Installing Postman: An API testing tool 

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What is Postman? 

Postman is a flexible API testing tool designed to simplify the process of developing and testing APIs. Since its establishment by Abhinav Asthana in 2012, Postman has become an essential tool for developers, integrating smoothly into CI/CD pipelines and supporting efficient API workflow management. 

Postman is an API testing app that’s easy to use and can grow with your needs. It helps software applications communicate with each other through API calls. Postman is increasingly becoming a top choice for API testing and development due to its user-friendly interface and powerful features making it a top choice for developers. 

Why Use Postman? 

Postman has some major plus points that make it a favourite for API testing: 

1. Easy Access: You can use Postman on any device where you’ve installed it. Just log into your account, and you’re good to go. 

2. Collections: You can group your API calls into collections. These can have subfolders and multiple requests, which makes it easier to handle test suites. 

3. Collaboration: You can share collections and environments without hassle through import/export options or direct links. 

4. Creating Environments: Multiple environments help you reduce test repetition by reusing collections in different settings. 

5. Creation of Tests: To ensure your tests cover everything, you can add checkpoints to each API call to check responses. 

6. Automation Testing: The Collection Runner or Newman lets you run tests over and over, which saves you time on repetitive tasks. 

Installing Postman 

A. For Windows users 

1. Download Postman through the link: https://www.postman.com/downloads/  Just click on the Windows 64-bit button and setup will be downloaded. 

2. Run the installer. Then follow the on-screen instructions and afterward run the application.

3. If you don’t have a Postman account, sign up for one. 

You can sign up for a Postman account in two ways:  

a) by creating a new Postman account or  

b) by using a Google account 

While it’s possible to use Postman without logging in, registering an account provides the benefit of saving your collections, allowing you to access them later. 

4. Log in to your Postman account to access your workspace and your collections will be saved. 

B. For Linux users using CLI  

1. write the command in the kali terminal to install the Postman CLI: 

$ curl -o- “https://dl-cli.pstmn.io/install/linux64.sh” | sh 

2. Now write postman to run it. 

C. For Linux users using GUI

1. Write the command to install Postman GUI in linux, 

$ sudo snap install postman 

2. If snapd is not installed, then install it, 

$ sudo apt install snapd 

3. Enable and start the snapd by running these 2 commands. 

$ sudo systemctl enable snapd 

$ sudo systemctl start snapd 

4. Now, redo the first step  and install Postman. This time, it will get installed. 

$ sudo snap install postman 

5. After installing Postman, See the snap list. You should see the Postman installed. 

$ snap list

 

6. Run the postman using this command. 

$ snap run postman 

Note: Being a root user might give you some  errors. Make sure you are a normal user. 

7. Now login to the Postman by following the same steps followed while installing Postman in windows. 

Great job! You’ve learned how to set up Postman using both the graphical interface and command-line options. Postman provides you tools to handle API creation and testing. Its features such as collections, teamwork options, and ways to automate tasks, will help you work better with APIs. These useful tools will make your API work smoother and help you get more efficient in your projects.