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Show HN: Auxl – Modular API Client for macOS

auxl.io

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Re: Show HN: Auxl – Modular API Client for macOS

#4

Post by theFluke »

skrowl wrote: post #3

What are some reasons you'd use this over free open source software alternatives like : https://insomnia.rest/ , https://install.advancedrestclient.com/install , or https://github.com/frigus02/RESTer ?

Auxl has a modular design, which can make chaining requests more intuitive. It’s also native, which still matters to many.

Re: Show HN: Auxl – Modular API Client for macOS

#7

Post by danpalmer »

What are the typical use-cases for things like this?

I've used Paw and Postman in the past, but never for more than 2 endpoints in one go, never for more than an hour or so in one session. I've only ever got value out of them as "slightly quicker than a Python notebook" solutions for testing out a hypothesis.

The only other thing I can think of is maybe as a way to pass the understanding of an API's nuances from one developer to another, but I've never needed to do that at any higher level than writing the one-weird-trick to make it work into an email to pass on that knowledge.

Re: Show HN: Auxl – Modular API Client for macOS

#8

Post by theFluke »

danpalmer wrote: post #7

What are the typical use-cases for things like this? I've used Paw and Postman in the past, but never for more than 2 endpoints in one go, never for more than an hour or so in one session. I've only ever got value out of them as "slightly quicker than a Python notebook" solutions for testing out a hypothesis. The only other thing I can think of is maybe as a way to pass the understanding of an API's nuances from one…

I personally often need the output from one service as input for another. With the new input often requiring a transformation. Auxl can function as a low friction environment to organise that without it getting cluttered.

I also think a lot of API clients tend to obfuscate flows like, for example, an OAuth authentication. Making each step visible and having that extra granularity can help with customisation and debugging.

Other than that, purely from a usability perspective, I think it’s fun to use.

Re: Show HN: Auxl – Modular API Client for macOS

#10

Post by danpalmer »

theFluke wrote: post #8
danpalmer wrote: post #7

What are the typical use-cases for things like this? I've used Paw and Postman in the past, but never for more than 2 endpoints in one go, never for more than an hour or so in one session. I've only ever got value out of them as "slightly quicker than a Python notebook" solutions for testing out a hypothesis. The only other thing I can think of is maybe as a way to pass the understanding of an API's nuances from one…

I personally often need the output from one service as input for another. With the new input often requiring a transformation. Auxl can function as a low friction environment to organise that without it getting cluttered. I also think a lot of API clients tend to obfuscate flows like, for example, an OAuth authentication. Making each step visible and having that extra granularity can help with customisation and debug…

Auxl looks good in that respect but maybe I wasn't clear enough in my question.

What's the typical use-case of apps that let you make requests to APIs via a GUI?

I've used them _briefly_ as part of a development process before, but never enough to justify buying one (I'd just spend a couple of minutes longer to write a Python script). Is that what most people are using them for? Am I missing a use-case?

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