Postdad 👟

"He's not mad at your slow API, just disappointed."

Postdad is a high-speed, local-first Terminal UI (TUI) for testing APIs. It’s built in Rust 🦀 because Electron apps shouldn't eat 1GB of RAM just to send a GET request.

Why Postdad?

Modern dev tools are bloated. Postman takes 5-10 seconds to launch. Postdad takes <100ms.

Features

• Vim-Motion Navigation: Use j, k, and / to fly through your request history.
• Three-Pane Layout: Collections on the left, Request on top, Response at bottom.
• JSON Explorer: Interactive tree view for massive JSON responses. Expansion/Collapse nodes with arrow keys.
• Dad's Garage: Local-first collection storage. No login required.
• Async & Non-Blocking: The UI never freezes, even if the API times out.

Installation

cargo install Postdad

Usage

Postdad

• f: Toggle Fullscreen Response
• Enter: Send Request
• e: Edit URL (Press Tab to cycle method)
• Tab: Switch Request Tabs (Params, Headers, Body)
• q: Quit (Dad needs a nap)

Roadmap to Recognition

• Basic TUI Engine
• Async Request Worker
• JSON Response Explorer (Interactive)
• Collection Management (.hcl support)
• "Dad's Directions" (Copy as Curl) (c key)
• Response Timing (ms precision)
• Search / Filter JSON (/ key)
• Fullscreen Response View (f key)
• Quick Method Cycle (Tab in Edit Mode)
• Environment Variables
• Request Body Editor (b key -> $EDITOR)
  • Pro Tip: For VS Code integration, run export EDITOR="code --wait" (Mac/Linux) or set $env:EDITOR="code --wait" (PowerShell).
• Method Cycling (m key)
• Status Codes (Color-coded)
• Help Screen (? key)
• Header Editing (H key -> $EDITOR as JSON)
• Persistence (s key -> saved.hcl)

License

MIT