Swell - Streaming API tests, right from your Desktop

Nathaniel Adams — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 22:36:00 +0000

We all know how important endpoint testing is. Whether it's a simple fetch request on a static site, or a multi-platform containerized application using gRPC to communicate between backend architecture, we want to make sure all requests are healthy and generating the sort of responses we expect.

For a long time, Postman has reigned supreme over the API-testing world. And for good reason! There's simply no match for their industry market share, team management tools, customizable options, and reliability.

There's one major feature that Postman doesn't support - testing modern streaming protocols. If your project incorporates connection types like WebSockets or gRPC, you'll need a separate application to test those connections and verify their health.

This is not a new issue - just take a look at this open Github issue (from 2018!).

We at Swell wanted to create an all-in-one application that tests not only traditional API calls like RESTful routes and GraphQL, but also WebSockets, gRPC, SSEs, and HTTP2 connections.

Swell has many of the well-loved features of API testing applications like Insomnia or Postman - saved collections/history, GraphQL schema introspection, and an intuitive, responsive UI design.

It's worth noting that Swell is a relatively new product. Although our offerings are substantial, Swell hasn't been tested and vetted in an enterprise situation as of yet.

Our open-source team is small, but incredibly responsive and open to any feedback. Please feel free to explore and offer any feedback at our GitHub repo

Swell is open-source and free to use. You can download it here. Let us know what you think. :)

DEV Community: Nathaniel Adams

Swell - Streaming API tests, right from your Desktop