The workbench

The sidebar has a section each for collections, environments, history and API documents, and on the desktop for mock servers, runs and flows. Mod+\, or Toggle sidebar in the command palette, hides and shows it.

Collections hold folders and requests in a tree. Hover a row, or move focus to it, to show its menu and the button that adds a request or a folder. F2 renames the row, Mod+D duplicates it, Mod+Backspace deletes it and Mod+R runs a collection or folder.

Tabs

Each open request has its own tab and its own draft until you save it. Open tabs and their drafts are kept when you quit and are there again when Porticol starts. When there are more tabs than fit, the list at the end of the tab strip finds one by name.

The request editor

A request has sections for its query parameters, headers, body, auth, scripts, settings and examples. A body is JSON, text, a form or multipart. Variable references such as {{base_url}} are highlighted wherever they are typed.

Choose any HTTP method, or type one of your own. Rename a request from its name above the URL.

The response

The response shows the status, time and size, with tabs for:

the body, pretty or raw
headers and trailers
cookies the response set
the results of test scripts and their console output
a timeline of each hop, with redirects, retries and the time each phase took
the TLS certificate chain
the bytes on the wire, when they were recorded

A body over 8 MB is written to a file instead of held in memory, and opens in a paged viewer that searches all of it. Save to file copies it into your downloads folder. Save as example keeps a response with the request, as an example a mock server can answer with.

Mod+Alt+L, or Toggle response layout, moves the response between beside the request and below it. Mod+Shift+M, or Maximise response, gives it the whole window and back.

History

Every send is kept in history with its status and duration. Open the History section, or choose Show history in the palette, to filter by text, status class or host. Opening an entry opens its request in a new tab.

Import

Import… in the palette reads Postman collections and environments, OpenAPI 3, Insomnia v4, HAR and cURL commands. Choose several files at once, and import them into a new collection or into an existing one, where each file becomes a folder. A report shows what will be created, and anything that couldn't be brought across, before anything is written. Credential headers in HAR, Insomnia and cURL imports become variables rather than plain text.

Settings for the workbench

General sets where the response sits, right or bottom, and how long history is kept: how many sends, and for how many days. On the desktop it also has the update channel, Stable or Beta, and Check now.

Appearance sets the theme, System, Light, Dark or High contrast, and the density, Compact or Comfortable. The palette's Switch theme and Switch density commands change them without opening Settings.

Keyboard lists every shortcut. Search for an action, choose its record button and press the new keys, or Esc to keep the old ones. A shortcut another action already uses says which. Reset all puts every shortcut back.