⚡ Altman (Alternative Postman)

100% Offline, Local-First HTTP/HTTPS Client for Visual Studio Code

📌 Problem & Motivation

Postman has deprecated its offline Local Scratchpad functionality, forcing collections and environments into Postman Cloud. In many enterprise, financial, defense, and high-security environments, policy strictly forbids transmitting API keys, proprietary payloads, or internal endpoints to any cloud service.

Altman solves this by providing a feature-rich, Postman v10-style API client directly inside VS Code that runs strictly offline with zero telemetry or outbound syncing.

✨ Features

• 🧭 VS Code Activity Bar & Sidebar Integration:
  • Direct 1-click launch from the VS Code Activity Bar on the left sidebar without needing Command Palette.
  • Sidebar tree shows all collections, folders, requests (with GET/POST method badges), and active environment switcher.
  • Clicking any request in the sidebar immediately opens it in the Altman Workbench.
• 📄 OpenAPI 3.0 YAML Dual View & Porting:
  • Instantly toggle between ⚡ Postman View and 📄 OpenAPI YAML View.
  • Postman collection is strictly the single source of truth: edits to requests, parameters, headers, or bodies in Postman View dynamically regenerate the OpenAPI specification in real-time.
  • Full conversion of URLs, path parameters ({param}), query parameters, headers, Bearer/Basic/APIKey security schemes, and JSON request/response schemas.
  • Built-in Copy YAML and Export OpenAPI YAML (.yaml) actions.
• 🔒 100% Offline & Local Storage:
  • All collections, environments, history, and settings are stored locally in the workspace under .altman/ (or ~/.altman if no workspace is opened).
  • Version-controllable with Git.
• 📜 Full Pre-Request & Post-Request Script Sandbox:
  • Bundled with jsrsasign for cryptographic signing (RSA, SHA256/512, HMAC, JWT, X.509).
  • Bundled with CryptoJS (MD5, SHA, AES) and Chai assertions.
  • Full pm.* API compatibility (pm.environment.set/get, pm.collectionVariables, pm.variables, pm.request, pm.response, pm.test, pm.expect).
• 🔤 Multi-Layer Templating & Dynamic Variables:
  • Interpolation across: URLs, Path parameters (:param and {{param}}), Query parameters, Headers, Authorization (Bearer, Basic, API Key), and Request Body (raw JSON, urlencoded, etc.).
  • Hierarchy: Local Request > Environment > Collection > Global.
  • Built-in dynamic variables: {{$guid}}, {{$randomUUID}}, {{$timestamp}}, {{$isoTimestamp}}, {{$randomInt}}, {{$randomEmail}}, {{$randomAlphaNumeric}}.
• 📂 Postman Collection v2.1 Import & Export:
  • Import Postman Collection v2.1.0 JSON files directly.
  • Export collections for sharing or CI/CD pipelines.
  • Explorer Right-Click Integration: Right-click any .json file in VS Code Explorer -> "Altman: Import Postman Collection to .altman".
• 🌐 Environment Toggle & Management:
  • Switch active environments instantly via the top navigation bar, sidebar, or status bar.
  • Built-in visual environment manager table (key, value, secret, enabled).
• 📊 Live Console & Logs:
  • Integrated Console Logs tab capturing script output (console.log, console.info, console.warn, console.error) with timestamps and log levels.
• 🚀 Newman CLI Integration:
  • Built-in Newman command composer.
  • One-click "Run in VS Code Terminal" to execute your collection directly in an integrated terminal with Newman.
• 💻 Multi-Language Code Generation:
  • Instant code snippets for:
    • cURL
    • Node.js (Fetch API)
    • Python (Requests)
    • Java 11+ (HttpClient)
• 🎯 Scope:
  • HTTP & HTTPS (with configurable SSL verification for self-signed certificates).
  • WebSockets, gRPC, and GraphQL are intentionally out of scope.

📁 Repository Structure

.
├── .altman/                           # Workspace local data directory
│   ├── collections/                   # Postman v2.1 collections
│   │   └── Altman_Demo_Collection.json
│   ├── environments/                  # Environments
│   │   └── Local_Development.altman_env.json
│   └── settings.json                  # Local preferences & active environment
├── media/                             # Webview assets
│   ├── altman-icon.svg                # Extension icon
│   ├── main.css                       # Postman v10 styling
│   └── main.js                        # Client-side webview SPA
├── scripts/
│   ├── install-local.sh               # Builds .vsix and installs into VS Code
│   └── test-local.sh                  # Executes automated Mocha test suite
├── src/
│   ├── engine/
│   │   ├── codeGenerator.ts           # cURL, Node, Python, Java generator
│   │   ├── httpClient.ts              # Pure HTTP/HTTPS executor with metrics
│   │   ├── newmanGenerator.ts         # Newman CLI composer & terminal launcher
│   │   ├── postmanParser.ts           # v2.1 Collection & Environment parser/serializer
│   │   ├── scriptSandbox.ts           # Node vm runner with jsrsasign & pm.*
│   │   └── variableResolver.ts        # {{var}} templating & dynamic variables
│   ├── panels/
│   │   └── altmanPanel.ts             # WebviewPanel controller & IPC bridge
│   ├── storage/
│   │   └── altmanStorage.ts           # .altman file system storage manager
│   ├── test/                          # Unit tests
│   └── extension.ts                   # VS Code extension activation & commands
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

🛠️ Local Installation & Testing

1. Run Unit Tests Locally

./scripts/test-local.sh
# or: npm test

2. Package & Install into VS Code

./scripts/install-local.sh
# or: npm run install:local

This script:

1. Bundles the extension using esbuild into dist/extension.js.
2. Packages the extension into a self-contained .vsix file.
3. Automatically executes code --install-extension altman-0.1.0.vsix --force.

🚀 How to Use Altman in VS Code

1. Press Cmd + Shift + P (Mac) or Ctrl + Shift + P (Windows/Linux).
2. Type Altman: Open Local API Client and press Enter.
3. Or click Altman in the bottom-right status bar.
4. The Postman v10-style interface opens in an editor tab.
5. In the left sidebar under Collections, click on the pre-loaded Altman Demo Collection to inspect requests, pre-request scripts with jsrsasign, dynamic variables, and test assertions.
6. Click Send to dispatch requests locally.