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forge ⚒️

A blazingly fast, terminal-native API client - Postman in your terminal, built in Rust.

forge screenshot

Why forge?

Postman is powerful. It's also 300MB of Electron, requires an account, and insists on phoning home. forge gives you the same power in a sub-5MB binary that starts in under 50ms, stores everything as plain TOML files, and never asks who you are.

Postman Insomnia Bruno forge
Install size ~300MB ~250MB ~120MB < 5MB
Startup time 3–8s 2–5s 1–3s < 50ms
Requires account Yes Yes No No
File-based storage No No Yes Yes
Git-friendly No No Yes Yes
Terminal native No No No Yes
Vim keybindings No No No Yes
Open source No Partial Yes Yes
Offline first Partial Partial Yes Yes

Features

  • Modal editing - Vim-inspired Normal / Insert / Command / Visual modes
  • HTTP methods - GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS with color-coded badges
  • Syntax-highlighted responses - JSON auto pretty-printed, XML, HTML, plain text via syntect
  • Async requests - TUI never blocks; cancel in-flight requests with Esc
  • Environment variables - {{variable}} interpolation with layered priority resolution
  • Collections & workspaces - organize requests into folders, switch projects instantly
  • Auth support - Basic, Bearer, API Key, OAuth 2.0
  • Request scripting - Rhai pre/post hooks to automate workflows
  • Import / Export - Postman, Insomnia, OpenAPI, cURL, HAR
  • File-based storage - plain TOML files; diff them, commit them, share them

Installation

No published releases yet. Clone and run from source:

git clone https://github.com/AlbertArakelyan/forge.git
cd forge
cargo run

For a release build:

cargo build --release
./target/release/forge

Requirements: Rust stable (1.80+). Install via rustup.rs.

Quick Start

Key Action
i / Enter Enter Insert mode on the URL bar
[ / ] Cycle HTTP method
Ctrl+R Send request
Esc Return to Normal mode / cancel request
Tab / Shift+Tab Cycle focus between panels
j / k Scroll response body
1–4 Jump to URL bar / request editor / response viewer / sidebar
q Quit

Storage

All data lives in plain files - no database, no cloud sync:

%APPDATA%\forge\                        (Windows)
~/.local/share/forge/                   (Linux)
~/Library/Application Support/forge/   (macOS)

Every request, collection, environment, and workspace is a human-readable TOML file you can edit, diff, and commit to Git.

Roadmap

  • Round 1 - Core Request Engine (URL bar, HTTP executor, response viewer, syntax highlighting)
  • Round 2 - Environment Variables ({{variable}} interpolation, env switcher, secret vars) (partly - more details here)
  • Round 3 - Collections & Workspaces (sidebar tree, tabs, file persistence)
  • Round 4 - Authentication (Basic, Bearer, API Key, OAuth 2.0, Digest)
  • Round 5 - Request Headers & Query Params (key-value editors, autocomplete, bidirectional URL sync)
  • Round 6 - Request Body Editor (JSON, Form, Multipart, GraphQL, Raw, Binary)
  • Round 7 - Response Viewer (collapsible JSON, search, timing waterfall)
  • Round 8 - History (persistent, searchable request log)
  • Round 9 - Scripting (Rhai pre/post hooks, script console)
  • Round 10 - Streaming & SSE (real-time event display, AI API streaming)
  • Round 11 - Import & Export (Postman, OpenAPI, cURL, Insomnia, Bruno, HAR)
  • Round 12 - Configuration & Theming (themes, layouts, custom keybindings, mouse support)
  • Round 13 - Polish, Performance & Release (< 50ms startup, virtual scrolling, distribution)

Tech Stack

  • TUI - ratatui + crossterm
  • HTTP - reqwest (rustls, streaming, multipart)
  • Async - tokio
  • Syntax highlighting - syntect
  • Scripting - rhai
  • Serialization - serde + toml + serde_json

License

MIT - Copyright (c) 2026 Albert Arakelyan