rails-http-lab

In-app HTTP request lab for Rails. Mounts a UI at /rails/http-lab and persists collections as .bru files that are interchangeable with the Bruno desktop app.

No external app, no separate workspace — your requests live next to the code that serves them, version-controlled in docs/http-lab/.

Rails HTTP Lab

Why

Postman / Insomnia / Bruno are great, but every one of them lives outside your Rails app and outside your repo. With rails-http-lab:

  • Requests are files in the repo (docs/http-lab/*.bru), reviewable in PRs.
  • The UI runs inside your Rails app — no CORS, can reach internal services.
  • Files use the Bruno format, so the same collection opens in Bruno desktop. Round-trip is byte-stable (verified against the public Bruno corpus).

Install

# Gemfile
gem "rails-http-lab", group: :development

bundle install
bin/rails g rails_http_lab:install

Visit http://localhost:3000/rails/http-lab.

Configuration

config/initializers/rails_http_lab.rb:

RailsHttpLab.configure do |c|
  c.mount_path   = "/rails/http-lab"                # default
  c.storage_path = Rails.root.join("docs/http-lab") # default
  c.enabled_envs = %i[development]                  # default
  # c.authenticator = ->(request) { request.session[:admin] }
end

Security

The executor performs HTTP requests from the Rails server. That's the point — it lets you reach internal services without CORS. It is also a confused-deputy risk if exposed to untrusted users. Defaults:

  • Enabled only in development (enabled_envs).
  • Enabling in production requires an authenticator callable; the engine refuses to boot otherwise.
  • Bruno script and tests blocks are persisted but not executed to avoid arbitrary code execution. Run them in Bruno itself.

License

MIT