Running API tests you may be tempted to open PostMan or another API client, did you know, you can run HTTP requests from inside PhpStorm directly?

When developing a new API, you will want to run the API endpoints. Being able to run them without leaving PhpStorm speeds up your workflow.

To start a request file, you can either select a HTTP Request file when using the new file or create a new scratch file.

For a scratch file select the HTTP Request type.

In either case a file ending in .http for example scratch.http You can name the file anything you like and have multiple files.

The difference between having .http files in your projects and a scratch file is a scratch file is only stored in your .idea folder and not inside your project files, (outside of version control.

Demo API

Throughout this post, I will be using a sample public API https://reqres.in/

Request Format

To create a request enter the type of request (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE) followed by the URL to fetch.

You can also set headers by typing them in the format of key:value

If you need to pass through a body then type that out with a line break in a json format.

Use ### to separate each request.

Method Request-URI HTTP-Version
Header-field: Header-value

Request-Body
###

Get Request

To create a GET request type GET followed by the URL to fetch.

You can also set headers by typing them in the format of key:value

GET https://reqres.in/api/users

Press the play button to the left of the request to run. This executes the request and shows the API response.

POST Request

In this example, I will create a new user by sending a POST request to the URL with a payload containing a name and job.

POST https://reqres.in/api/users

{
    "name": "morpheus",
    "job": "leader"
}

PATCH/PUT Request

In this example, I will update a user by sending a PATCH request to the URL with a payload containing a name and job.

PUT can also be used

PATCH https://reqres.in/api/users/2

{
    "name": "joe"
}

Delete Request

In this example, I will delete a user by sending a DELETE request to the URL.

DELETE https://reqres.in/api/users/2

Authorization header

If you need to authenticate with an API say in the format of a bearer token this is done by passing in an authorization header:

GET http://domain.com/v1.0/contacts
Accept: application/json
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer 45|vAc8...

For more details read the official docs