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usebruno/bruno

📈 Trending★ 44,196JavaScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5ActiveLicenseSetup · easy

TLDR

Open-source desktop app for testing APIs. Store collections as plain text files, version them with Git, no cloud required.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((bruno))
    What it does
      Test HTTP requests
      Inspect API responses
      Write automation scripts
    Key features
      Plain text storage
      Git version control
      Offline only
    Use cases
      API development
      Team collaboration
      API documentation
    Tech stack
      JavaScript
      Electron
      Bru markup
    Audience
      API developers
      Backend teams

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Test and debug HTTP and GraphQL APIs during development without leaving your editor.

USE CASE 2

Store API request collections in Git alongside your codebase for team collaboration via pull requests.

USE CASE 3

Write pre-request and post-response scripts to automate API testing workflows.

USE CASE 4

Replace Postman or Insomnia with a lightweight, privacy-first alternative that keeps data offline.

Tech stack

JavaScriptElectronNode.js

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice and include the license text.

In plain English

Bruno is an open-source desktop application for testing and exploring APIs, the interfaces that allow software systems to communicate with each other. It serves as a lightweight alternative to tools like Postman or Insomnia, which are widely used by developers to craft and send HTTP requests, inspect responses, and organize collections of API calls for testing and documentation purposes. The key differentiator of Bruno is its philosophy around data storage. Rather than saving your API collections in a proprietary cloud database or a binary format, Bruno stores everything as plain text files in a folder on your own computer using a custom markup language called Bru. This means your collections can be tracked with Git or any other version control system, just like source code. Teams can collaborate on API collections through standard pull requests and code reviews without needing a Bruno account or cloud subscription. Bruno is deliberately offline-only, the project has stated it will never add cloud sync, prioritizing data privacy. Someone would use Bruno when they are building or consuming web APIs and need to send test requests, inspect responses, write pre-request or post-response scripts, and organize those requests into reusable collections. It supports HTTP, GraphQL, and automation scripting. It is especially appealing to developers who are frustrated by Postman's shift toward requiring a cloud account and syncing data remotely, or who simply want their API collections stored and versioned alongside their codebase. Bruno runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. The tech stack is JavaScript, built with Electron to package the web-based interface into a native desktop application. Most features are free and open source under the MIT license, with some advanced features available in paid tiers.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
How do I set up Bruno to test a REST API and save the requests in my Git repository?
Prompt 2
Show me how to write a pre-request script in Bruno to add authentication headers to my API calls.
Prompt 3
How can my team collaborate on API collections in Bruno using Git without a cloud account?
Prompt 4
What's the difference between Bruno and Postman, and how do I migrate my Postman collection to Bruno?
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Generated 2026-05-18 · Model: sonnet-4-6 · Verify against the repo before relying on details.