Resterm

a terminal-based REST/GraphQL/gRPC client.

Split panes with response diffing side-by-side

Split panes response and profiler

Workflow run with step-by-step validation

Resterm is a terminal-first client for working with HTTP, GraphQL, and gRPC services. No cloud sync, no signups, no heavy desktop app. Simple, yet feature rich, terminal client for .http/.rest files. It pairs a Vim-like-style editor with a workspace explorer, response diff, history, profiler and scripting so you can iterate on requests without leaving the keyboard.

Highlights

• Editor with inline syntax highlighting, search (Ctrl+F), and clipboard motions.
• Workspace navigator that filters .http / .rest files, supports recursion and keeps request lists in sync as you edit.
• Inline requests and curl import for one-off calls (Ctrl+Enter on a URL or curl block).
• Pretty/Raw/Header/Diff/History views with optional split panes and pinned comparisons.
• Variable scopes, captures, JavaScript hooks, and multi-step workflows with per-step expectations and overrides.
• GraphQL helpers (@graphql, @variables, @query) and gRPC directives (@grpc, @grpc-descriptor, reflection, metadata).
• Built-in OAuth 2.0 client plus support for basic, bearer, API key, and custom header auth.
• Latency with @profile to benchmark endpoints and render histograms right inside the TUI.
• Multi-step workflows let you compose several named requests into one workflow (@workflow + @step), override per-step variables, and review aggregated results in History.

Installation

Quick Install

Linux / macOS:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unkn0wn-root/resterm/main/install.sh | sh

or with wget:

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unkn0wn-root/resterm/main/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unkn0wn-root/resterm/main/install.ps1 | iex

These scripts will automatically detect your architecture, download the latest release, and install the binary.

Manual Installation

[!NOTE] The manual install helper uses curl and jq. Install jq with your package manager (brew install jq, sudo apt install jq, etc.).

Linux / macOS

# Detect latest tag
LATEST_TAG=$(curl -fsSL https://api.github.com/repos/unkn0wn-root/resterm/releases/latest | jq -r .tag_name)

# Download the matching binary (Darwin/Linux + amd64/arm64)
curl -fL -o resterm "https://github.com/unkn0wn-root/resterm/releases/download/${LATEST_TAG}/resterm_$(uname -s)_$(uname -m)"

# Make it executable and move it onto your PATH
chmod +x resterm
sudo install -m 0755 resterm /usr/local/bin/resterm

Windows (PowerShell)

$latest = Invoke-RestMethod https://api.github.com/repos/unkn0wn-root/resterm/releases/latest
$asset  = $latest.assets | Where-Object { $_.name -like 'resterm_Windows_*' } | Select-Object -First 1
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $asset.browser_download_url -OutFile resterm.exe
# Optionally relocate to a directory on PATH, e.g.:
Move-Item resterm.exe "$env:USERPROFILE\bin\resterm.exe"

From source

go install github.com/unkn0wn-root/resterm/cmd/resterm@latest

Quick Start

1. Create or open a directory that contains .http / .rest files (see _examples/ for samples). If you want to start right away without any .http - just open resterm...
2. ... or launch Resterm: resterm --workspace path/to/project (or if your .http/.rest file is in the same dir. - just type resterm and it will be autodiscovered).
3. Pick a request from the sidebar and press Ctrl+Enter to send it. Responses appear in the right pane. If you don't have any .http file, just switch to the editor (Tab) and type https://<some_url_dot_something> and press Ctrl+Enter.
4. Move between panes with Tab / Shift+Tab, jump directly with g+r (requests), g+i (editor), g+p (response), and adjust the editor/response width with g+h / g+l.
5. Use Ctrl+E to switch environments, Ctrl+G to inspect captured globals, and Ctrl+V / Ctrl+U to split the response pane when comparing calls.

A minimal request file:

### Status check
# @name status
GET https://httpbin.org/status/204
User-Agent: resterm

### Authenticated echo
# @name bearerEcho
# @auth bearer {{auth.token}}
GET https://httpbin.org/bearer
Accept: application/json

Inline curl import

Drop a curl command into the editor and press Ctrl+Enter anywhere inside to turn it into a structured request. Resterm understands common flags (-X, -H, --data*, --json, --url, --user, --compressed, -F/--form, etc.), merges repeated data segments, and respects multipart uploads.

sudo curl \
  --compressed \
  --url "https://httpbin.org/post?source=resterm&case=multipart" \
  --request POST \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -H "X-Client: resterm-dev" \
  --user resterm:test123 \
  -F file=@README.md \
  --form-string memo='Testing resterm inline curl
with multiline value' \
  --form-string meta='{"env":"test","attempt":1}'

If you copied the command from a shell, prefixes like sudo or $ are ignored automatically. Resterm loads the file attachment, preserves multiline form fields, and applies compression/auth headers without extra tweaks.

Workflows

• Combine existing requests with @workflow + @step blocks to build repeatable scenarios that run inside the TUI.
• Set per-step assertions (expect.status, expect.statuscode) and pass data between steps via vars.request.* and vars.workflow.* namespaces.
• View progress in the sidebar, and inspect the aggregated summary in History after the run.
• See docs/resterm.md for the full reference and _examples/workflows.http for a runnable sample workflow.

Quick Configuration Overview

• Environment files: resterm.env.json (or legacy rest-client.env.json) discovered in the file directory, workspace root, or current working directory.
• CLI flags: --workspace, --file, --env, --env-file, --timeout, --insecure, --follow, --proxy, --recursive.
• Config directory: $HOME/Library/Application Support/resterm, %APPDATA%\resterm, or $HOME/.config/resterm (override with RESTERM_CONFIG_DIR).

Documentation

The full reference, including request syntax, metadata, directive tables, scripting APIs, transport settings and advanced workflows, lives in docs/resterm.md.