Resterm

a terminal-based REST/GraphQL/gRPC/WebSocket/SSE client.

Trace and Timeline

Workflow and WebSocket

Compare mode

Profiler

Resterm is a terminal client for working with HTTP, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket and SSE. No cloud sync, no signups, no heavy desktop app. If you live on the keyboard - this is your home.

TL;DR why resterm:

• Resterm is keyboard first.
• Works offline so everything lives in plain files - no accounts or cloud.
• Built-in SSH tunnels for HTTP/gRPC/WebSocket/SSE with keep-alives and retries.
• Fast iteration loop with explorer + history + diff/compare + captures/workflows.
• Debuggable - timeline tracing, profiler, streaming transcripts and inline scripts/tests.

Index

Up & Running

• Key Capabilities
• Installation
  • Quick Install
  • Manual Installation
• Update
• Quick Start
• Quick Configuration Overview

Feature snapshots

• Workflows & scripting
• Compare runs
• Tracing & timeline
• Streaming (WebSocket & SSE)
• OpenAPI import
• Theming & bindings
• SSH Tunnels
• Documentation

Features

• Workspace navigator that filters .http / .rest files, supports recursion and keeps request lists in sync as you edit.
• Editor with inline syntax highlighting, search (Ctrl+F), clipboard motions, and inline metadata completions (type @ for contextual hints).
• Variable scopes with @global (environment-wide), @var file (document), @var request (per-call), plus compile-time constants (@const), 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).
• WebSockets and SSE with scripted @ws steps, automatic transcripts and an interactive console for ad-hoc frames.
• OpenAPI importer converts OpenAPI specs into Resterm-ready .http collections from the CLI.
• Inline requests and curl import for one-off calls (Ctrl+Enter on a URL or curl block).
• Pretty/Raw/Header/Diff/History/Stream views with optional split panes, pinned comparisons, and live event playback.
• 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.
• Tracing and Timeline with @trace to enable request tracing.
• Multi-step workflows compose several named requests (@workflow + @step) with per-step overrides and expectations.
• Multi-environment compare via @compare directives or the global --compare flag.
• SSH tunnels route HTTP/gRPC/WebSocket/SSE traffic through bastions with host key verification, keep-alives, retries, and persistent tunnels.
• Custom theming & bindings if you want to make a resterm more alligned with your taste.

Installation

Quick Install

Linux / macOS:

[!IMPORTANT] Pre-built Linux binaries depend on glibc 2.32 or newer. If you run an older distro, build from source on a machine with a newer glibc toolchain or upgrade glibc before using the release archives.

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

or with wget:

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

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

Update

resterm --check-update
resterm --update

The first command reports whether a newer release is available; the second downloads and installs it (Windows users receive a staged binary to swap on restart).

Quick Start

If you just want to hit an API right now, you don’t need any files.

1. Start Resterm

   # In a project directory (no files required)
   resterm
   
   # Or explicitly point to a workspace
   resterm --workspace path/to/project
   

2. Type a minimal request

   • Focus the editor pane (use Tab if needed).

   • Press i or a and type a simple request, for example:

     GET https://httpbin.org/status/204
     

3. Send it

   • Press Ctrl+Enter to send the request.
   • The response appears in the response pane on the right.

4. Move around

   • Tab / Shift+Tab - cycle focus between sidebar, editor, and response.
   • g+p - jump directly to the response pane.
   • g+i - jump back to the editor.

That’s enough to be productive: open Resterm, type a URL, hit Ctrl+Enter, see the response.

Quick Start (but with files)

If you work with .http / .rest files, Resterm will discover and use them.

1. Open a directory with request files

   • Create or open a directory that contains .http / .rest files (see _examples/ in this repo for samples).

   • Run:

     resterm
     # or
     resterm --workspace path/to/project
     

2. Pick and send a request

   • Use the sidebar to select a request from your .http / .rest files.
   • Press Ctrl+Enter to send it.
   • The response shows up in the right pane.

3. Minimal request file example

   ### 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
   

Navigation & Layout Cheat Sheet

A few keys that make Resterm feel “native” quickly:

• Pane focus & layout

  • Tab / Shift+Tab - move focus between sidebar, editor, and response.
  • g+r - jump to Requests (sidebar).
  • g+i - jump to Editor.
  • g+p - jump to Response.
  • g+h / g+l - adjust layout:
    • When the left pane (sidebar) is focused: change sidebar width.
    • Otherwise: change editor/response split.
  • g+v / g+s - toggle response pane between inline and stacked layout.
  • g+1, g+2, g+3 + minimize/restore sidebar, editor, response.
  • g+z / g+Z - zoom the focused pane / clear zoom.

• Environments & globals

  • Ctrl+E - switch environments.
  • Ctrl+G - inspect captured globals.

• Working with responses

  • Ctrl+V / Ctrl+U - split the response pane for side-by-side comparison.
  • When response pane is focused:
    • Ctrl+Shift+C or g y - copy the entire Pretty/Raw/Headers tab to the clipboard (no mouse selection needed).

[!TIP] If you only remember three shortcuts…

• Ctrl+Enter - send request
• Tab / Shift+Tab - switch panes
• g+p - jump to response

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.

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.

Quick Configuration Overview

• Environments: JSON files (resterm.env.json) are auto-discovered in the request directory, workspace root, or CWD. Dotenv files (.env, .env.*) are opt-in via --env-file and are single-workspace; prefer JSON when you need multiple environments in one file.
• Flags you probebly reach for most: --workspace, --file, --env, --env-file, --timeout, --insecure, --follow, --proxy, --recursive, --from-openapi, --http-out (see docs for the full list).
• Config storage: $HOME/Library/Application Support/resterm, %APPDATA%\resterm, or $HOME/.config/resterm (override with RESTERM_CONFIG_DIR). Themes and keybindings live under this directory when you customize them.

Feature snapshots

• SSH jumps/tunnels: Route HTTP/gRPC/WebSocket/SSE through bastions with @ssh profiles (persist/keepalive/host-key/retries). Docs: docs/resterm.md#ssh-jumps and _examples/ssh.http.
• Workflows & scripting: Chain requests with @workflow/@step, pass data between steps, and add lightweight JS hooks. Docs + sample: docs/resterm.md#workflows-multi-step-workflows and _examples/workflows.http.
• Compare runs: Run the same request across environments with @compare or --compare, then diff responses side by side (g+c). Docs: docs/resterm.md#compare-runs.
• Tracing & timeline: Add @trace with budgets to capture DNS/connect/TLS/TTFB/transfer timings, visualize overruns, and optionally export spans to OpenTelemetry. Docs: docs/resterm.md#timeline--tracing.
• Streaming (WebSocket & SSE): Use @websocket + @ws steps or @sse to script and record streams. The Stream tab keeps transcripts and an interactive console. Docs: docs/resterm.md#streaming-sse--websocket.
• OpenAPI import: Convert an OpenAPI 3 spec into .http collections from the CLI (--from-openapi). Docs: docs/resterm.md#importing-openapi-specs.
• Theming & bindings: Optional customization via themes/*.toml and bindings.toml/json under the config dir; defaults are ready to use. Docs: docs/resterm.md#theming and docs/resterm.md#custom-bindings.

Documentation

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