explaingit

kong/insomnia

📈 Trending★ 38,413TypeScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5ActiveLicenseSetup · easy

TLDR

Desktop app for testing and designing APIs across REST, GraphQL, WebSockets, and gRPC with request collections, automated tests, and mock servers.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Insomnia))
    What it does
      Send HTTP requests
      Inspect responses
      Design APIs visually
      Run test suites
    Protocols supported
      REST APIs
      GraphQL queries
      WebSockets
      gRPC
    Storage options
      Local Vault
      Git Sync
      Cloud Sync
    Use cases
      API development
      API testing
      Mock servers
      CI/CD integration

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Test REST, GraphQL, and WebSocket endpoints while building a web service without leaving the app.

USE CASE 2

Design and document APIs using the built-in OpenAPI editor with visual preview before implementation.

USE CASE 3

Create mock servers to simulate API behavior so frontend teams can develop in parallel.

USE CASE 4

Automate API testing in CI/CD pipelines using the Inso command-line tool.

Tech stack

TypeScriptElectronRESTGraphQLWebSocketsgRPC

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
Open-source software available under the Insomnia License; free to use for development with optional paid team collaboration features.

In plain English

Insomnia is an open-source desktop application for interacting with APIs during development. If you are building or testing a web service and need to send HTTP requests, inspect the responses, and organize your request collections, Insomnia provides a graphical interface for doing that across a wide range of protocols including REST (standard HTTP APIs), GraphQL (a query language for APIs), WebSockets (persistent bidirectional connections), Server-Sent Events, and gRPC (Google's remote procedure call framework). Beyond just sending requests and seeing responses, Insomnia also lets you design APIs using a built-in OpenAPI editor with a visual preview, write and run automated test suites against your API, create mock servers to simulate an API before building the real one, and build CI/CD pipeline integrations using a command-line tool called Inso. For managing how you store your work, Insomnia offers three options: Local Vault for keeping everything on your device, Git Sync for storing collections in any Git repository without cloud involvement, and Cloud Sync for team collaboration with optional end-to-end encryption. You would use Insomnia when developing a web application or service and need to explore and test API endpoints interactively. It fills the same niche as tools like Postman. The basic functionality works without an account via a local Scratch Pad mode, while more advanced features like unlimited collaboration and Git Sync require a (free or paid) account. The application is built with TypeScript and Electron, a framework that packages web technologies into a desktop app, and runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
How do I set up Insomnia to test a GraphQL API endpoint and save the queries for reuse?
Prompt 2
Show me how to use Insomnia's mock server feature to simulate an API response before building the backend.
Prompt 3
How do I integrate Insomnia tests into my GitHub Actions workflow using the Inso CLI?
Prompt 4
What's the difference between Local Vault, Git Sync, and Cloud Sync in Insomnia, and which should I use for my team?
Prompt 5
How do I design an OpenAPI spec in Insomnia and export it for documentation?
Open on GitHub → Explain another repo

Generated 2026-05-18 · Model: sonnet-4-6 · Verify against the repo before relying on details.