Download RESTClient 2.3.3 for Mac from our website for free. The actual developer of this free software for Mac is Wiztools. The actual developer of this free software for Mac is Wiztools. The following version: 2.3 is the most frequently downloaded one by the program users.
I'm looking for a cocoa REST client for the OS X. I prefer something native so that I'm not in the terminal interface and not looking for any browser extensions.
bmike♦5 Answers
Here's one client:
This is a bit tricky to answer. REST is a style, an idiom, for software design. It isn't unto itself something you can have a generic client for. Rather, you can have tools that can interact with services via their REST-compliant APIs.
It's quite popular to use HTTP/S as the transport layer for REST-compliant APIs. And these days REST APIs can be found in a lot of web-based services. So it follows, some what naturally, that you'll find a lot of browser plugins that make it easy to do PUT, POST, GET and DELETE calls against arbitrary URLs using HTTP/S because that's where a lot of these REST-compliant services are listening and doing their thing.
If you'd rather not work within a browser you can, in OS X, quite easily move to the command line. cURL ships by default with OS X and is a rather invaluable tool for working with HTTP/S-based APIs, including ones that are REST based, but certainly not limited to just them (thought, admittedly, it's much harder to work with interfaces that require you carry state in your URL or in the body of the request, which is one of the reasons why the REST paradigm is so popular).
cURL is...unbelievably powerful. It's one of those tools that always seems to be able to do what you need it to do as soon as you've had the thought, 'Man, I wish cURL could do X...'. As a quick start to cURL Linux Journal has a nice primer and, of course, the official cURL website has a tutorial to help you get started.
I like real-world examples, so I'll pull this from another Linux Journal article where they give an example of posting to Twitter with cURL:
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With one modification: I'll make the call over https instead of http like they do in the article because there's no way I'd want to risk sending my username and password in plaintext over the public wire to Twitter.
There is Paw. It is not freeware but there is a trial so you can test it. It has a lot of nice features and UX-wise it has been a pleasure to use.
I've used the aptly named HTTP Client in the past to great avail. The app is deadly simply for setting custom headers, changing the user agent, testing APIs, etc.
One of the features listed on the homepage is 'HTTP Basic Authentication (with Keychain integration)'.
It's a simple and obvious app, and lets you review your full Request and the server's Response in detail.
Jason SalazJason SalazThere are many native OS X HTTP / REST clients, some more or less advanced. A while ago I would have recommended Echo as its UI is quite nice, and there is the ability to keep multiple requests at once and it has outline view for JSON responses. There are also a few basic tools that allow you to send a request and eventually save them in files (RESTed which is well known, Rest Client, GraphicalHttpClient, RESTtest, Simple HTTP Requests).
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Though, now I could only talk about Paw. My input may be biased as I'm the founder of Paw, but it has many advanced features like Environments, Cookies / Sessions, Dynamic Values (to generate any kind of token: OAuth 1 & 2, Amazon S3, hashes, HMAC signatures, random strings or numbers 'nonces'), Extensions so you can write custom JavaScript-based plug-ins, native editors for JSON or URL-encoded bodies, warnings when you make something suspicious (like a body in a GET request, etc.). We're extremely thankful to all users we got so far, and who left stellar reviews on the Mac App Store.
Hope this gives an overview of what's available. Other than native apps, there is Postman (a Chrome plug-in), Hurl (a web-based service), and probably more.
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Just to clarify my position - I run for profit web apps too, and have absolutely no objection to any developer putting a price on their products or services.It is just that in this circumstance, I am already a happy user of the (free) Postman API testing app, and whenever I see anyone talk about a new API testing tool, I am keen to check it out. However, if the other product is a 'paid for' product, then it has to be VERY compelling indeed to make me switch from the free one I am already using.
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For instance, I (and many others) think that Paw is worth the licence fee. It sounds a great product and is well worth the money. But for me, I didn't see any solid reason to switch to Paw from Postman unless I came across an absolutely killer feature that I could not live without.
In Insomnia's case, I was ready to dismiss it because I read about the simplicity of the interface, and I saw a 'Pricing' link on the web page. I immediately assumed it was a paid licence product, which meant that it immediately fell outside any compelling reason for me to even trial it.
Later, when I saw that it was an always free piece of software, it immediately went back on my radar as something I should check out as a possible replacement for Postman.
If it is as good as others say, then I do sincerely hope that the author finds some way to monetise it via some sort of Pro subscription etc. in the future.
My point is that the presence of a Pricing page (which I admit is one of the first things I look for when I visit any app or service page) could mislead people into thinking it is a strictly paid-for app, when in fact it is not.