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Open source alternatives to Postman

Postman Solo plan starts at $9/mo (billed annually), or $12/mo month-to-month (pricing, checked 2026-10-16). Here are 3 self-hostable options – free to run on your own server.

hoppscotch

★ 80.6kMIT
self-host: easy

hoppscotch/hoppscotch

insomnia

★ 40.0kApache-2.0
self-host: easy

Kong/insomnia

bruno

★ 47.7kMIT
self-host: easy

usebruno/bruno

Build it yourself with AI

Feasible: HTTP request builder, collections, environments and history is a classic side project. Cloud sync, mock servers and team governance are the SaaS moat.

Paste this prompt into Cursor, Claude Code, Codex or any coding agent to build a minimal self-hosted Postman clone, deployable with Docker on a VPS.

You are a senior full-stack engineer. Build a minimal, self-hosted clone of Postman (API client) that I can run on my own VPS. Keep it small, production-sane, and easy to maintain.

## Goal
Replace my paid Postman subscription for a single person or small team. MVP only — no billing, no enterprise features.

## Core features (build exactly these)
1. HTTP request builder (method, URL, headers, body, auth)
2. collections of requests with folders
3. environments with variable substitution
4. request history and response viewer
5. import/export OpenAPI or collection JSON

## Stack
- Next.js (App Router, TypeScript) + Tailwind + shadcn/ui
- PostgreSQL with Drizzle ORM (migrations checked in)
- Auth: Better Auth (email + password, optional GitHub OAuth); every query scoped to the signed-in user/workspace
- Background jobs (if needed): pg-boss on the same Postgres
- File storage (if needed): S3-compatible (MinIO container)

## Data model (start here, extend only if required)
User, Workspace, Collection, Request, Environment, HistoryEntry
Use UUID primary keys, createdAt/updatedAt on every table, and foreign keys with sensible ON DELETE behavior.

## Deliverables
1. Working app with the features above and a clean, minimal UI
2. docker-compose.yml with app, postgres and Caddy (automatic HTTPS) — `docker compose up -d` must be all I run
3. .env.example documenting every variable; no secrets in code
4. Seed script with demo data
5. README: local dev, deploy on a fresh Ubuntu VPS (install Docker, set DNS A record, compose up), backups (pg_dump cron), and updating

## Rules
- Build in small steps; after each feature, run typecheck and the app, and fix errors before moving on
- Validate all input with zod; rate-limit public endpoints
- Write a few Playwright smoke tests for the main flow
- Ask me before adding any dependency beyond the stack above

For reference (study the approach, don't copy code): https://github.com/hoppscotch/hoppscotch, https://github.com/Kong/insomnia, https://github.com/usebruno/bruno

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