Freeman

Freeman is an open-source, self-hosted, web-based REST API client — a lightweight Postman alternative you can run on your own server.

No desktop install. No data leaves your network. Your team accesses it from any browser.

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Features

• Collections & folders — organise requests just like Postman
• Collection variables — define {{BASE_URL}} once, reuse everywhere across the collection
• Import / Export — full Postman Collection v2.1 compatibility; migrate in seconds
• Auth helpers — Bearer token, Basic auth, and API Key support built in
• Team accounts — super admin creates accounts; no self-registration
• CORS-free — all requests are proxied server-side via Guzzle; no browser restrictions
• Rate limiting — 60 requests/min per user on the run endpoint
• Self-contained — SQLite database, no external services required

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Requirements

Requirement	Minimum
PHP	8.2+
Composer	2.x
PHP extension: pdo_sqlite	required
PHP extension: openssl	required

No Node.js, no npm, no build step. Tailwind CSS and Alpine.js are loaded from CDN.

Installing missing PHP extensions

Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt install php-sqlite3

RHEL / Fedora

sudo dnf install php-pdo php-sqlite3

Windows — enable extension=pdo_sqlite in your php.ini.

macOS (Homebrew) — extensions are bundled with the php formula.

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Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-org/freeman.git
cd freeman

2. Run the install wizard

php artisan freeman:install

That's it. The wizard will automatically:

1. Install PHP dependencies via Composer (if not already installed)
2. Check all PHP extension requirements
3. Copy .env.example → .env
4. Generate a secure APP_KEY
5. Create the SQLite database file
6. Run all database migrations
7. Prompt you to create your super admin account

3. Set your app URL

Open .env and update:

APP_URL=https://your-domain.com

4. Start the server

Development

php artisan serve

Then open http://localhost:8000 in your browser.

Production (recommended: nginx + php-fpm)

Point your web server's document root at the public/ directory and set the following in .env:

APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false

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Updating

git pull
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
php artisan migrate --force
php artisan config:clear
php artisan cache:clear

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Configuration

All configuration lives in .env. Key settings:

Key	Description	Default
APP_NAME	Displayed in the browser tab	Freeman
APP_URL	Full public URL where Freeman is hosted	http://localhost:8000
APP_ENV	Set to production for live deployments	production
APP_DEBUG	Always false in production	false
SESSION_LIFETIME	Session timeout in minutes	120

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User management

Only the super admin can create user accounts — there is no self-registration. Log in with your super admin credentials and go to Admin → Users.

New users are prompted to change their password on first login.

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Collection variables

Use {{VARIABLE_NAME}} syntax in any URL, header, or request body. Variables are defined per-collection under Variables in the collection settings panel and are substituted at request time.

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Import & Export

Freeman uses the Postman Collection v2.1 format for both import and export, making it straightforward to migrate existing Postman collections without any manual work.

• Export — open a collection and click Export
• Import — click Import in the sidebar and upload a .json file

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Roadmap

Feature	Status
Collections, folders, saved requests	✅ Done
Request builder (headers, body, auth)	✅ Done
Collection variables ({{VAR}})	✅ Done
Import / Export (Postman v2.1)	✅ Done
Auth helpers (Bearer / Basic / API Key)	✅ Done
Rate limiting on request execution	✅ Done
freeman:install wizard	✅ Done
Environments & environment switching	🔜 v2
Request history log	🔜 v2
Pre-request & test scripts	🔜 v2
Sharing collections between users	🔜 v2

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License

MIT — free to use, modify, and self-host.