Intro to Postman

Postman is a popular tool for API development. It allows you to send requests to your API and view the responses without writing any code.

Setting Up

If you haven’t already, download and install Postman.

Creating a Collection

A Collection is a group of saved requests. It helps keep your workspace organized.

1. Open Postman.
2. Click Collections in the sidebar.
3. Click the + (Plus) icon to create a new collection.
4. Name it “Task Manager API”.

Creating Requests

Let’s add a request to fetch all tasks.

1. Right-click your new collection and select Add Request.
2. Name the request “Get All Tasks”.
3. Set the method to GET.
4. Enter the URL: http://localhost:8787/api/tasks.
5. Click Save.
6. Click Send (make sure your Hono server is running!).

You should see the JSON response with your mock tasks in the bottom pane.

Using Environments

Environments allow you to use variables. This is useful for switching between Local (localhost) and Production URLs.

Creating an Environment

1. Click Environments in the sidebar.
2. Click + to create a new environment.
3. Name it “Local Development”.
4. Add a variable:
   • Variable: baseUrl
   • Initial Value: http://localhost:8787
   • Current Value: http://localhost:8787
5. Click Save.

Using the Variable

1. Select “Local Development” from the environment dropdown at the top right.
2. Go back to your request.
3. Change the URL to {{baseUrl}}/api/tasks.
4. Hover over {{baseUrl}} to see it resolve to your localhost URL.
5. Send the request again to verify it works.

Saving Examples

Postman allows you to save the response as an example. This is great for documentation.

1. After a successful request, click Save Response -> Save as Example.

In the next section, you will put all of this into practice!