Simulation Naming and Versioning

This guide helps you apply a consistent naming strategy to your simulations in Hoverfly Cloud

Hoverfly Cloud does not currently provide built-in version control, but by following these naming practices, you can manage simulations like code simply and effectively.

Simulations are stored in the Simulation Library from where they can be downloaded and because simulations are just JSON files, you can easily use a versioning tool like git to manage them outside the platform if required.

Naming Convention

Use the following format for your simulation names: {service-name}--{version}

Examples:

Simulation	Version	Simulation Name
user-service	v1	user-service--v1
user-service	v1.1	user-service--v1.1
payment-api	testA	payment-api--feature-testA
inventory	dev	inventory--dev-2025-07-24

You can use any of the following in the version part:

• v1, v2, v1.0.1 (semantic versioning)

• dev, staging, prod

• Feature identifiers: feature-X, bugfix-Y

• Dates: 2025-07-24

Recommended Practices

DO:

• Use consistent separators like -- to make parsing easier.

• Include version or context in every name.

• Use semantic versioning if you treat simulations like API contracts.

• Delete obsolete simulations to reduce clutter.

• Agree on naming rules up front

• Document your team’s naming rules in a README or internal wiki.

DON’T:

• Overwrite simulations without renaming, you’ll lose history.

• Use ambiguous names like temp1, test2, or new-sim.

• Rely on memory write down what each version is for.

Example workflow: Creating a new version from an existing simulation

Download the Simulation that you want to clone and create a new version of:

Re-Upload the Simulation and give it a new version in the name

The simulation will now be cloned with a new version number in the Simulation Library:

Example workflow: Creating a new version from a running simulation

Alternatively, if you have a simulation on a running service that you want to copy into the library you can do so by exporting the simulation to the library with a new name and version:

Click on the name of the running simulation from the dashboard

Then click Export simulation as new

And provide a new name and a version number

Lastly, once you have created a new version and applied whatever changes you need to, you will want to update your services to use the new version of the simulation:

Click on the service name from the dashboard and pick the version of the service that you wish to run.

Then select the new simulation from the drop down and it will immediately be applied to the service.

Optionally delete or archive the older version if no longer needed.