prawel.pl
My work

Developer tool · Visual Studio Code

Visual REST Client

A graphical editor and secure HTTP client for .rest and .http files, built directly into VS Code.

  • TypeScript
  • VS Code
  • HTTP
  • OAuth 2.0
Open in VS Code Marketplace
Visual REST Client overview with request sidebar, URL, headers, and editor tabs

The product

Built around the job.

Visual REST Client gives REST Client-compatible .rest and .http files a focused graphical interface without taking them out of version control. Developers can organize requests, edit headers and JSON bodies, resolve file, environment, and runtime variables, configure authentication, send requests, and inspect structured responses inside VS Code. Source-aware editing preserves the portable text format while workspace-isolated secrets, redacted exports, production confirmations, and bounded transport defaults make daily API work safer.

Role
Product design & engineering
Release
2026
Status
Ongoing

Problem & decisions

The difficult part is the behavior.

Graphical API clients are convenient, but they often pull requests out of source control or hide how authentication, variables, and redirects are resolved.

  1. 01

    Preserve the source format

    The interface edits REST Client-compatible .rest and .http files, keeping the portable text file as the source of truth.

  2. 02

    Isolate sensitive values

    Secrets and OAuth tokens use VS Code Secret Storage with workspace, file, environment, and profile boundaries.

  3. 03

    Make transport visible

    Resolved requests, redirects, timing, headers, response limits, and production confirmations expose what the client actually sent.

  • REST Client compatible
  • OAuth 2.0 + PKCE
  • MIT licensed

Privacy by design

Your data stays yours.

No telemetry, tracking, or advertising. Workspace data stays local, and secrets use VS Code Secret Storage.

Read the full privacy details

Visual REST Client does not include analytics, telemetry, tracking, or advertising.

Local-first operation

The extension runs inside your VS Code environment. Request files, editor state, ordinary environment values, and response history remain local to the relevant workspace.

Secrets

Values explicitly marked as secrets and OAuth tokens are stored with VS Code Secret Storage and isolated by workspace, REST file, environment, and profile.

Network requests

Network activity occurs only when you initiate an HTTP request or OAuth flow. Data is sent to the endpoints you configure; it is never sent to prawel.pl.

Product tour

Open any screenshot to view the original at full size.

Visual REST Client overview with request sidebar, URL, headers, and editor tabs A complete request workspace Visual REST Client JSON request body editor with structured fields Edit JSON visually Visual REST Client variables panel with file, environment, and runtime values Layer portable and local variables Visual REST Client response panel with formatted JSON body and request metrics Inspect formatted responses Visual REST Client response preview displayed as an expandable JSON tree Explore JSON as a tree Visual REST Client response headers table Review response headers Visual REST Client Basic Auth editor using separate username and password variables Keep Basic Auth values separate Visual REST Client reusable OAuth 2.0 profile configuration Configure reusable OAuth profiles

Capabilities

What it handles.

Each capability earns its place by removing effort, reducing ambiguity, or making the product safer to rely on.

  • Visual editing for .rest and .http requests while preserving the source format

  • Searchable request sidebar with collections, filters, reordering, and duplication

  • Built-in sender with cancellation, redirects, compression, and response limits

  • Formatted body, JSON tree, headers, sent-request preview, and response history

  • File, environment, secret, and runtime variables with response extraction rules

  • Bearer, split-variable Basic Auth, and reusable OAuth 2.0 profiles with PKCE

  • Postman Collection v2.0/v2.1 import and resolved cURL export

  • Workspace-isolated secret storage and confirmations for production environments

Product support

Something not behaving?

Include the product version, operating system version, shortest steps to reproduce, and any exact error text. Redact tokens, private URLs, calendar content, and other personal data.

Email support