Chameleon: cURL Paste & API REST Client

Paste, run, and debug real cURL commands inside VS Code — no Postman, no browser tab, no context switching.

Chameleon is a free, open-source Postman alternative and REST API client built directly into VS Code. Paste any curl command from your terminal, Chrome DevTools, or Swagger docs, hit Ctrl+Enter, and get a full request/response inspector — headers, cookies, timing, JSON tree, and more — without leaving your editor.

It adapts to however you work — hence the name — blending natively into your VS Code theme and workflow instead of forcing you into a separate app.

If you're tired of alt-tabbing to Postman, Insomnia, or Thunder Client just to test one API call, this is built for you.

Why developers are switching to cURL Paste

• ⚡ Zero setup, zero abstraction layer. Your curl commands run exactly as they would in a real terminal — same flags, same behavior, same results.
• 🎯 100% request fidelity. Because it spawns your actual installed curl binary, there's no "almost right" translation layer breaking your proxy configs, client certs, or presigned URLs.
• 🧠 Built for API debugging, not just API testing. Waterfall timing, raw stdout/stderr, and side-by-side response diffing — the tools you actually need when something's broken.
• 🖥️ Stays inside VS Code. No separate app, no extra license, no switching windows to check a response header.

✨ Features

🧬 Native cURL Execution Engine

Runs your real, locally installed curl binary via Node spawn() — guaranteeing full fidelity for proxy support, SSL/TLS certificates, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, binary uploads, multipart forms, cookies, and AWS presigned URLs. What you paste is exactly what runs — nothing is re-implemented or approximated.

The response you see is the exact same output curl would give you in a terminal — Chameleon just parses and renders it into a readable, structured view (JSON tree, headers table, timing breakdown) instead of a wall of raw text you'd have to scroll and squint through.

🗂️ A Full 3-Panel API Workbench

Left Sidebar — Stay Organized Request History, Pinned Requests, Collections, Favorites, real-time search, and method filter chips (GET/POST/PUT/DELETE and more) so you never lose a request again.

Center Panel — Write & Run A full Monaco-powered code editor (the same engine behind VS Code itself) with shell/bash syntax highlighting, multi-line editing, one-click Beautify formatting, and instant execution via Ctrl+Enter / Cmd+Enter.

Right Inspector Panel — See Everything

• 📦 Body Tab — Interactive, collapsible JSON tree viewer with search and copy-path, plus HTML preview, image renderer, audio player, and raw mode
• 📋 Headers Tab — Filterable request/response headers table with one-click copy
• 🍪 Cookies Tab — Parsed Set-Cookie details: Name, Value, Domain, Path, Secure, HttpOnly
• ⏱️ Timing Tab — Full network waterfall: DNS Lookup, TCP Connect, TLS Handshake, Pre-Transfer, TTFB, Download, and Total Time
• 📊 Statistics Tab — Request/response size, speed, HTTP protocol version, and status code badges
• 💻 Raw Console — Captures raw stdout, stderr, and process exit codes for real debugging

📥 Import from Anywhere

Paste cURL commands straight from Chrome DevTools, Firefox, Safari, Swagger UI, Postman, or your terminal — with live validation as you paste.

📤 Export to Any Format

Convert any request to cURL, JavaScript fetch, axios, an .http file, a Postman Collection (v2.1), Bruno (.bru), or clean Markdown docs — perfect for sharing with your team or dropping into documentation.

🎨 Native VS Code Theming

Fully adapts to your VS Code Dark and Light themes using custom design tokens — it looks like it was always part of the editor, because it was built to be.

🆚 Why not just use Postman?

If you live in your editor, your API client should too.

🚀 Get Started in 10 Seconds

1. Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace
2. Open the cURL Paste panel
3. Paste any curl command
4. Press Ctrl+Enter / Cmd+Enter That's it — full response inspection, instantly.

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

⭐ Support the Project

Chameleon is free, open-source, and actively developed. If it saves you time, consider:

• Leaving a ⭐ rating on the VS Code Marketplace
• Starring the repo on GitHub
• Sharing it with a teammate who's still tab-switching to Postman

📄 License

MIT License