About Postman elements

As a comprehensive API development platform, Postman helps you organize and document your work and complete different phases of the API development lifecycle. Learn more about integral parts of Postman like collections and environments.

Workspaces

A workspace is where you organize your Postman work and collaborate with teammates. A workspace holds related collections, environments, specifications, mock servers, monitors, and the other elements on this page. When you work in a shared workspace, your edits sync with your team in real time.

You can create internal workspaces for yourself, your team, or your organization, and Partner Workspaces for working with external partners. To learn more, see Workspaces overview.

Collections

A collection is a set of requests sent to API endpoints. A collection can also include saved responses from those requests, along with each endpoint’s authorization type, parameters, headers, request bodies, tests, and settings.

Collections enable you to organize your requests using folders and subfolders according to the requirements of your API project. For example, you can group your API actions into tasks.

You can design your APIs using an HTTP collection with types. Define types, such as data type and possible values, that describe your API’s request parameters, headers, and body data. Adding details to your collection can help others better understand your API and send valid API requests. You can also generate an OpenAPI specification in Spec Hub from a collection and keep them in sync. To learn more, see Design your APIs with Postman Collections.

Requests

A request is a way for one application to access the capabilities of another application over the internet by way of an API server. A client application (like a mobile app) sends a request to the server, and after the request is processed the server returns a response to the client.

In Postman, you can make requests using HTTP protocol, MQTT protocol, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket, and Socket.IO. You can also send AI requests to AI models and MCP requests to MCP servers. To learn about every protocol Postman supports, see Other API protocols in Postman. An API endpoint is a URL that acts as the point of contact between an API client and an API server. API clients send requests to API endpoints to access the API’s functionality and data.

The request method indicates the action you want the API to perform. The most common methods include:

• GET retrieves data from an API.
• POST sends new data to an API.
• PATCH and PUT update existing data.
• DELETE removes existing data.

To learn more about requests, see Send a request with the Postman API client.

API documentation

API documentation is a set of human-readable instructions for using and integrating with an API. Documentation includes information about an API’s endpoints, methods, resources, authentication protocols, parameters, and headers. It also includes examples of common requests and responses.

Postman automatically generates documentation for your collection. To access it, click the collection’s Overview tab and click View complete documentation. You can improve your documentation by adding descriptions for your collection, folders, and requests.

Workspace documents

A workspace document is a Markdown file that you can create and edit in Postman. You can use them to share information, such as design decisions, implementation details, and usage instructions. Your workspace documents are located in the Documents sidebar.

You can create, rename, duplicate, and delete workspace documents, and edit them in either a visual rich-text editor or a raw Markdown editor while in Local View. You can also change which document is pinned in your workspace overview.

To learn more about workspace documents, see Workspace documents in Postman.

Environments

An environment is a set of variables that you can reuse in your requests and share with your team. You can reference them in request authentication, query and path parameters, request bodies, and scripts. Variables help you work efficiently, collaborate with teammates, and set up dynamic workflows.

You can use environment variables to call the same request against different servers, such as local, stage, or production. Each environment has its own set of variable values. When you change environments, selecting the correct environment points your request at the correct host (server) with the proper authentication and its defined variables. Global variables are useful in cases where you need to use the same variable across several collections.

Environments can also help you to collaborate on Postman data if you’re working as part of a team. You can use environments to share variables and manage the visibility of sensitive data such as API keys, passwords, or tokens. Learn more about working with environments as a team in Postman.

To learn more about how variables are used in Postman in general, see Reuse data with variables and environments in Postman.

Datasets

A dataset is a reusable, queryable source of data that you can use across your API workflows. Define your data once and use it consistently, instead of duplicating or hard-coding values. You can start a dataset from a data file or create one from scratch.

Datasets are available on Solo, Team, and Enterprise plans. To learn more, see Test APIs with datasets in Postman.

Flows

Postman Flows is a visual, low-code tool designed to streamline API workflows, making it easier for you to create, manage, and collaborate on API projects. Postman Flows provides an infinite canvas where you can functionally represent your APIs as blocks that can be connected to simulate data flow. The blocks are a set of visual abstractions. To form and visualize an application, you drag blocks, build an application, and run your workflow.

To learn more, see Build API applications visually using Postman Flows.

Spec Hub

Spec Hub enables you to design your API in different specification formats. You can generate a collection from your API specification. If the collection was generated from an OpenAPI specification, you can keep the collection and specification in sync with your latest changes. Or, you can import existing specifications from your computer or a repository to continue building them out in Spec Hub.

Mock servers

A mock server enables you to simulate your API without having to configure a real API server. You can use any HTTP collection to set up a mock server. When you send a request to the mock server, Postman returns a real-world response using data from your collection.

To learn more about how to get started with mock servers in Postman, see Mock APIs and their dependencies in Postman.

A mock is a code-based stand-in for an API that you build with custom JavaScript request handlers. Unlike a mock server created from a collection, a mock can return dynamic responses and keep state across requests. You can run a mock locally or deploy it as a mock server. To learn more, see Create mocks with JavaScript.

Simulations

A simulation groups mocks into a single environment that stands in for the services your app depends on, such as a payment API or a notification service. You or your coding agent can develop and test against all those dependencies at once, locally or in CI, without sandbox accounts or real side effects.

To learn more, see Simulate API conditions with Postman Simulator.

MCP toolsets

An MCP toolset is a named set of tool definitions that you plan to expose to AI agents. Use toolsets to design, group, and test your tools before you build a real MCP server.

To learn more, see About MCP toolsets in Postman.

Monitors

Postman Monitors enable you to continuously check the health and performance of your APIs. You can create monitors that run requests in selected collections. Requests can run API test scripts, chain together multiple requests, and more. You can also schedule how often Postman runs monitored collections.

You’ll be alerted to any test failures once the monitor is running, so you can identify and address issues before your API’s consumers are affected.

To learn more about monitors, see Monitor health and performance of your APIs in Postman.

Application tests

The Application Inventory shows the applications you build, the external APIs they depend on, and the tests that cover those dependencies. When you connect your existing UI test suite, such as Playwright tests, Postman captures the API calls made during each test run and validates them against your collections.

The Application Inventory is available on Solo, Team, and Enterprise plans. To learn more, see Application Inventory overview.

Webhooks

A webhook listener gives you a public URL to register with a webhook provider. Postman captures each incoming event so you can inspect it, route it to another URL, or replay it while you debug.

Webhook listeners are available on Solo, Team, and Enterprise plans. To learn more, see Webhooks in Postman.