Skip to main content
hitspec Studio is the desktop companion to hitspec studio: the same keyboard-friendly workflow in a native window instead of a terminal. It edits and runs the exact same plain-text .http files, so what you click in the app is what CI executes.
The desktop app is developed in this repository under apps/desktop. It is not bundled with the Go binary yet — build it from source (below) or grab a packaged build from the releases page.

​
Run it from source

1

Install dependencies

2

Build the CLI it drives

3

Launch

Open a workspace with cmd/ctrl+O, by dropping a folder on the app icon, or by passing a directory on the command line. Recent workspaces are remembered on the welcome screen.

​
What you get

  • Workspace browser — file tree with request counts, fuzzy filter, and a per-file request list with pass/fail dots from the last run.
  • Request inspector — method, URL, headers, query params, body, assertions, captures and metadata (@timeout, @depends, @auth, …).
  • Runner — run one request (cmd/ctrl+enter) or the whole file (cmd/ctrl+shift+enter) with live per-request progress, then a tabbed response viewer: pretty-printed JSON body, headers, assertion results, timing, captures and SSE events.
  • Source editor — line numbers plus .http syntax highlighting, save (cmd/ctrl+s), revert, and automatic reload when the file changes on disk.
  • Environments — switch from the toolbar or edit variables in a grid that writes straight back to hitspec.yaml.
  • History — the persistent SQLite run history with per-run drill-down.
  • Stress, mock, record — the same engines as the CLI, with live metrics charts, route tables and recording export to .http.
  • Import — curl, OpenAPI and Insomnia sources previewed as .http before you save them into the workspace.
  • Command palette (cmd/ctrl+k) and five themes shared with the terminal UI.

​
How it works

The app spawns hitspec serve --api-only as a child process on a random loopback port with a freshly generated bearer token, then drives the REST and WebSocket API from packages/serve. The renderer never talks to the network and never sees the token: every call crosses a small IPC bridge in the main process, and file writes outside the workspace are only allowed for paths you picked in a native save dialog.
Because it reuses the API server, every capability added to packages/serve becomes available to the desktop app without new native code.

​
Package it

The Go binary is copied into the bundle as an extra resource, so packaged apps are self-contained. macOS builds are unsigned by default; clear the quarantine flag after a local install:

​
Testing

The e2e suite launches the real app with Playwright against a throwaway workspace and an in-process HTTP target, so the whole stack — window, IPC, Go server, runner — is exercised on every run.
Last modified on September 28, 2026