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Getting Started with Postman

Welcome to Postman​

Postman is the go-to tool for working with APIs. Whether you're testing an endpoint you just built, debugging a third-party integration, or automating an entire test suite, Postman has you covered.

If you write or consume APIs — and every backend and full-stack developer does — Postman will become one of the tools you open every single day.

What You'll Learn​

Basics​

  • What Postman is and why you need it
  • Making GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE requests
  • Organizing requests into collections
  • Managing environments and variables (dev, staging, production)
  • Handling authentication (Bearer tokens, API keys, OAuth)

Advanced​

  • Writing test scripts with JavaScript
  • Automating assertions with the pm object
  • Generating dynamic test data
  • Running collections with the Collection Runner
  • Setting up pre-request scripts

Why Postman Instead of Just Using a Browser?​

A browser only handles GET requests. Postman lets you:

  • Send any HTTP method (POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH)
  • Set custom headers (Authorization, Content-Type, etc.)
  • Send JSON, form data, or file uploads in the request body
  • View response headers, status codes, and timing
  • Save requests so you never have to retype them
  • Write automated tests that verify responses

Quick Start​

  1. Download Postman from postman.com/downloads
  2. Create a free account (required to save and sync your work)
  3. Create a new Collection to organize your requests
  4. Add your first Request and hit Send

You'll see the response body, status code, headers, and timing all in one view.

The Postman Interface at a Glance​

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Collections │  Request Builder  │  Response Viewer  │
│  (sidebar)   │  Method + URL     │  Body, Headers    │
│              │  Headers, Body    │  Status code      │
│              │  Auth, Scripts    │  Timing           │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
  • Collections — organized groups of saved requests
  • Environments — variable sets for different contexts (dev/prod)
  • Request Builder — where you configure and send requests
  • Response Viewer — where you see what the server returned
Start with a public API

If you don't have your own API yet, use JSONPlaceholder — it's a free fake REST API perfect for practicing. Try GET https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts as your first request.