api-tools

name	api-tools
description	API testing, documentation, and development tools
domain	tools-integrations
version	1.0.0
tags	["postman","insomnia","swagger","openapi","curl","httpie"]
triggers	{"keywords":{"primary":["postman","insomnia","curl","httpie","swagger","openapi"],"secondary":["api test","request","response","collection","mock server","bruno"]},"context_boost":["api","endpoint","http","rest"],"context_penalty":["frontend","ui","design"],"priority":"medium"}

API Tools

Overview

Tools and techniques for API development, testing, documentation, and debugging.

---

HTTP Clients

cURL

# Basic GET
curl https://api.example.com/users

# GET with headers
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" \
     -H "Accept: application/json" \
     https://api.example.com/users

# POST with JSON body
curl -X POST \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"name": "John", "email": "[e-mail]"}' \
     https://api.example.com/users

# POST with form data
curl -X POST \
     -F "file=@document.pdf" \
     -F "name=My Document" \
     https://api.example.com/upload

# PUT request
curl -X PUT \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"name": "Updated Name"}' \
     https://api.example.com/users/123

# DELETE request
curl -X DELETE https://api.example.com/users/123

# Show response headers
curl -i https://api.example.com/users

# Verbose output (debugging)
curl -v https://api.example.com/users

# Follow redirects
curl -L https://example.com/redirect

# Save response to file
curl -o response.json https://api.example.com/users

# With authentication
curl -u username:password https://api.example.com/protected
curl --oauth2-bearer TOKEN https://api.example.com/protected

# Measure timing
curl -w "@curl-format.txt" -o /dev/null -s https://api.example.com

# curl-format.txt
     time_namelookup:  %{time_namelookup}s\n
        time_connect:  %{time_connect}s\n
     time_appconnect:  %{time_appconnect}s\n
    time_pretransfer:  %{time_pretransfer}s\n
       time_redirect:  %{time_redirect}s\n
  time_starttransfer:  %{time_starttransfer}s\n
                     ----------\n
          time_total:  %{time_total}s\n

HTTPie

# GET request (more readable output)
http https://api.example.com/users

# With headers
http https://api.example.com/users \
  Authorization:"Bearer TOKEN" \
  Accept:application/json

# POST with JSON (default)
http POST https://api.example.com/users \
  name=John \
  email=[e-mail]

# POST with raw JSON
http POST https://api.example.com/users \
  < user.json

# Form data
http -f POST https://api.example.com/login \
  username=john \
  password=secret

# File upload
http -f POST https://api.example.com/upload \
  [e-mail]

# Download file
http --download https://api.example.com/files/document.pdf

# Session persistence
http --session=user-session POST https://api.example.com/login
http --session=user-session GET https://api.example.com/profile

# Only headers
http --headers https://api.example.com/users

# Only body
http --body https://api.example.com/users

---

API Testing

Postman Collections

{
  "info": {
    "name": "User API",
    "schema": "https://schema.getpostman.com/json/collection/v2.1.0/collection.json"
  },
  "variable": [
    {
      "key": "baseUrl",
      "value": "https://api.example.com"
    },
    {
      "key": "token",
      "value": ""
    }
  ],
  "item": [
    {
      "name": "Auth",
      "item": [
        {
          "name": "Login",
          "request": {
            "method" 
             
             
                   
            
             
               
               
            
          
           
            
               
               
                 
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                
              
            
          
        
      
    
    
       
       
        
           
           
             
             
               
               
                     
                     
              
            
             
                   
            
          
           
            
               
               
                 
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                
              
            
          
        
      
    
  

Newman CLI

# Run Postman collection
newman run collection.json

# With environment
newman run collection.json -e environment.json

# Generate HTML report
newman run collection.json \
  --reporters cli,html \
  --reporter-html-export report.html

# Run specific folder
newman run collection.json --folder "Users"

# With iteration data
newman run collection.json -d data.json -n 10

# Set environment variables
newman run collection.json \
  --env-var "baseUrl=https://staging.api.example.com" \
  --env-var "token=xxx"

---

OpenAPI / Swagger

OpenAPI Specification

# openapi.yaml
openapi: 3.0.3
info:
  title: User API
  description: API for managing users
  version: 1.0.0
  contact:
    email: [e-mail]
  license:
    name: MIT

servers:
  - url: https://api.example.com/v1
    description: Production
  - url: https://staging-api.example.com/v1
    description: Staging

tags:
  - name: Users
    description: User management operations
  - name: Auth
    description: Authentication operations

paths:
  /users:
    get:
      summary: List users
      description: Returns a paginated   
       
      
         
      
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Generate Client SDK

# Generate TypeScript client
npx openapi-generator-cli generate \
  -i openapi.yaml \
  -g typescript-fetch \
  -o ./generated/client

# Generate Python client
openapi-generator generate \
  -i openapi.yaml \
  -g python \
  -o ./generated/python-client

---

Mock Servers

Prism (OpenAPI Mock Server)

# Start mock server
npx @stoplight/prism-cli mock openapi.yaml

# With dynamic responses
npx @stoplight/prism-cli mock openapi.yaml --dynamic

# Custom port
npx @stoplight/prism-cli mock openapi.yaml -p 4010

JSON Server (Quick REST API)

// db.json
{
  "users": [
    { "id": 1, "name": "John", "email": "[e-mail]" },
    { "id": 2, "name": "Jane", "email": "[e-mail]" }
  ],
  "posts": [
    { "id": 1, "title": "Hello World", "userId": 1 }
  ]
}

# Start server
npx json-server --watch db.json --port 3001

# Routes automatically created:
# GET    /users
# GET    /users/1
# POST   /users
# PUT    /users/1
# DELETE /users/1
# GET    /posts?userId=1

---

API Debugging

Request/Response Logging

import axios from 'axios';

// Request interceptor
axios.interceptors.request.use((config) => {
  console.log('Request:', {
    method: config.method?.toUpperCase(),
    url: config.url,
    params: config.params,
    data: config.data,
    headers: config.headers,
  });
  return config;
});

// Response interceptor
axios.interceptors.response.use(
  (response) => {
    console.log('Response:', {
      status: response.status,
      headers: response.headers,
      data: response.data,
    });
    return response;
  },
  (error) => {
    console.log('Error:', {
      status: error.response?.status,
      data: error.response?.data,
    });
     .(error);
  }
);

---

Related Skills

• [[api-design]] - API design patterns
• [[testing-strategies]] - API testing
• [[backend]] - Backend development