[opensourcedex]

ATAC is a free, open source api development & testing project written in Rust and released under MIT. It has 3,729 GitHub stars, 137 forks and 20 open issues, and was last pushed 15 days ago. On this registry it ranks #59 of 103 tracked projects in API Development & Testing, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 2 stars over the last 3 tracked days.

What is ATAC?

What it is

ATAC is a terminal API client written in Rust and licensed under MIT. It lives in the developer tools and API development and testing ecosystem, and it targets users who want a Postman-like workflow without leaving a terminal. The project describes itself as Arguably a Terminal API Client, and it is based on clients such as Postman, Insomnia, and Bruno.

The concrete problem it solves is the need for API testing without a specific graphical environment. ATAC is based on Postman, Insomnia, and Bruno, but runs inside a terminal. It provides collection and request management, HTTP request testing, and local operation. The README states the philosophy is free, account-less, and offline for now and forever.

Key capabilities

  • Provides a terminal user interface built with ratatui, so users can work without a graphical environment.
  • Manages API collections and requests locally, following the model of Postman, Insomnia, and Bruno.
  • Acts as an HTTP client for common methods, including GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, and OPTIONS.
  • Supports installation through cargo, Homebrew, Scoop, Arch pacman, Fedora Copr, Docker, release binaries, and source compilation.
  • Offers Docker packaging through the juliencaposiena/atac image for terminal use in containers.
  • Operates without an account and offline, according to the README.
  • Supports source compilation with cargo run and cargo build --release.

Who uses it and how

  • API developers use it to create and manage collections and requests inside a terminal.
  • Users who need offline work use it without an account, according to the project philosophy.
  • Package managers and Docker users install it through cargo, Homebrew, Scoop, Arch, Fedora Copr, or the Docker image.
  • Terminal users compare it with Postman, Insomnia, and Bruno when they want common HTTP method support.
  • Source builders clone the repository and run cargo run or cargo build --release for a local executable.

Getting started

Install ATAC with cargo install atac --locked, Homebrew, Scoop, Arch pacman, Fedora Copr, or the Docker image juliencaposiena/atac. Run it from a terminal, add a release binary to PATH, and on macOS remove the quarantine attribute if needed.

When to use it — and when not to

Use ATAC when users want a local, free, account-less, offline API client in a terminal. It offers a terminal alternative to the basic collection and request workflow of Postman, Insomnia, and Bruno. The provided facts do not mention database, storage, or SMTP setup, but they show 20 open issues and no contributor count.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

ATAC ⚔📩

Rust License: MIT GitHub Release

Demo Animation

Table Of Contents

Description

ATAC is Arguably a Terminal API Client. It is based on well-known clients such as Postman, Insomnia, or even Bruno, but inside your terminal without any specific graphical environment needed.

The philosophy of ATAC is to be free, account-less, and offline for now and forever.

How to install

Packaging status

crates.io package

Install with cargo

[!IMPORTANT] First, make sure your rust version is at least 1.82

Simply use:

cargo install atac --locked
Arch package

Install from Arch

You can use pacman to install:

pacman -S atac
Homebrew package

Install with Homebrew

Simply use:

brew install atac
Scoop package

Install with Scoop

Simply use:

scoop install atac
Fedora copr Release

Install from Fedora copr

Simply use:

dnf copr enable joxcat/atac
dnf install atac
Docker Image Version

Docker package

Pull the image from https://hub.docker.com/r/juliencaposiena/atac

GitHub Release

Binary

The binaries from the latest release can be found here

[!IMPORTANT] Remember to run it from a terminal. For example, you can add the binary into your PATH. You won't be able to run it like other graphical applications since it needs CLI arguments.

[!TIP] Note for macOS users. After downloading the binary you may need to run the command sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine ~/bin/atac (modify to reflect the path where atac is located).

Compile by yourself

[!IMPORTANT] First, make sure your rust version is at least 1.82

Simply clone the repository and use:

cargo run
cargo run -- -h

[!TIP] Build the latest release

cargo build --release

Features

Current

Features ATAC Postman Insomnia
Manage collections & requests :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
HTTP Client :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
Methods :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
- GET :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
- POST :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
- PUT :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
- PATCH :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
- DELETE :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
- OPTIONS :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
- HEAD :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
- TRACE :white_check_mark: :x: :x:
- CONNECT :white_check_mark: :x: :x:
Authentication Partial :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
- Basic auth :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
- Bearer token :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
- Digest :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
- JWT :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:
- OAuth1-2,

readme truncated — read the full docs on github

Frequently asked questions

Is ATAC free to use?

ATAC is open source under the MIT licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does ATAC do?

A simple API client (postman like) in your terminal

What is ATAC written in?

ATAC is primarily written in Rust. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/Julien-cpsn/ATAC, and it has 3,729 GitHub stars.