apibird 🐦

A lightweight REST client for VS Code — send API requests and inspect responses without leaving your editor. Think Postman / Thunder Client, but minimal and yours.

Set a method, URL, headers, and a JSON body, hit Send, and get back the status, timing, size, response headers, and a pretty-printed body.

✨ Features

• Request methods: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
• Editable request headers (add/remove key-value rows)
• JSON request body for write requests
• Response view with status, response time, and payload size
• Pretty-printed JSON responses, plus a separate response headers tab
• Errors (bad URL, network failure, non-2xx) rendered clearly
• Runs the request in the extension host (Node), so it's not subject to browser CORS
• UI themed with native VS Code colors — blends into your editor

🖼️ Preview

GET https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1 → 200 OK · 62 ms

🚀 Getting started (development)

Requires Node.js 18+ and VS Code.

git clone https://github.com/amitcode7483/apibird.git
cd apibird
npm install

Then open the folder in VS Code and press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host. In the new window:

1. Open the Command Palette (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P)
2. Run REST Tester: Open
3. Enter a URL and hit Send

🧱 How it works

• src/extension.ts — registers the command, creates the webview panel, and makes the actual HTTP call via Node's fetch (no CORS).
• The webview is the UI; it talks to the extension host through postMessage. The host performs the request and posts the response back to be rendered.

🗺️ Roadmap

• [ ] Save requests and request history
• [ ] Environment variables ({{baseUrl}}, tokens)
• [ ] Auth helpers (Bearer, Basic)
• [ ] Form-data / file bodies
• [ ] Package and publish to the VS Code Marketplace

📄 License

MIT