Hacker News, JSONPath, And More!

Exactly one week ago Insomnia reached #1 on HackerNews, generating around 50,000 website visits, 10,000 new users, and 200 email conversations. I spent the week going through these conversations and implementing common complaints, suggestions and feedback. There are a lot of exciting new features in this release so pay grab some popcorn and take a seat.

More Powerful JSON and XML Features

One of the most common requests was to support XML responses. Not only does Insomnia format XML automatically now, but you can also filter responses using XPath and JSONPath notation.

The editor also now has a Beautify button that will automatically format the request body for you.

Better Keyboard Support

Having to use the mouse is never fun, and this release allows you to use it even less!

• You can now toggle the sidebar with ctrl+\ (cmd+\ for Mac)
• Workspaces now appear up in the Quick Switcher ctrl+p (cmd+p for Mac)

Advanced Templating

You can now use Nunjucks templating inside environments. This can save a lot of repetition if used correctly. Here is a very basic example of what it could be used for.

{
  "url": "{{ base_url }}/{{ resource_type }}/{{ user_id }}",
  "base_url": "https://mysite.com",
  "resource_type": "users",
  "user_id": "user_123"
}

In this case, {{ url }} acts as a template, combining three environment variables into a single string. With this, you can reference {{ url }} inside each request instead of {{ base_url }}/{{ resource_type }}/{{ user_id }}.

Complementing this, you can now generate UUIDs with the new {% uuid %} tag. (more of these generators coming soon...)

A Lot More

To keep this post short, here is a list of some of the more minor things that made it into the release.

• Add button to duplicate folder
• Add confirmation step before deleting things
• Cancel Request button
• Improved "Raw" response view performance
• Comments in editor are now more visible
• Reduced update check frequency from 30 minutes to 3 hours
• Renamed "Params" tab to "Query" to avoid confusion

Fixes

Thank you to everyone who reported bugs! Here are the fixes that made it into this release.

• Querystring is now added to generated code (oops)
• Can now re-open window via doc icon if closed (Mac)
• HTTPS proxy now works again
• Fixed minor bug with Curl import
• Global shortcuts (like sending request) are now prevented when dialogs are open
• Dragging sidebar dropdowns no longer triggers drag-n-drop

Thanks!

Once again, thanks to everyone who reached out via email, Twitter, or other means. I hope you enjoy the update!