Okay, so today I messed around with this thing called Bruno. I’d heard some buzz about it being a cool alternative to Postman, so I figured, why not give it a shot? I mean, Postman’s alright, but sometimes it feels a bit… clunky. Plus, I’m always up for trying out new tools, especially if they promise to make my API testing life easier.
Getting Started
First things first, I needed to get Bruno on my machine. The installation was pretty straightforward. Downloaded it, installed,and boom good to go.
Once it was up and running, the interface looked pretty clean. Not too overwhelming, which I appreciated. I’m not a fan of tools that throw a million buttons and options at you right off the bat.
My First Collection
I decided to start by creating a new “collection.” Think of it like a folder to organize your API requests. I named it something super creative, like “My Test Collection.” Hey, don’t judge, I was focused on functionality, not fancy names!
- Created a collection: Literally just clicked a button and typed a name. Easy peasy.
Making Requests
Now for the fun part – actually sending some requests! I had a simple GET request I wanted to test out, just to get a feel for things. Typed in the URL, hit “Send,” and… it worked! Got my response back, status code 200, everything looked good.
- GET request: Typed in the URL, that’s it.
- Sending: Clicked the big “Send” button. No rocket science here.
- Response: Saw the data I expected, status code was 200 (which is what I wanted).
Next, I tried a POST request. Needed to add a request body this time. Bruno let me choose the body type (JSON, in my case) and had a nice little editor where I could paste in my JSON data. Sent the request, and again, it worked flawlessly. I could see the response body and headers, just like I expected.
- POST request: Added a body this time, using the JSON editor.
- Headers: Bruno handled the headers automatically, but I could customize them if I needed to.
Environment Variables
One thing I really like about Postman is the ability to use environment variables. It’s super handy for switching between different environments (like development, staging, and production) without having to manually change URLs and other settings. Thankfully, Bruno has this feature too!
I set up a couple of environment variables, one for my base URL and another for an API key. Then, I used those variables in my requests. Worked like a charm! This is a must-have feature for me, so I was glad to see it in Bruno.
Saving My Work
After playing around for a while, I wanted to make sure my work was saved. it’s super important, because you directly working with the file system.
Overall Impressions
So, after spending some time with Bruno, what do I think? Honestly, I’m pretty impressed. It’s lightweight, fast, and has a clean interface. It seems to have all the essential features I need for API testing, and the environment variables support is a big plus.
I’ll definitely keep using Bruno and see how it holds up in the long run. But for now, it’s looking like a solid alternative to Postman, and I’m excited to explore it further!
