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Melodic Development profile image Rick Hopkins
Rick Hopkins for Melodic Development

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Meet Coax: a $10 desktop app for the .http files you already write

#webdev #productivity #tooling #api

I didn't set out to build an API client. I set out to stop being annoyed.

I keep my API requests as .http files, right in the repo next to the code they hit — the same format VS Code's REST Client and JetBrains' HTTP Client use. Plain text, git can diff them, I never have to think about where they "live." I love that workflow. What I didn't love: the second I wanted something nicer than a text file — a real response viewer, a way to chain a login token into the next call without copy-pasting it — the answer was always "open a big platform, make an account, sync your stuff to someone's cloud."

I know… I know. First-world developer problems. But it nagged at me enough that I built the thing I actually wanted. It's called Coax, and this is the short pitch.

.http in, .http out

Coax opens the .http files you already have. No import dance, no proprietary format, nothing to migrate — your requests stay in your repo where git can see them. If you've ever written this, you already have Coax collections:

### Get a token
# @name login
POST {{baseUrl}}/auth/token
Content-Type: application/json

{ "clientId": "{{clientId}}", "secret": "{{clientSecret}}" }

### List users — reuses the token from the call above
GET {{baseUrl}}/users
Authorization: Bearer {{login.response.body.$.access_token}}
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You just didn't have a nice app for them yet. That's the whole idea.

What it actually does for you

  • Chains responses — pull a value straight out of one response into the next request ({{login.response.body.$.access_token}} up there). The auth-then-call dance stops being copy-paste.
  • Runs in CI — a CLI runner with assertions executes the same .http files in your pipeline. The requests you debug by hand become a smoke test. No second tool, no rewriting.
  • Encrypts your secrets — mark a variable secret and it's encrypted at rest in the OS keychain, and stripped to a placeholder on export. Tokens don't end up committed.
  • Layered environments — global → collection → request, plus built-ins like {{$timestamp}} and {{$guid}}.
  • Stays out of your business — your data is a SQLite file on your machine. No account. No telemetry by default.

The part that matters

$10. One time. No subscription, no seats, no account, no "log in to continue." There's a free trial you can point at your own files before you pay a cent. macOS, Windows, and Linux.

You already know Postman, Insomnia, and Bruno — they're all good, and if you need GraphQL/gRPC, a full scripting sandbox, or open source specifically, go use them happily. Coax isn't trying to be all of that. It's trying to be the nicest possible app for the .http files you're already writing, owned outright for the price of lunch.

If that's a workflow you recognize, grab the trial and point it at your own files. Then tell me what's missing — thoughts, questions, criticisms all welcome. Be gentle, but be honest. That's most of how this thing gets better.

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