Show HN: Resterm – A terminal-based REST/GraphQL and gRPC client

Resterm a terminal-based REST client. Features Workspace explorer. Filters .http / .rest files, respects workspace roots, and keeps the file pane navigable with incremental search. Filters / files, respects workspace roots, and keeps the file pane navigable with incremental search. Editor with modal workflow. Starts in view mode, supports Vim-style motions, visual selections with inline highlighting, clipboard yank/cut, Shift+F search, and an i / Esc toggle for insert mode. Starts in view mode, supports Vim-style motions, visual selections with inline highlighting, clipboard yank/cut, search, and an / toggle for insert mode. Status-aware response pane. Pill-style header calls out workspace, environment, active request, and script/test outcomes; response tabs cover Pretty, Raw, Headers, and History, plus request previews. Pill-style header calls out workspace, environment, active request, and script/test outcomes; response tabs cover Pretty, Raw, Headers, and History, plus request previews. Auth & variable helpers. @auth directives cover basic, bearer, API key, and custom headers; variable resolution spans request, file, environment, and OS layers with helpers like {{$timestamp}} and {{$uuid}} . directives cover basic, bearer, API key, and custom headers; variable resolution spans request, file, environment, and OS layers with helpers like and . Pre-request & test scripting. JavaScript (goja) hooks mutate outgoing requests, assert on responses, and surface pass/fail summaries inline. JavaScript (goja) hooks mutate outgoing requests, assert on responses, and surface pass/fail summaries inline. GraphQL tooling. @graphql and @variables directives produce proper payloads, attach operation names, and keep previews/history readable. and directives produce proper payloads, attach operation names, and keep previews/history readable. gRPC client. GRPC host:port requests with @grpc metadata build messages from descriptor sets or reflection, stream metadata/trailers, and log history entries beside HTTP calls. requests with metadata build messages from descriptor sets or reflection, stream metadata/trailers, and log history entries beside HTTP calls. Session persistence. Cookie jar, history store, and environment-aware entries survive restarts; @no-log can redact bodies. Cookie jar, history store, and environment-aware entries survive restarts; can redact bodies. Configurable transport. Flag-driven timeout, TLS, redirect, and proxy settings alongside environment file discovery ( resterm.env.json or legacy rest-client.env.json ). Warning Resterm is still in early stages so bugs and undesired behaviors can be expected. Request File Structure Resterm reads plain-text .http / .rest files. Each request follows the same conventions so the editor, parser, and history can reason about it consistently. ### get user # @name getUser # @description Fetch a user profile GET https://{{baseUrl}}/users/{{userId}} Authorization: Bearer {{token}} X-Debug: {{$timestamp}} { "verbose" : true } ### create user POST https://{{baseUrl}}/users Content-Type: application/json < ./payloads/create-user.json Request separators. Start a new request with a line beginning ### (an optional label after the hashes is ignored by the parser but is handy for readability). Start a new request with a line beginning (an optional label after the hashes is ignored by the parser but is handy for readability). Metadata directives. Comment lines ( # or // ) before the request line can include directives such as @name , @description , @tag , @auth , @graphql , @grpc , @variables , and @script . See Request Metadata & Settings for the full list. Comment lines ( or ) before the request line can include directives such as , , , , , , , and . See Request Metadata & Settings for the full list. Request line. The first non-comment line specifies the verb and target. HTTP calls use , whereas gRPC calls begin with GRPC host:port followed by @grpc package.Service/Method metadata. The first non-comment line specifies the verb and target. HTTP calls use , whereas gRPC calls begin with followed by metadata. Headers. Subsequent lines of the form Header-Name: value are sent verbatim after variable substitution. Subsequent lines of the form are sent verbatim after variable substitution. Body. A blank line separates headers from the body. You can inline JSON/text, use heredoc-style scripts, or include external files with < ./path/to/file . A blank line separates headers from the body. You can inline JSON/text, use heredoc-style scripts, or include external files with . Inline variables. Placeholders like {{userId}} or {{token}} are resolved using the variable stack (request variables, file-level variables, selected environment, then OS environment). Helpers such as {{$uuid}} and {{$timestamp}} are available out of the box. Getting Started # build the binary go build ./cmd/resterm # run with a sample file ./resterm --file examples/basic.http Workspace Mode By default resterm scans the opened file’s directory (or the current working directory) for request files. Use --workspace to pick a different root: ./resterm --workspace ./samples --file samples/basic.http Key Bindings Action Shortcut Cycle focus between panes Tab / Shift+Tab Send active editor request Ctrl+Enter Run selected request from the palette Enter (Requests list) Preview selected request in the editor Space Toggle editor insert mode i (enter insert) / Esc (return to view) Toggle help overlay ? Open environment selector Ctrl+E Save current file Ctrl+S Reparse document Ctrl+R Refresh workspace file list Ctrl+O Adjust sidebar split Ctrl+Up / Ctrl+Down Replay highlighted history entry Enter (History tab) Quit Ctrl+Q ( Ctrl+D also works) Editor motions & search h , j , k , l - move left/down/up/right , , , - move left/down/up/right w , b , e - jump by words ( e lands on word ends) , , - jump by words ( lands on word ends) 0 , $ , ^ - start/end/first