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Nathaniel Adams
Nathaniel Adams

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Swell - Streaming API tests, right from your Desktop

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We all know how important endpoint testing is. Whether it's a simple fetch request on a static site, or a multi-platform containerized application using gRPC to communicate between backend architecture, we want to make sure all requests are healthy and generating the sort of responses we expect.

For a long time, Postman has reigned supreme over the API-testing world. And for good reason! There's simply no match for their industry market share, team management tools, customizable options, and reliability.

There's one major feature that Postman doesn't support - testing modern streaming protocols. If your project incorporates connection types like WebSockets or gRPC, you'll need a separate application to test those connections and verify their health.

This is not a new issue - just take a look at this open Github issue (from 2018!).

We at Swell wanted to create an all-in-one application that tests not only traditional API calls like RESTful routes and GraphQL, but also WebSockets, gRPC, SSEs, and HTTP2 connections.

An example of swell at work

Swell has many of the well-loved features of API testing applications like Insomnia or Postman - saved collections/history, GraphQL schema introspection, and an intuitive, responsive UI design.

Swell testing websockets

It's worth noting that Swell is a relatively new product. Although our offerings are substantial, Swell hasn't been tested and vetted in an enterprise situation as of yet.

Swell example REST

Our open-source team is small, but incredibly responsive and open to any feedback. Please feel free to explore and offer any feedback at our GitHub repo

Swell is open-source and free to use. You can download it here. Let us know what you think. :)

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