Yaak
A desktop app for sending and organizing API requests across REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket and SSE.
- Stars
- 19.4k
- Forks
- 841
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- TypeScript
- Last update
- 4 days ago
- Type
- App
What it is
Yaak is a desktop application for testing and working with APIs, the way web and mobile software talks to servers. You can build requests over several protocols, including REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket and Server-Sent Events, and group them into workspaces and folders. The README describes it as offline-first and privacy-focused, with no telemetry, and it is built with Tauri, Rust and React.
- Send REST or GraphQL requests to a staging server and filter the JSON response with JSONPath
- Import an existing Postman or Insomnia collection and keep it working in Yaak
- Test a WebSocket or Server-Sent Events endpoint alongside regular HTTP calls
- Switch between dev, staging and prod using environment variables
- Mirror a workspace into a Git repository to track changes to your requests
Great for
- Developers who want a desktop client for REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket or SSE in one place
- Teams that want request collections stored as files they can version in Git
- People who want to import existing collections from Postman, Insomnia, OpenAPI or Curl
- Users who prefer keeping secrets in their OS keychain rather than in a cloud account
Not ideal for
- People who need cloud sync or real-time team collaboration, since the README emphasizes offline use and filesystem mirroring rather than cloud features
- Anyone needing a commercial license without cost: the README says prebuilt binaries are free for personal use but require a license for commercial use
- Non-developers with no exposure to APIs, since the tool assumes you know what requests and endpoints are
How to get it
- 1
Download the app
Download the app for your platform
Download from https://yaak.app/download - 2
Run it
- Download the installer for macOS, Windows or Linux from yaak.app/download
- Install and open Yaak
- Create a workspace and add a request
- Send the request and inspect the response
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Import existing collections from Postman, Insomnia, OpenAPI, Swagger or Curl
- Use environment variables to switch between dev, staging and prod
- Mirror workspaces to a Git repository for versioning
- Store sensitive values as encrypted secrets or in your OS keychain
- Create plugins to extend authentication, template tags or the UI
Downloads
Strengths
- Covers many protocols (REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket, SSE) in a single desktop app
- Stores data locally and mirrors workspaces to files, which suits Git-based workflows
- The source code is MIT licensed and can be built for free
Trade-offs
- Prebuilt binaries require a paid license for commercial use, per the README's pricing terms
- Community contributions are currently limited to bug fixes, according to the contribution policy
- The README is truncated and does not detail every feature, so some capabilities may be unverified here
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| yaak (this) | 19.4k | App | beginner | 4 days ago | Developers who want a desktop client for REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket or SSE in one place |
| bruno | 48k | App | beginner | 4 days ago | Developers who want to test HTTP or GraphQL APIs without an account or cloud sync |
| hoppscotch | 80.7k | App | beginner | 6 days ago | Developers who want to test REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, or other APIs without a heavy desktop client |
| kratos | 26k | Library | intermediate | 4 days ago | Go developers building a set of backend services that talk over HTTP or gRPC |
| got | 15k | Library | beginner | 7 days ago | Node.js developers who call web APIs from server-side code |
| mitmproxy | 46.6k | Dev tool | intermediate | 4 days ago | Developers debugging how an app talks to a backend API |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.