig(
        url="https://auth.example.com/token",
        payload={"client_id": "123", "service": "chat"},
        secret="your-secret-key",
        headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"}
    )
)

Error Handling

Returns the error message instead of raising an exception. Useful for firewall response detection.

from trusttest.targets.http import HttpTarget, PayloadConfig, ErrorHandelingConfig

target = HttpTarget(
    url="https://api.example.com/chat",
    payload_config=PayloadConfig(
        format={"prompt": "{{ message }}"},
        message_regex="{{ message }}"
    ),
    error_config=ErrorHandelingConfig(
        status_code=400,
        concatenate_field="errors.0.message"
    )
)

Retry Configuration

Add retry logic for failed requests:

from trusttest.targets.http import HttpTarget, PayloadConfig, RetryConfig

target = HttpTarget(
    url="https://api.example.com/chat",
    payload_config=PayloadConfig(
        format={"prompt": "{{ message }}"},
        message_regex="{{ message }}"
    ),
    retry_config=RetryConfig(
        max_retries=3,
        base_delay=1.0,
        max_delay=10.0,
        exponential_base=2.0
    )
)

Using HttpTarget in an Evaluation Scenario

Here’s how to use the HttpTarget in an evaluation scenario:

target = HttpTarget(
    url="https://chat.neuraltrust.ai/api/chat",
    headers={
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    },
    payload_config=PayloadConfig(
        format={
            "messages": [
                {"role": "system", "content": "**Welcome to Airline Assistant**."},
                {"role": "user", "content": "{{ test }}"},
            ]
        },
        message_regex="{{ test }}",
    ),
    concatenate_field=".",
)

scenario = EvaluationScenario(
    name="Functional Test",
    description="Functional test example.",
    evaluator_suite=EvaluatorSuite(
        evaluators=[
            CorrectnessEvaluator(),
            ToneEvaluator(),
            CompletenessEvaluator(),
        ],
        criteria="any_fail",
    ),
)

dataset_path = "data/qa_dataset.json"
dataset = Dataset.from_json(path=dataset_path)
test_set = DatasetProbe(target=target, dataset=dataset).get_test_set()
results = scenario.evaluate(test_set)

Complete Example

import os

from dotenv import load_dotenv

import trusttest
from trusttest.dataset_builder import Dataset
from trusttest.evaluation_scenarios import EvaluationScenario
from trusttest.evaluator_suite import EvaluatorSuite
from trusttest.evaluators import (
    CompletenessEvaluator,
    CorrectnessEvaluator,
    ToneEvaluator,
)
from trusttest.targets.http import HttpTarget, PayloadConfig
from trusttest.probes import DatasetProbe

load_dotenv(override=True)

target = HttpTarget(
    url="https://chat.neuraltrust.ai/api/chat",
    headers={
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    payload_config=PayloadConfig(
        format={
            "messages": [
                {"role": "system", "content": "**Welcome to Airline Assistant**."},
                {"role": "user", "content": "{{ test }}"},
            ]
        },
        message_regex="{{ test }}",
    ),
    concatenate_field=".",
)

scenario = EvaluationScenario(
    name="Functional Test",
    description="Functional test example.",
    evaluator_suite=EvaluatorSuite(
        evaluators=[
            CorrectnessEvaluator(),
            ToneEvaluator(),
            CompletenessEvaluator(),
        ],
        criteria="any_fail",
    ),
)

dataset_path = "data/qa_dataset.json"
dataset = Dataset.from_json(path=dataset_path)
test_set = DatasetProbe(target=target, dataset=dataset).get_test_set()
results = scenario.evaluate(test_set)
results.display()

​Basic Configuration

​Key Parameters

​Validate Configuration

​Advanced Configuration

​Token Authentication

​Error Handling

​Retry Configuration

​Using HttpTarget in an Evaluation Scenario

​Complete Example