Why we are building curlr.dev
// A manifesto on why we stopped waiting for someone to fix the dev tools we use every day.
The tools we use every day decided we were a market. So they stopped shipping tools and started integrating platforms, with accounts, plans, clouds, AI, onboarding, and a quota you didn't know you had.
Postman used to be a REST client.
So did Insomnia. So did Thunder. One by one they added accounts, teams, plans, AI, clouds, onboarding flows, and a quota you didn't know you had.
A REST client should press keys and send requests. That is the whole job.
Your saved requests are not yours.
Saved requests → free tier. Environments → pro. Team history → enterprise. The tool you trusted with your API keys now trusts you back with a three-request-per-minute rate limit.
curlr.dev stores everything on your machine. No tiers. No limits. No one else's database.
The feature you used every day got paywalled.
The tool you relied on last year shipped an update this year and moved the feature you used every day behind a subscription. You can't roll back. You can't opt out. You can only upgrade, migrate, or leave.
A tool that takes things away from you is not a tool. It's a pricing strategy.
Every action became a negotiation.
Log in to sync. Upgrade to save. Subscribe to collaborate. Pay to export. The surface of your workflow gets colonised by a billing system, and you find yourself tapping "maybe later" twelve times a day.
curlr.dev doesn't have a billing system. There is nothing to pay for and nothing to log into.
Press key → thing happens.
No loading spinner. No "we're setting up your workspace." No email verification. No telemetry consent modal. No "meet our AI assistant."
Just a tool that does the thing. We remember when that was normal. We're making it normal again.
What we won't build.
curlr.dev exists because developer tools lost focus. So it's just as important to say what we won't do as what we will.
We won't require accounts
You shouldn't need to sign in to send an HTTP request. curlr.dev works out of the box: no logins, no emails, no gates.
We won't force the cloud
Your requests, environments, and secrets belong on your machine. Cloud sync is never a default or a dependency.
We won't track you
No telemetry. No usage analytics. No "anonymous" data collection that isn't actually anonymous.
We won't lock you in
Open formats. Readable files. Forkable code. You should be able to leave anytime, even if you never want to.
We won't turn curlr.dev into a platform
No dashboards you didn't ask for. No collaboration layers forced into simple workflows. No bloated feature creep.
We won't sacrifice speed for checklists
If a feature makes curlr.dev slower, heavier, or more confusing, it doesn't ship.
If curlr.dev ever requires an account, depends on the cloud, hides core features behind paywalls, or stops respecting local-first workflows, then it has failed its purpose.
The curlr.dev contract
A letter, not
a manifesto.
Team, curlr.dev
We built curlr.dev because the API tools we used every day stopped feeling like tools.
Sending a simple HTTP request shouldn't require an account, a workspace, a cloud dependency, or permission from a platform. Yet that's where many API clients ended up.
We wanted something different. As long as we are responsible for curlr.dev:
- ✓ It will not require an account
- ✓ It will not force cloud sync
- ✓ It will not track usage or collect telemetry
- ✓ It will not gate core functionality
- ✓ It will not turn into a platform
If curlr.dev ever does those things, then it has failed the reason it exists.
If you use curlr.dev, contribute to it, or even just try it, thank you. And if you ever feel it's drifting from these principles, we expect you to call it out. That's how good tools stay good.
Team, curlr.dev