Setting request headers

We recommend you to switch to request specs instead of controller specs if you want to set headers in your call. If you still want to set headers in controller specs, you can use request.headers as mentioned below.

Setting a header value in a controller spec

Given a file named "spec/controllers/application_controller_spec.rb" with:

require "rails_helper"

RSpec.describe ApplicationController, type: :controller do
  controller do
    def show
      if request.headers["Authorization"] == "foo"
        head :ok
      else
        head :forbidden
      end
    end
  end

  before do
    routes.draw { get "show" => "anonymous#show" }
  end

  context "valid Authorization header" do
    it "returns a 200" do
      request.headers["Authorization"] = "foo"

      get :show

      expect(response).to have_http_status(:ok)
    end
  end

  context "invalid Authorization header" do
    it "returns a 403" do
      request.headers["Authorization"] = "bar"

      get :show

      expect(response).to have_http_status(:forbidden)
    end
  end
end

When I run rspec spec

Then the example should pass.