Postbear is a high-speed, lightweight API client designed for developers who live in the command line.
No heavy Electron apps, just simplicity.
Why?
⚡ Fast: Starts instantly. No splash screens, no loading bars.
🪶 Minimalist: Small footprint, ready to go.
🛠️ Powerful: Handles headers, body data, parameters, and support to .http files.
💻 Terminal-First: Built for the modern dev workflow.
| Feature | Postman | Insomnia | HTTPie | curl | Postbear |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-native | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Interactive TUI | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Syntax highlighting | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Save collections | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Zero install | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| .http support | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Size | ~500MB | ~300MB | ~50MB | <5MB | ~12MB |
| Startup time | ~3s | ~2s | <1s | instant | instant |
Installation
You have two options to use Postbear:
- Just run in your terminal:
go install github.com/carban/postbear@latest- Or clone this repo and build the code with:
go build -o postbearUsage
TUI mode
postbearRead .http file
postbear read [.http filepath]CLI mode
postbear run [method] [endpoint]Examples
All the examples here uses fooapi.com an API created by me some months ago. The platform provides realistic dummy data across several categories, which you can use to mock your projects and ideas. Here is the repo
TUI Mode
TUI Mode reading .http file
CLI Mode
Command List
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| tab | Move Around |
| shift + tab | Reverse Tab |
| n | New Request (in requests list panel) |
| r | Remove Request (in requests list panel) |
| enter | Send Request |
| ctrl + s | Save Request in a .http file |
| shift + Arrow Keys | Change Tabs (Params/Body/Header) |
| enter | Move from key input to value input (in Params tab) |
| enter | Add a new row from value input (in Params tab) |
| key up / key down | Move around params (in Params tab) |
| ctrl + e | Open Environment Variables page |
| ctrl + h | Open Help Page |
| ctrl + c | Quit |
Acknowledgement
This project were inspired by Gostman
Contributing
This is a personal project any feedback is welcome. for major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.
Please star it ⭐, It helps others find the project!
License
MIT License