Basics of Hoppscotch (API Testing Platform)
What is Hoppscotch ?
Hoppscotch is a lightweight free and open-source API development and testing tool that provides a user-friendly interface for interacting with APIs. It is available as a web application and as a browser extension, making it easily accessible and convenient for developers and testers.
The primary goal of Hoppscotch is to simplify the process of testing and debugging APIs by providing a straightforward and intuitive user interface.
Protocols Supported:
Features of Hoppscotch
- REST API Testing: Hoppscotch’s REST API platform allows you to test and troubleshoot our API endpoints quickly and easily. You can handle your API requests more efficiently by utilizing capabilities such as environments, collections, and history.
- GraphQL API Testing: Hoppscotch’s GraphQL API platform allows you to test and play with GraphQL. GraphQL platform also supports environments, collections, and history.
- Realtime API Testing: Hoppscotch’s Realtime API platform enables to test of real-time APIs easily, currently it supports different protocols like WebSocket, SSE, Socket.IO, and MQTT
- Environments: An environment facilitates the creation of variables that can be reused in requests and scripts. Environments are especially helpful when managing shared data with a group. To use the same set of requests (collections) in different environments, we can construct environments like dev, staging, and prod.
- Workspaces: Hoppscotch allows you to use your own workspace known as “My Workspace” or establish a workspace for your teams to collaborate on. We can create a team (workspace) and invite team members to the required workspace, and the three roles that assist members in the workspace are Owner, Editor, and Viewer.
- Interceptor: Hoppscotch Interceptor works as a middleware layer between the client and the server, enabling users to inspect and modify the data flowing between them. It is particularly useful for testing APIs with different headers, query parameters, or authentication methods.
- Scripts: Hoppscotch provides JavaScript APIs for writing pre-request scripts and building tests with the “pw” object.
- Collections: Hoppscotch uses collections to help you arrange your API calls. You can make collections and populate them with requests to share with your team or utilize later. Hoppscotch, OpenAPI, and Postman collections can also be imported and exported.
- History: Hoppscotch keeps track of your requests and responses.
- Authorization: Hoppsctoch provides an Authorization feature in REST, and GraphQL platforms to authenticate your APIs. Currently it supports Basic Auth, Bearer Token, OAuth 2.0, and API Key
- User Experience- Shortcuts: Hoppscotch provides you with a shortcut menu that helps to navigate the UI, which helps to improve the user experience
- User Experience — Customization: Hoppscotch helps you to customize your experience.
History of Hoppscotch
Liyas Thomas created Hoppscotch, below is the story from Liyas,
Story this far: I joined Zartek, which is a start-up based in Kochi, Kerala where I work as a full-stack developer.
The story behind Hoppscotch: The very first task I was assigned is an API integration of an old project. That’s when I came across Postman API testing tool. Postman has separate builds targeted to each operating system made with Electron. I use a low-end PC and can’t possibly afford to run another Electron app. From that moment onwards, I wanted to make an API testing platform which is:
Open Sourced 💚
Runs online
Have multi-platform support
Have multi-device support
Accessible from anywhere
That’s how Hoppscotch was born (this is not at all an alternative to Postman — yet, it does the job very beautifully and minimally. It needs more features and love which I hope we all can give by contributing on GitHub).
When I did a background check on API request builders, Postman offered various Plans & Pricing, there were a lot of other API request builders based on cURL, etc. But none of them seems simple, minimal, and efficient.
That’s why I created my own API request builder with pure JavaScript (I used Vue.js) + HTML + CSS 💖
Hoppscotch, previously known as Postwoman, is an open-source project with an interesting history. Here’s a brief overview of its evolution:
- Postwoman (2019–2020): As mentioned above Postwoman was initially created by Liyas Thomas, an open-source enthusiast and software developer. It started as a side project, aiming to provide developers with a simple and efficient way to interact with APIs. The tool gained popularity quickly due to its user-friendly interface and capabilities, attracting a growing community of users and contributors.
- Renaming to Hoppscotch (2020): In November 2020, the project underwent a name change from “Postwoman” to “Hoppscotch.” The decision to rebrand the tool was made to avoid potential trademark conflicts and to give the project a distinct identity. Despite the name change, the core functionality and purpose of the tool remained the same.
- Continued Development and Community Support: After the rebranding, Hoppscotch continued to see active development and gained even more popularity among developers. The project remained open-source, which allowed the community to contribute code improvements, new features, and bug fixes. Hoppscotch also started to receive positive feedback and praise from developers who found it to be a valuable tool for API development and testing.
- Expansion of Features: Over time, Hoppscotch evolved to include additional features and enhancements, such as support for environment variables, authentication methods, and the ability to organize API requests into collections. These improvements further solidified its position as a robust API development and testing tool.
- Web and Browser Extension Versions: Hoppscotch is available as a web application that users can access through their browsers. Additionally, it is available as a browser extension, making it even more convenient for developers to access and use the tool while working on different projects.
- Active Community and GitHub Repository: Hoppscotch’s active community of users and contributors continues to play a vital role in its development and success. The GitHub repository of Hoppscotch serves as a central hub for discussing new ideas, reporting bugs, submitting pull requests, and keeping track of the tool’s progress.
As with any open-source project, the history of Hoppscotch is ongoing, and its development and growth are driven by the contributions and support of the community. The tool’s commitment to being free, open-source, and user-friendly makes it a popular choice for developers seeking a straightforward solution for API development and testing.
Why Hoppscotch and How to use Hoppscotch ? > WIP
References