When working with Ruby on Rails, testing HTTP endpoints is part of everyday development.
Most of the time, we rely on tools like Postman, Insomnia, curl, or even temporary scripts just to validate requests, headers, payloads, and responses.
But during development, I found myself asking:
What if I could test my Rails routes directly from inside the application itself?
That idea led me to create Rails HTTP Lab.
What is Rails HTTP Lab?
rails-http-lab is a Rails Engine that provides an embedded interface inside your Rails application to test HTTP requests against your own routes.
Think of it as a lightweight HTTP client focused on your Rails app.
With it, you can experiment with your endpoints without constantly switching between your editor, terminal, browser, and external API tools.
Features
Current capabilities include:
- Support for common HTTP verbs
- Send request parameters and payloads
- Inspect responses directly in the browser
- Mountable Rails Engine
- Seamless integration with your Rails development workflow
- Simple setup
Installation
Add the gem to your Gemfile:
gem "rails-http-lab"
Then install it:
bundle install
Now start your Rails server and access:
/rails/http-lab
And you're ready to start testing your routes.
Why build this?
I wanted something that felt more integrated with the Rails developer experience.
External API clients are great, but sometimes you simply want a quick way to:
- test an endpoint
- tweak parameters
- inspect responses
- validate controller behavior
…without leaving your application context.
Rails HTTP Lab was created to reduce that friction.
Open Source & Feedback Welcome
The project is open source and still evolving.
If you like the idea, have suggestions, or want to contribute, feel free to check out the repository:
👉 https://github.com/jacksonpires/rails-http-lab
Feedback, issues, PRs, and ideas are very welcome.
Happy hacking 🚀
Special thanks to Vini (https://github.com/viniwenz) and Karine (https://github.com/karinevieira) for helping me with testing!