DEV Community: HttpForge

HttpForge: A Privacy-First, Open-Source API Client for Modern Developers

HttpForge — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 07:53:54 +0000

Design, test, capture, and document APIs — without sending your secrets to the cloud.

APIs power almost every product we ship — but the tools we use to test them often feel heavy, cloud-locked, or unclear about where your data actually goes.

HttpForge is a modern, open-source API client built for developers who want speed, control, and privacy. It's free forever, runs locally, and keeps your data on your machine — not someone else's servers.

🌐 Website: https://httpforge.com
💻 Windows app: https://github.com/httpforge/Code-Editor/releases/latest
🧩 VS Code extension: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=httpforge.httpforge
⭐ GitHub: https://github.com/httpforge
📖 Docs: https://httpforge.com/docs.html

Why HttpForge?

Most API clients force a tradeoff: powerful features vs. privacy and simplicity. HttpForge is built around three ideas:

Privacy First — credentials and API keys are encrypted and stored locally; nothing is transmitted to external servers
Open Source — inspect the code, contribute, fork, or self-host your workflow
Developer Experience — a clean, split-screen workspace that keeps you in flow

Tagline: Privacy First · Open Source · Free Forever

What developers can actually do with it

Workspace — one place for every protocol

A split-screen request builder supporting HTTP, GraphQL, WebSocket, gRPC, and SOAP. Browse your project tree, open multiple request tabs, edit headers/auth/query params/body, and use environment variables like {{BASE_URL}} so the same request runs unchanged across local, staging, and production. Status, timing, headers, and formatted bodies are all inspected in the same response panel.

API Capture — stop hand-writing endpoints

Open any site in a dedicated capture window, use it normally, and HttpForge records the real XHR/fetch traffic as you go. Useful capture controls include:

Remove duplicate requests (on by default) — collapses repeats down to one entry per method + path
Include static assets toggle — off by default, so you capture only API calls, not scripts/images/fonts
Same-domain only filtering, or a custom allowed endpoints list for multi-host apps
On save, deduplicated requests land in a collection and the detected BASE_URL is written straight into your active environment — no manual copy-paste.

History — a real debugging log

Every request sent during your session is logged with status, timing, headers, and bodies, filterable by All / Success / Errors. Session-scoped and project-scoped, stored locally, and clearable in one click.

Collections & Environments

Organize requests into collections with nested folders, variable substitution, and Git-friendly version control. Environments hold your base URLs, keys, and tokens per stage (local/staging/prod) — switch environments without touching a single request, and credentials never leave your device.

API Documentation — generated, not hand-written

Turn any project's collections into OpenAPI 3.0 + static HTML docs. Preview locally with one click, or link a Git repo and publish straight to docs/index.html for GitHub Pages hosting.

VS Code Extension

Work from .http files directly in your editor: send requests, autocomplete environment variables, and view formatted responses inline — without switching windows.

Who it's for

Backend and full-stack engineers debugging REST/GraphQL APIs
Frontend developers reverse-engineering real browser API calls
Teams who want local-first tooling instead of cloud lock-in
Anyone looking for a free, open-source Postman-style alternative

Get started in minutes

Download the Windows installer from GitHub Releases — or install the VS Code extension
Create a project and an environment
Open Workspace and send your first request
Try API Capture to pull real endpoints out of a live app
Generate docs from your collections when you're ready

Full setup walkthrough: https://httpforge.com/docs.html

Built in the open

HttpForge is MIT-licensed and developed in public. Star the repo, open issues, improve docs, or ship features with the community.

If you care about privacy, local-first tools, and a cleaner API workflow — give HttpForge a try and share it with your team.

Privacy First · Open Source · Free Forever
https://httpforge.com

HttpForge: An Open-Source, Privacy-First Alternative to Postman

HttpForge — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 16:11:47 +0000

If you've ever opened Postman just to send one GET request and waited for it to
load six tabs, a sync spinner, and a login prompt — you already know why tools
like HttpForge exist.

HttpForge is a modern, open-source API client built for developers who want
to design, test, and ship API requests without the bloat, forced cloud sync, or
telemetry that's crept into a lot of the "big" API clients over the years.

Why HttpForge?

A few things stood out to me:

Privacy first — your credentials and API keys are encrypted locally on your device. Nothing gets shipped to a third-party server behind the scenes.
Open source — the full codebase is on GitHub. Inspect it, fork it, contribute to it.
Free forever — no paywalled "basic" tier games.
Two ways to use it — a native Windows desktop app, or a VS Code extension if you'd rather stay inside your editor.
Protocol support — REST, GraphQL, Webhooks, OpenAPI, and OAuth 2.0 flows are all supported out of the box.

Where you can run it

Desktop (Windows)
Download the .exe installer straight from GitHub Releases for the full
native experience with offline support and local credential encryption.

VS Code
Prefer to stay in your editor? Install the extension from the VS Code
Marketplace and send/preview requests without alt-tabbing.

What's coming next

HttpForge is upfront about what's shipped vs. what's on the roadmap, which I
appreciated:

🔜 Team collaboration — shared collections & synced environments (planned)
🔜 Cross-device sync — pick up a collection on another machine (coming soon)
🔜 Enterprise edition — audit logging, org-wide policies for larger teams (future release)

So today it's squarely a solo/small-team local API dev tool — if you need
team sync right now, keep that in mind. But the roadmap is public, so you can
track progress yourself.

Try it

If you try it, I'd genuinely love feedback — issues, feature requests, and PRs
are all welcome on GitHub. It's early days for the project, and community
input shapes the roadmap directly.

Disclosure: I'm affiliated with HttpForge. 👋``

Looking for a Postman Alternative? Here's Why Developers Are Choosing HttpForge

HttpForge — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 16:15:49 +0000

Introducing HttpForge:

A High-Performance API Client for Professional Developers
I'm excited to introduce HttpForge, a modern, privacy-first, open-source API client built for professional developers.
HttpForge delivers exceptional performance for API testing and debugging, helping developers work faster and more efficiently. Whether you're building, testing, or troubleshooting REST APIs, HttpForge provides a streamlined experience with a fast, native interface and powerful features.
If you're looking for an alternative to Postman, Bruno, Insomnia, or other API clients, HttpForge is designed to offer a lightweight, high-performance, and developer-focused solution without compromising on functionality.
In this article, we'll explore why HttpForge is a compelling choice for modern API development and how it can improve your workflow.