atac

Postman-like API client for the terminal

TLDR

Launch the TUI in the current directory

$ atac

Specify a custom application directory

$ atac -d [path/to/directory]

Send a one-shot GET request

$ atac try [https://api.example.com/endpoint]

Send a request from a collection

$ atac request [collection/request_name] send

Send a request using an environment

$ atac request [collection/request_name] send --env [my_env]

Import a Postman collection

$ atac import postman [path/to/collection.json]

Import from a cURL command

$ atac import curl "[curl -X GET https://example.com]"

Generate shell completions

$ atac completions [bash|zsh|fish]

SYNOPSIS

atac [-d directory] [--filter regex] [--dry-run] [--no-ansi-log] [-v...] [subcommand]

atac (Arguably a Terminal API Client) is a feature-rich, terminal-based API testing tool written in Rust. It provides a Postman-like experience entirely within the terminal, supporting both an interactive TUI mode and a scriptable CLI mode.
The TUI presents a full interface for building and organizing HTTP requests, viewing responses with syntax highlighting, managing collections, and switching between environments. The CLI mode allows sending requests, managing collections, and importing data non-interactively, making it suitable for scripting and automation.
atac supports all standard HTTP methods including GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, OPTIONS, HEAD, TRACE, and CONNECT. Authentication options include Basic, Bearer token, Digest, and JWT. Request bodies can be JSON, XML, HTML, plain text, multipart form, URL-encoded form, or file uploads. Full response details are available including status codes, headers, cookies, and timing.
Beyond HTTP, atac includes a WebSocket client supporting text, binary, ping, pong, and close messages. A built-in JavaScript runtime enables pre-request and post-request scripting for dynamic request modification and response processing.
Collections and environments are stored as human-readable JSON or YAML files, designed to be committed to version control. Environment variables are defined in .env files and referenced in requests using {{variable_name}} syntax. The tool can import from Postman v2.1.0 collections, OpenAPI specifications, and cURL commands, and can export requests to cURL, PHP Guzzle, Node.js Axios, Rust Reqwest, and raw HTTP formats.

PARAMETERS

-d directory, --directory directory

Main application directory containing collection files, the atac.toml config file, and the atac.log file

--filter regex

Only parse collection files whose names match the given regular expression

--tui

Run the TUI after executing a CLI subcommand

--dry-run

Avoid saving data to collection and environment files

--no-ansi-log

Avoid using ANSI formatting in log file output

-v, --verbose

Increase verbosity level; can be repeated for more detail

collection

Manage collections (list, create, delete, rename)

request

Manage and send requests within a collection

try

One-shot request sender for quick API calls without a saved collection

env

Manage environment files and variables

import

Import collections, requests, or environments from Postman v2.1.0, cURL, or OpenAPI formats

completions

Generate shell completion scripts for bash, zsh, or fish

man

Generate the ATAC man page

CONFIGURATION

atac.toml -- Main configuration file placed in the application directory. All keys are optional.
disable_syntax_highlighting

Set to true to disable response syntax highlighting (default: false)

disable_cors

Set to true to disable CORS handling (default: false)

[proxy] http_proxy

HTTP proxy URL

[proxy] https_proxy

HTTPS proxy URL

Key bindings are configured via a separate TOML file specified by the ATAC_KEY_BINDINGS environment variable. Default and Vim-style key binding templates are provided.
The ATAC_MAIN_DIR environment variable can be used as an alternative to the -d flag for specifying the application directory.

CAVEATS

Requires Rust 1.82 or later to build from source. On macOS, binaries downloaded from GitHub releases may need the quarantine attribute removed with xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine. OAuth and AWS authentication are not yet supported. Only Postman v2.1.0 collection format is supported for import.

HISTORY

atac was created by Julien Caposiena (Julien-cpsn) and first published to crates.io in April 2024. The project is open source under the MIT license and hosted on GitHub. It was built to provide a free, account-less, offline-first alternative to graphical API clients like Postman and Insomnia.