non-blank of line , , - start/end/first non-blank of line gg , G - top/bottom of buffer , - top/bottom of buffer Ctrl+f / Ctrl+b - page down/up ( Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u half-page) / - page down/up ( / half-page) v , y - visual select, yank selection , - visual select, yank selection Shift+F - open search prompt; Ctrl+R toggles regex while open - open search prompt; toggles regex while open n - jump to the next match (wraps around) CLI Flags --file : path to a .http / .rest file to open. : path to a / file to open. --workspace : directory to scan for request files. : directory to scan for request files. --env : named environment from the environment set. : named environment from the environment set. --env-file : explicit path to an environment JSON file. : explicit path to an environment JSON file. --timeout : request timeout (default 30s ). : request timeout (default ). --insecure : skip TLS certificate verification. : skip TLS certificate verification. --follow : follow redirects (default true ). : follow redirects (default ). --proxy : HTTP proxy URL. : HTTP proxy URL. --recurisve : recursively scan the workspace for .http / .rest files. Environment files are simple JSON maps keyed by environment name, for example: { "dev" : { "baseUrl" : " https://api.dev.local " , "token" : " dev-token " }, "prod" : { "baseUrl" : " https://api.example.com " } } Request Metadata & Settings @name - names the request for the file explorer and history. - names the request for the file explorer and history. @description / @desc - attaches multi-line prose notes that travel with the request. / - attaches multi-line prose notes that travel with the request. @tag - assigns tags for quick filtering (stored even if the current UI doesn’t surface them yet (it is in the roadmap)). - assigns tags for quick filtering (stored even if the current UI doesn’t surface them yet (it is in the roadmap)). @auth - injects authentication automatically. Supported forms: @auth basic @auth bearer @auth apikey @auth Authorization (custom header) - injects authentication automatically. Supported forms: @setting - per-request overrides. Recognised keys ( timeout , proxy , followredirects , insecure ), and @timeout is accepted as a shorthand. - per-request overrides. Recognised keys ( , , , ), and is accepted as a shorthand. @no-log - skip storing the response body snippet for that request in history. - skip storing the response body snippet for that request in history. @script followed by lines beginning with > - executes JavaScript either as pre-request (mutate method/url/headers/body/variables) or test blocks whose assertions appear in the UI and history. GraphQL Enable GraphQL handling by adding @graphql to the request’s comment block. The request body captures the query, and an optional @variables directive switches the subsequent body lines to JSON variables (or < file.json to load from disk). @operation sets the operationName field. Example: # @graphql # @operation FetchUser POST https://api.example.com/graphql query FetchUser($id: ID!) { user(id: $id) { name } } # @variables { "id": "{{userId}}" } resterm packages this as { "query": ..., "variables": ... } for POST requests (or as query parameters for GET), sets Content-Type: application/json when needed, and preserves the query/variables layout in previews and history. GraphQL metadata @graphql [true|false] - enable (default) or turn off GraphQL processing for the request. - enable (default) or turn off GraphQL processing for the request. @operation (alias: @graphql-operation ) - populate the operationName field. (alias: ) - populate the field. @variables [< file.json] - start a variables block. Lines following the directive are treated as JSON until another directive is encountered; use < file.json to load from disk. - start a variables block. Lines following the directive are treated as JSON until another directive is encountered; use to load from disk. @query < file.graphql> - optional helper if you prefer to load the main query from a file instead of inlining it. gRPC Switch a request into gRPC mode by starting the request line with GRPC host:port and declaring the method using @grpc / . Optionally provide a compiled descriptor set ( @grpc-descriptor descriptors/service.protoset ) or rely on server reflection ( @grpc-reflection true , the default). The request body should contain protobuf JSON for the request message, or use < payload.json to load from disk. Example: # @grpc my.pkg.UserService/GetUser # @grpc-descriptor descriptors/user.protoset GRPC localhost:50051 { "id": "{{userId}}" } Headers and @grpc-metadata key: value directives attach gRPC metadata. resterm resolves templates before invoking the call, displays headers/trailers and the JSON response, and records each invocation in history with the gRPC status code. gRPC metadata @grpc / - specify the fully-qualified method name (package optional). - specify the fully-qualified method name (package optional). @grpc-descriptor - path to a compiled descriptor set ( protoc --descriptor_set_out ). - path to a compiled descriptor set ( ). @grpc-reflection [true|false] - toggle server reflection (default true ). - toggle server reflection (default ). @grpc-plaintext [true|false] - override TLS usage for the channel. - override TLS usage for the channel. @grpc-authority - set the :authority pseudo-header for HTTP/2. - set the :authority pseudo-header for HTTP/2. @grpc-metadata : - add unary call metadata (repeat for multiple entries). Inline, request-, and file-level variables resolve against the selected environment file ( resterm.env.json or rest-client.env.json ), then fall back to OS environment variables. Development Pre-requisites: Go 1.22 or newer. History is stored in ~/.config/resterm/history.json (using the platform-appropriate config directory). Override the location via the RESTERM_CONFIG_DIR environment variable. go test ./... go run ./cmd/resterm --file _examples/basic.http Roadmap