Hello devs!

Testing APIs is a huge pain in the ass. If you aren't careful then you can easily get lost in the 'API-jungle' of your back-end application. So, using a tool to document and test the APIs goes a long way to make the development process smoother.

Why use Insomnia?

Before you ask 'Why not Postman?', let me say that I have used Postman for a very long time. I recently shifted to Insomnia for testing my APIs and really love the experience so far. This post isn't meant to be a comparison between the two software. Each one has its own pros and cons. You should use the tool which you find to be the best to work with.

User friendly Interface

What I love the most about Insomnia is its simple and intuitive UI. You got the Method Tabs on the far left, the request and body part in the middle and the response preview on the right. Although you can't see as many options on the page like Postman, in this case less is more.

Crucial features for Development

Some cool features that I like about Insomnia:

• Environment variables

You can load custom variables in the environment. This is helpful in cases like when you are creating routes and want to use the same base url. You can also have multiple environments (like for development or production).

• Organizing requests

The requests are neatly organized on the left sidebar.

• Timeline tab

You can check the timeline of the request by clicking on the timeline tab on the right side. This is very useful if you want to track the time of request, headers, what was the response, etc.

• Use data from other responses

You can also use data from other responses. Insomnia suggests many options for the placeholder.

• API Design and Sync with Git

When you are designing your API Document, you can use Sync with Git feature to set up a remote repository and commit changes to it.

Excellent themes and community plugins

Insomnia has a nice collection of themes to choose from. You can also install various community plugins to enhance your experience.