Postman

About

Postman is one of the most widely used tools for working with APIs. It provides a powerful, user-friendly interface to send requests, inspect responses, and automate testing. Postman supports both REST and SOAP APIs and is equally useful for developers, testers, and DevOps engineers.

What is Postman ?

Postman is an API platform that allows us to develop, test, document, and monitor APIs in one place. It started as a simple Chrome extension but has grown into a full-fledged desktop and web application used across the software industry.

We can manually send HTTP requests (like GET, POST, PUT, DELETE), view responses, and organize our API workflows into collections. It also supports automation, collaboration, and mocking.

Installing Postman

Postman is available as a desktop application and also has a web version. For full functionality (especially testing with local servers), the desktop app is recommended.

1. Download Postman

Visit the official Postman website:

https://www.postman.com/downloads/

Choose the version suitable for our operating system:

  • Windows (x64, x86)

  • macOS (Intel or Apple Silicon)

  • Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, etc.)

2. Install on Windows

  • Download the .exe installer.

  • Double-click to run it.

  • Follow the on-screen installation steps.

  • Once installed, launch Postman and sign in or create a free account.

3. Install on macOS

  • Download the .zip file for macOS.

  • Unzip and drag the Postman app to the Applications folder.

  • Launch it from Applications and sign in.

4. Install on Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

Using Snap (recommended):

sudo snap install postman

Or download the .tar.gz from the website and extract it manually if Snap is not available.

5. Using Postman on the Web

If we prefer not to install anything:

  • Go to https://web.postman.co

  • Sign in with our account.

  • Start using Postman directly from the browser.

Note: Some features like sending requests to localhost may not work on the web version due to browser restrictions.

6. Create an Account (Optional but Recommended)

Creating a free Postman account enables features like:

  • Syncing collections and environments

  • Collaboration with teams

  • Access to Postman Cloud features

Features

1. Request Building

We can build and send HTTP requests easily by choosing the method (GET, POST, etc.), adding headers, query parameters, path variables, request bodies (JSON, form data, etc.), and then hitting "Send."

2. Collections

Collections are groups of API requests saved in an organized way. We can share these with our team or export them to be used in automation tools like Newman.

3. Environment Variables

We can define environments like dev, test, prod with variables such as base URLs, tokens, etc. This makes it easy to switch between environments without changing requests manually.

4. Pre-request Scripts and Tests

Postman supports writing scripts using JavaScript. These can run:

  • Before the request is sent (e.g., to set a token dynamically)

  • After the response is received (e.g., to validate status code or response content)

5. Mock Servers

Mock servers allow we to simulate an API endpoint that returns a fixed response. This is useful during development if the backend isn’t ready yet.

6. Monitors

We can schedule collections to run periodically using monitors. It helps we verify that our APIs are working as expected over time.

7. Documentation

Postman can auto-generate API documentation from our collections, which can then be published and shared.

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