RapidAPI — An alternative to Postman, inside VS Code

Visual Studio Code, more commonly known as VS Code, is one of the most popular coding editors in the world. Launched as a Microsoft product in April 2015, the desktop application supports multiple platforms like Windows, macOS, or Linux. It also has a user base exceeding 10s of millions.

Most of the popularity of VSCode can be attributed to its catalog of extensions that extends its capabilities.

These extensions can be installed quickly with just a single click within the editor. The diversity of the extensions ranges from language extensions that support Intellisense auto-complete and advanced linting features for that language, to extensions that allow SSH to connect to a remote server.

One such extension is the RapidAPI Client, an API client that allows users to create, debug, test, and share APIs similar to Postman, one of the most popular API clients.

This extension is an easy alternative to test out APIs in the same place where the code resides, instead of relying on external applications. Let’s take a look at some excellent features it has to offer.

Intuitive UI

It’s simple to create a request with this client. There are standard options to select the HTTP method, add a request body, query parameters, or authentication headers.

One unique feature is the ability to add a description, with additional bold and italic formatting. The description editor also supports attaching links.

Environments

There’s a way to create and manage environments. These environments come in handy to store variables corresponding to the environment.

For example, API keys can be stored as an environment variable. To use a particular API key for a request, the corresponding environment can be selected.

Generate code

This feature allows developers to generate request code snippets in their preferred language and library.

Export response

The response returned can also be exported into preferred formats such as Python or TypeScript.

If exported to TypeScript, it returns an interface (depicting the response fields) that helps developers better understand the response.

All the features discussed above are just a subset of the many features that RapidAPI Client provides and gives an indication of the power of this extension.

All in all, it’s another tool in the arsenal for developers to enhance their productivity.

Happy Coding!