How to test your API with Hoppscotch

In this article, I will show you how to interact with APIs by making requests while showing you some of the cool features of Hoppscotch.

Introduction to Hoppscotch

Hoppscotch is an online open-source API request builder built by Liyas Thomas and contributors that helps you create requests faster, saving precious time on development. It is lightweight, effective, and efficient,

Hoppscotch is a totally free open-source project.

Hoppscotch has a low processing demand because it can run simply on the browser.

Hoppscotch is supported by a wide range of browsers and devices, plus it can be installed as a PWA (Progressive Web App), making it even accessible.

Hoppscotch offers multiple features though, in this article, we shall focus on using it as a testing tool for APIs.

What is an API?

API is the acronym for Application Programming Interface, a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. It is often a set of functions that allows applications to access data and interact with external software components, operating systems, or microservices.

A great analog used to describe APIs and what they do is a restaurant. In this analogy, the following roles are assigned:

API: acts as the waiter that serves you.

Order: acts as the API Request, where data to be fetched or action to be triggered is specified.

Chef: acts as whatever external component you are trying to interact with, also provides the API.

Meal: data gotten from the external Component.

When you step into a restaurant, you inform the waiter (API) of your order (API request), and the waiter communicates your order to the Chef (external component). After a hopefully short period of time, the waiter returns with your meal (Data).

The same way a chef provides you with a waiter is the same way companies provide you with an API to communicate how you want to use their services & the data you need from them.

Now that you have a good idea of what APIs are and what they do, let’s dive into the basics of API using Hoppscotch.

Introduction to API Basics

You can read the rest of the article on Aviyel