Postman supports sending requests using HTTP,GraphQL,gRPC,WebSocket,MQTT, andSOAP protocols. Postman also supports AI-driven development withAI requests in collections andAI Request blocks in Postman Flows. You can also use Postman as your Model Context Protocol (MCP) client andsend requests to MCP servers.

Start a new request by specifying the request type, then fill the details and test the request by clickingSend. After you save the request, you can share it with your team. You can also refer torequests from publicly maintained workspaces for the APIs you’re testing and integrating with.

This topic primarily covers creating and sharing HTTP requests. For more detail about sending requests using other protocols, follow the respective links above.

Create a new request

Your requests can include multiple details determining the data Postman sends to the API you’re working with. Depending on the type of request, enter a URL and select a method (HTTP, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket, Socket.IO, or MQTT request) or select a model (AI request) or enter a command (MCP request), then specify other details.

You can create a new request from a workspace by clickingNew and selecting the request type.

Alternatively, clickAdd next to an open tab.

You can switch your request type by clicking the request icon next to the request name.

You can’t change the request protocol after you clickSave.

To open an HTTP request quickly, clickAdd request from a collection in the sidebar.

ClickSave to save your request. You can give your request a name and description, and choose or create acollection to save it in.

You can also specify values such as authorization, parameters and body data, and headers.

To test sending a request in Postman, set the URL to thePostman Echohttps://postman-echo.com/get endpoint, select the GET method, then clickSend.

You can turn on autosave to automatically save your changes to collections, requests, and environments. Learn more aboutautosave.

Specify request URLs

Most requests you send in Postman require a URL that represents the API endpoint you’re working with. Each operation you can perform using an API is typically associated with an endpoint. Each endpoint in an API is available at a specific URL. This is what you enter into Postman to access the API.

• If you’re building an API, the URL is typically the base location plus path. For example, in thehttps://postman-echo.com/get request,https://postman-echo.com is the base URL, and/get is the endpoint path.
• If you’re using a public API, your API provider supplies the URLs you need, often located in their developer documentation.

As you start typing in the URL box, Postman displays a dropdown list of requests you’ve used before in your current workspace. The dropdown list also includes requests used in collections in your current workspace. Choose a request from the list of suggestions to autofill your request with details, such as parameters and authorizations.

If you’re using a public API from averified team, suggestions display in the URL box after you enter the base URL, such ashttps://api.getpostman.com. You can click a suggested endpoint to autofill your request with a template of what you need to get started, such as parameters and authorization. Your request may autofill with an empty variable if the API publisher didn’t define a value for the variable. Learn how toset a value for an empty variable.

Postman automatically addshttp:// to the start of your URL if you don’t specify a protocol.

You can optionally enterquery parameters in the URL box or enter them in theParams tab. If your request usespath parameters, you can enter them in the URL box. Learn more aboutsending parameters and body data with API requests in Postman.

You can usenext generation URL encoding in your requests.

Select request methods

By default, Postman selects the GET method for new request. GET methods typically retrieve data from an API. You can use a variety of other methods to send data to your APIs, including:

• POST - Add new data.
• PUT - Replace existing data.
• PATCH - Update existing data fields.
• DELETE - Delete existing data.

For example, if you’re working with an API for a to-do list application, you might use a GET method to get the current list of tasks. You can then use a POST method to create a new task or use a PUT or PATCH method to edit an existing task.

Postman supports a number of extra request methods by default, and you can use custom methods. Click the method dropdown list, edit the method name text, and save your new method. To delete a method, hover over it in the list and click the delete icon.

The same location (sometimes calledroute) can provide more than one endpoint by accepting different methods. For example, an API might have a POST/customer endpoint for adding a new customer, and a GET/customer endpoint for retrieving an existing customer.

Send a request

After you specify the request protocol, method, and URL, add any other details required by the API you’re sending the request to:

• Specify anyparameters and body data or requestheaders you need to send with the request.
• Set up any requiredauthentication and authorization.
• You can alsouse cookies with your requests by clickingCookies (underSend).

After you enter all the request details, clickSend to send the request to the API server. You can view the response from the server in the response pane. There you can use several tools to help you understand the response, likesearch specific phrases orfilter relevant information with JSONPath and XPath. Learn more aboutAPI response structure in Postman.

You can view requests you’ve sent inHistory in the sidebar and send them again. You can also save and organize requests in acollection.

Share your requests

You can share requests with collaborators by opening the request you want to share in the sidebar. ClickView more actions next to the request, then clickShare. Learn more aboutsharing your work in Postman.

To try out a collection template that has a typical REST API, selectREST API Basics.

Leverage public API examples

To help you get started faster, as you create requests, Postman searches thePostman API Network in the background for related content from popular collections and from collections owned by verified teams. If you’re testing and integrating with public APIs and their relevant content is found, it shows up in theRelated requests tab in the right sidebar.

For example, suppose you’re testing an integration with Notion. Notion is a verified team, so you know you can trust their content.

1. Enterapi.notion.com/search in the URL box. A dot appears next toRelated requests.

   

2. ClickRelated requests. A pane opens displaying Notion’s example search-related requests with links to the API collections.

   

You can view related documentation and example responses in place without navigating to a different page or window. You can also fork a collection and use it in your own workspace to test and reuse requests.

• On this page

• Create a new request
• Send a request
• Share your requests
• Leverage public API examples