Insomnia

---
name: insomnia
description: Insomnia API client for REST and GraphQL. Use for API testing.
---

# Insomnia

Insomnia is the lightweight alternative to Postman. v9.0+ focuses on **Local-First** philosophy (Local Vault) and **Git Sync**.

## When to Use

- **Privacy**: "Local Vault" ensures your API keys never touch the cloud.
- **GraphQL**: One of the best GraphQL clients with schema fetching and auto-complete.
- **Simplicity**: Cleaner UI than Postman.

## Core Concepts

### Design Documents (OpenAPI)

Write YAML config and generate code/tests.

### Git Sync

Sync your collections to a Git repo (not a proprietary cloud).

### Plugins

Community plugins for authentication and themes.

## Best Practices (2025)

**Do**:

- **Use Git Sync**: Treat your API collection as code.
- **Use Environment Variables**: Switch contexts easily.

**Don't**:

- **Don't ignore the CLI**: `inso` is the CLI tool for running tests in pipelines.

## References

- [Insomnia Documentation](https://docs.insomnia.rest/)