Nouto

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An open source API client for VS Code. Send HTTP, GraphQL, WebSocket, SSE, and gRPC requests, organize collections, chain responses, and test APIs without leaving your editor.

"Nouto" is Finnish for "pickup", from noutaa, "to fetch."

Nouto in VS Code: the collections sidebar, a GET request to the TVmaze API, and its JSON response

Get started

Install Nouto: search for Nouto in the Extensions view, or run code --install-extension frostybee-dev.nouto.
Click the Nouto icon in the activity bar.
Click New Request, then choose a collection to save it in, or No Collection (Quick Request).
Enter a URL and click Send, or press Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on macOS).

Features

HTTP requests

Send requests with any standard method or a custom one. Body types are JSON, Text, XML, Form Data, URL Encoded, Binary, and GraphQL. Header names autocomplete with descriptions, and typing {{ in the URL, params, headers, or the JSON, Text, and XML body editors lists your variables. Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on macOS) sends the request from anywhere in the request panel.

Authentication types are Basic, Bearer, API Key, OAuth 2.0 (Authorization Code with optional PKCE, Client Credentials, Implicit, and Password), AWS Signature v4, Digest, and NTLM. A request inside a collection inherits auth from its folders and collection unless it sets its own.

Sending a GET request, folding the JSON response, and opening the Headers, Timing, and Timeline tabs

Collections

Collections nest folders to any depth, and you can drag and drop requests and folders to reorganize them. Collections and folders define variables, headers, auth, scripts, and assertions that the requests inside them inherit.

Collections use one of two storage modes: global (VS Code global storage) or workspace, which saves each request as its own file under .nouto/ for clean git diffs. Environments stay in global storage in both modes. Undo and redo cover request edits and collection tree changes. Deleted items go to the trash, which keeps them for 30 days.

Creating a folder in a collection, dragging requests into it, reordering them, and adding a sub-folder

Environment variables

Use {{variableName}} in URLs, params, headers, and bodies. When a name is defined in more than one place, the active environment takes precedence, then folder and collection variables, then global variables, then a linked .env file. Secret values are stored in VS Code SecretStorage. The status bar shows the active environment; click it to switch.

A request using {{baseUrl}} fails on the Local environment, then succeeds after switching to Production from the status bar

Dynamic variables generate a value when the request is sent: {{$uuid.v4}}, {{$timestamp.unix}}, {{$random.int, 0, 100}}, more than 60 {{$faker.*}} generators for mock data, hashing and encoding helpers, {{$prompt.keyName}} to ask for a value before sending, and {{$file.read, /path}} to insert a file's content. {{$response.body.token}} reads a value from the previous response in the same tab, and the collection runner passes values between the requests it runs. Link a .env file to use its variables; Nouto reloads them when the file changes.

Declaring baseUrl and showId in an environment, inserting them in the URL with {{ autocomplete, adding a {{$uuid.v4}} header, and the sent request showing the generated UUID

Real-time protocols

Besides HTTP, Nouto connects over these protocols:

WebSocket with text and binary messages, auto-reconnect, and session recording and replay
Server-Sent Events with event type filtering and auto-reconnect
GraphQL over HTTP with variables, operation names, and schema introspection
GraphQL subscriptions over WebSocket, using the graphql-transport-ws protocol of the graphql-ws library
gRPC with server reflection, proto file loading, all four call types, and TLS/mTLS

Fetching a GraphQL schema, typing a query with schema-based completions, and sending it

Connecting to a WebSocket echo server, sending two messages, and disconnecting

Testing and automation

Pre-request and post-response scripts are written in JavaScript with the nt API, for example nt.setVar() and nt.test(). Scripts set on a collection or folder apply to every request inside it unless a request opts out.

A no-code assertion editor checks the status code, response time, response size, body, headers, content type, JSONPath values, and JSON Schema, and can save a response value to a variable. The collection runner runs every request in a collection, optionally once per row of a CSV or JSON data file. It can stop on the first failure and exports results as JUnit XML, JSON, CSV, or HTML. The benchmarking tool sends a request repeatedly at the concurrency you set and reports requests per second and latency percentiles from p50 to p99.

Adding status code and response time tests, sending the request, and both tests passing

Response viewer

The viewer shows JSON and XML as collapsible trees, renders HTML (with a toggle to view the source), and displays images. PDF and other binary responses show their type and size and can be saved to a file. A progress bar tracks large downloads. Separate tabs show the timing breakdown, the redirect chain, and the request timeline, and you can save a response as an example on its request.

