Interface tour

Fetchpier keeps the authoring workflow in one main window. Most operations are available from the visible controls, context menus, command palette, and keyboard.

Window layout

Sidebar — collection tree, environment selector, and Cookies panel.
Tab bar — open requests and read-only history records.
Request editor — method, URL, params, headers, body, auth, scripts, and settings.
Response viewer — status, body, cookies, headers, tests, and script console below a draggable splitter.
Activity panel — optional persisted history panel, docked at the bottom or detached.
Status bar — workspace path, activity and command-palette controls, language, theme, and zoom.

Collection tree

The tree mirrors requests/: folders are collections, .http files are requests, and nested folders are subcollections. Expansion state persists per workspace.

Right-click a folder to create a request or collection or import a schema there. Requests can be renamed, duplicated, deleted, moved, or used as the parent of an instance. Context menus also reveal an item in the file manager and copy its absolute or workspace-relative path.

Names are unique within a folder without regard to letter casing on every platform. A request and collection cannot share a name. Fetchpier validates before writing and never overwrites a collision. Renaming an item to a casing variant of its own name is allowed.

Drag an item onto a folder to move it, or onto empty tree space to move it to the root. Hovering over a collapsed folder expands it. Invalid ancestry, same-folder, and name-collision drops are blocked. Moves and renames carry open tabs and history links with them.

With the tree focused:

Up/Down move through visible nodes; Home/End jump to the first or last.
Right expands or enters a folder; Left collapses or moves to the parent.
Enter opens a request in preview or toggles a folder.
F2 renames; Delete opens the delete confirmation.
Typing the first characters of a name jumps to a match.

Moving focus does not open requests. Use Enter when you want to preview one.

Request instances

An instance is a named, independent variant below a parent request. It has its own headers, body, auth, scripts, settings, identity, and history. Create one from the request context menu. Instance names use letters, digits, hyphens, and underscores and must be unique without regard to casing.

Renaming, moving, or deleting a parent carries its instances. An instance can be renamed, duplicated as a sibling, or deleted independently, but cannot contain another instance. Duplicating a parent does not copy its instances; every duplicate receives a new identity and empty history.

Tabs and unsaved work

Tabs can be reordered, pinned, or closed individually and in groups. The modified marker is computed: returning the content to its saved state clears it. Pinned tabs stay at the front and are spared by bulk-close actions.

Any operation that could discard unsaved changes offers save all, close without saving, or cancel. You may start a request before opening a workspace; saving then asks you to open or create one. Closing the last tab is allowed and leaves an empty-state action for creating another request.

Open tabs follow files renamed or moved inside Fetchpier. A clean tab reloads an external edit. A dirty tab whose file changes externally shows a conflict and asks whether to reload or keep editing. An externally removed file leaves a struck-through tab with its content intact; saving deliberately recreates that path.

Preview tabs

A single click opens one italic preview tab. Browsing another request replaces it rather than growing the tab bar. A double-click, an edit, or pinning promotes the preview to a permanent tab. Opening from the command palette is always permanent.

Saved tabs, order, active tab, preview status, pins, and the deliberately empty state are restored per workspace. Unsaved untitled tabs, unsaved edits, and history tabs are not restored after restart.

Command palette and shortcuts

Open the command palette with Cmd/Ctrl+P to find requests, switch environments, run common actions, or open settings. See the complete keyboard shortcut reference.

The application menu on macOS is state-aware and localized. It remains available after the last window closes so New Request or Open Workspace can create a new window. Windows and Linux expose the same actions through the interface, command palette, and shortcuts rather than a menu bar.

Activity panel and windows

Toggle Activity with Cmd/Ctrl+J. It can be resized and detached into one auxiliary window for a second display; the detached view follows the main window’s active workspace. Closing or docking it returns control to the main window. Fetchpier supports one main window per workspace.

Windows and Linux use custom platform-style window controls. macOS mirrors the native title-bar theme. If the renderer does not answer a close request, a native dialog lets you keep waiting or force the application to close.

Display, clipboard, and About

Zoom persists per application and adapts when a window moves between displays. Right-click selected text for Copy, Cut, and Paste; read-only surfaces allow Copy while mutating commands remain disabled.

The About dialog shows the running version, project identity, website, update action, and the exact MIT licence file distributed with the app. It opens once after a version change and remains usable even if the licence file cannot be read. Product labels follow the interface language; the canonical licence text is not translated.