ApiTester

ApiTester is a small Avalonia desktop application for crafting and sending HTTP requests. It provides a straightforward way to build requests, add headers and authentication, send requests, view responses, and persist request configurations.

What it does

• Build HTTP requests (method, URL, body).
• Add, remove, and persist headers.
• Select and apply authentication (None, Basic, Bearer, API key).
• Send requests and view responses.
• Copy the current request as a curl command or PowerShell snippet.
• Save and load request configurations to/from JSON files.

Where to look in the source

• Main UI: Views/MainWindow.axaml
• View model + behavior: ViewModels/MainWindowViewModel.cs
• Request builder (applies headers & auth): Builders/MessageBuilder.cs
• Models: Models/HeaderEntry.cs, Models/SerializableHeader.cs, Models/HttpRequestPersistentDataModel.cs
• Services: Services/PersistenceService.cs, Services/FormatterService.cs

Build & run

Prerequisites:

• .NET SDK (project targets .NET 8.0)

Build in the repo root:

dotnet build

Run the app:

dotnet run

Usage notes

• Headers: add rows and set name/value pairs; Content-Type is handled by the headers panel.

• Authentication: choose a scheme and provide credentials/tokens before sending.

• Copy actions: use the File/Tools menu or keyboard shortcuts to copy as curl or PowerShell.

• Authentication:

  • Choose a scheme, fill the fields and click Send.
  • Basic auth uses Authorization: Basic <base64(user:pass)>.
  • Bearer uses Authorization: Bearer <token>.
  • ApiKey by default adds a header named X-API-KEY; change the name in the API Key panel if you need a different header or query parameter name.

  Copying to PowerShell

  If you paste a curl command (the app's "Copy as curl" output) into PowerShell, note that PowerShell's -Headers parameter expects a hashtable / IDictionary rather than curl-style -H strings. If you prefer to run requests from PowerShell, you can convert the curl headers into a hashtable or use the Invoke-RestMethod approach shown below.

  Quick PowerShell example (equivalent to a curl with JSON + header):

  $uri = 'https://example.com/api'
  $body = '{"name":"value"}'
  $headers = @{ 'Content-Type' = 'application/json'; 'X-API-KEY' = 'your_key' }
  Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $uri -Method POST -Headers $headers -Body $body

Security

The app persists request configuration but avoids writing authentication secrets to saved JSON by default.

Next steps / Improvements

If you'd like any of these implemented, tell me which one and I will add it.

Generated from the current workspace on October 19, 2025. Use this README as a quick reference while developing and testing the app. Made with copilot

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file in the repository root for details.