The Timing tab breaking a response down into DNS lookup, TCP and TLS handshakes, waiting, and download

The JSON Explorer opens a JSON response in its own panel. It has:

Tree and table views; the tree uses virtual scrolling for large documents
A query filter (Ctrl+Shift+K) and a JSONPath filter (Ctrl+/); use Cmd instead of Ctrl on macOS
Comparison with a pasted document or a file
Type generation for TypeScript, Zod, Rust, Go, Python, and JSON Schema
A statistics panel, a minimap, bookmarks, and pinned nodes that show live values
Timestamp detection
Multi-select with bulk copy and bookmark
Copy as JSON, YAML, CSV, TypeScript, Python, PHP array, or Markdown table

OpenAPI

Author and preview OpenAPI 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2 specifications in YAML or JSON:

Schema-aware autocomplete (in YAML it also fills in required keys), hover documentation, go-to-definition for $ref across files, and document symbols for Ctrl+Shift+O (Cmd+Shift+O on macOS)
Diagnostics for YAML syntax, schema validation, semantic checks (duplicate operationId, missing path parameters), and 65 lint rules in eleven groups, including OWASP API security checks. Set each rule's severity in Nouto's Settings; opt-in rules stay off until you give them one
Quick fixes for missing responses, unbounded parameters, insecure server URLs, unused components, and more
A Nouto: Try It CodeLens above every operation, which opens the operation as a new request
An outline view with context-menu editing for paths, operations, servers, tags, security schemes (API Key, HTTP Bearer, HTTP Basic, OAuth2 Authorization Code, and OpenID Connect presets), components, and webhooks. When the spec doesn't parse, the outline explains why and keeps the last valid tree
A preview panel that renders the spec with Swagger UI or RapiDoc, in a theme that follows VS Code or is set to light or dark. Its Try It requests go through the extension, so browser CORS rules don't block them
Bundled Swagger Petstore examples (3.0 and 3.2), opened from the Command Palette or the outline
Generators that create a collection from a spec, a spec from a collection or a HAR file, and a JSON Schema from a response body

Adding an operation to an OpenAPI spec with completions, the outline updating, and the new operation in the Swagger UI preview

Import and export

Import collections from Postman, Insomnia, OpenAPI 3, HAR, cURL, Hoppscotch, Thunder Client, Bruno, and Nouto files, or from a URL; Nouto detects the format. Postman environments can be imported too.

Export a collection to Postman, Nouto, or OpenAPI format from its context menu, or as HAR with the Export as HAR command in the Command Palette. Bulk export writes several collections to Postman or Nouto format.

A backup saves collections, environments, cookies, history, settings, drafts, trash, runner history, and mock server routes to one .nouto-backup file, and you choose which parts to include. Secrets in VS Code SecretStorage are not included. History can also be exported (JSON or CSV) and imported (JSON) on its own.

Importing a Postman collection file and sending one of its requests

Developer tools

Nouto also includes:

Code generation for cURL, JavaScript (Fetch and Axios), Python (Requests), C# (HttpClient), Go (net/http), Java (HttpClient), PHP (cURL), Swift (URLSession), Dart (http), PowerShell, and TypeScript types
A command palette with fuzzy search that ranks items by how often and how recently you use them
Request history with search, filters, sorting, and export
Multiple named cookie jars with domain matching
A mock server with configurable routes, response headers, and simulated latency
A welcome screen with a sample httpbin.org collection, and contextual hints for first-time use
Customizable keyboard shortcuts

Generating code for a request in cURL, Python, JavaScript, and C#

Configuration

These options live in Nouto's Settings page (the gear icon in the API Testing view's title bar). Each request can override the certificate, proxy, timeout, and redirect settings in its Settings tab.

Custom CA certificates, client certificates for mTLS, and certificate verification on or off
HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 proxies with authentication and a bypass list
Timeouts, and whether to follow redirects and how many
URL correction that adds a missing https:// or fixes http:/, offered as a suggestion unless you turn on automatic correction

Desktop app

Nouto also ships as a standalone desktop app built with Tauri 2.0. Download it for Windows (x64), macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), or Linux (x64) from the releases page.

License

Nouto is licensed under the MIT License.

Nouto

Frostybee Dev

Nouto

Get started

Features

HTTP requests

Collections

Environment variables

Real-time protocols

Testing and automation

Response viewer

OpenAPI

Import and export

Developer tools

Configuration

Desktop app

License