Evolve Documentation Centre

Tools to use to get started with the APIs

When getting started familiarising and testing an API it is often better to start with a tool specifically designed for this purpose rather than diving straight into writing code (though that’s good too).

Doing this helps clarify the initial questions about interacting with the API quickly before then moving onto implementing a solution with code. There are lots of tools available and of course we would recommend you use whatever you are most familiar with however, the tools we most frequently use are two popular packages

Postman

Postman is an incredibly useful tool which allows you form API calls to services and provides advanced features for managing libraries of saved calls which you can refer back to as you develop your understanding of an API and explore its features.

You can download the postman app from the link below

Postman App

VSCode & REST Client

REST Client is an extension available within the popular open source developer package VS Code which allows you to construct REST service calls directly within a text editor and execute those calls to get an immediate response. REST Client is very useful for getting that low level view of exactly what data is being exchanged with the API which is sometimes very useful in the early stages of exploring an API. REST Client allows a library of REST Calls to be held as a simple text file and so allows for easy sharing of examples with colleagues.

You can download VS Code and the REST Client extension from the links below

Visual Studio Code

Rest client for Visual Studio Code

Getting Started
Product Features
Customization
Help