December 23, 2025
404s, GIFs, and Hurls—oh my
Show HN: Yapi – FOSS terminal API client for power users
Alpha dev tool yapi drops: broken links, GIF demands, and rival shout‑outs
TLDR: Yapi, a new open-source terminal tool for testing how apps talk, launched in rough alpha. Commenters cheered but flagged a broken link, asked for GIF demos and clearer docs, and compared it to Hurl—promising idea with polish needed, as the dev tooling rivalry heats up.
Yapi just burst onto the scene as a free, open-source terminal tool for testing APIs—aka the rules apps use to talk—and the crowd went full popcorn mode. The maker warns it’s ultra‑early, and the comments immediately turned into a live focus group. One fan cheered, “this space is active,” and even plugged a similar project voiden.md, kicking off friendly rival vibes. The mood? Power-user catnip with a side of “please don’t crash.”
The top request: show us. People want GIFs in the README to see the tool in action, with a pro tip to use vhs. Another thread: confusion over “where’s the config spec?”—translation: folks need clearer instructions. Then came the plot twist: someone hit a 404 on the submission link, but confirmed the homepage at yapi.run. Alpha energy, indeed—excitement meets rough edges.
Feature flexing sparked hype: Yapi chains different request types together (web, gRPC, GraphQL) like a stunt show, runs automated checks on GitHub Actions (robots testing your site), and even helps your editor suggest the right syntax. But the comparison games began fast: “Hurl” got name-dropped as a solid alternative, igniting the classic “new toy vs. proven toolbox” debate. Jokes flew—“can’t stop YAPPIN’ about yapi”—while consensus landed on: promising idea, needs polish, docs, and a better demo.
Key Points
- •Yapi is an open-source CLI API client supporting HTTP, gRPC, TCP, and GraphQL, currently in early alpha.
- •Requests are defined in YAML with headers, bodies, expected statuses, and jq-based assertions; JSON responses go to stdout.
- •Yapi supports chaining across protocols and sharing data between requests, with assertions on outcomes.
- •Integration testing is built-in, and Yapi provides an LSP server plus a Neovim plugin; a VSCode extension is planned.
- •A GitHub Action is available to run Yapi tests in CI, and multiple environments can be managed via yapi.config.yml.