HTTP client
Explyt brings a built-in HTTP client to IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition, so you can call an API without switching to Postman, curl, or a browser. There are two independent ways to do it. They serve different habits, and you can use both in the same project.
Which one should I use?
| Swagger UI from annotations | .http and .rest files | |
|---|---|---|
| You describe the request as | A Spring Web annotated method in Java or Kotlin | A plain text request in an RFC 7230 file |
| Interface | Swagger UI, embedded in the IDE | The IDE Run tool window |
| Setup required | None | Install a runner once |
| Best when | You already think in Spring Web annotations, or you want a form-driven UI with schema-aware inputs | You already keep .http files, or you want requests committed to the repository as plain text |
| Also gives you | OpenAPI generation and editing, cURL export | Portability — the same files work with other RFC 7230 tooling |
Pick Swagger UI if you want the shortest path from a Spring codebase to a working request with no configuration. Pick .http files if you want requests versioned alongside your code and shareable with people who do not use this plugin.
Generating the request code
You do not have to write either form by hand. From Code → Generate (Alt+Insert / ⌘N) you can produce a Spring Web Method or a standalone HttpClient Method from a URL or a pasted cURL command, in both Java and Kotlin. See Code generation.
The Explyt AI actions add conversions in the other direction — turning a cURL command or a whole Postman collection into .http requests.