Install and update Postman

To get the latest version of the Postman desktop appvisit the Download Postman page and select the option for your operating system. Postman is available as a native desktop app for Windows (Intel 64-bit or ARM 64-bit)macOS (Intel or Apple silicon)and Linux (Intel 64-bit or ARM 64-bit).

Postman is also available as a web app. You can use the Postman web app to carry out many of your API development and testing tasks in your web browser. Keep in mind that some features aren’t supported when using the Postman web appso use the Postman desktop app for the full Postman experience.

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Install Postman on Windows

To install Postman on Windowsdo the following:

1. Download the latest Postman version.
2. Select and run the .exe file to install Postman.

Install Postman on Mac

To install Postman on Macdo the following:

1. Download the latest Postman version.

   If your Mac has an Apple silicon processormake sure to download the Mac Apple Chip version.

2. If your browser downloads the file as a ZIP filefind the file in the Downloads folder and unzip it.

3. In the Downloads folderopen the Postman file to install it.

4. When promptedmove the file to your Applications folder. This ensures that future updates can be installed.

You can also install Postman using the Homebrew package manager:

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brew install --cask postman

Install Postman on Linux

You can install Postman on Linux from the Snap store page or by using the snap install postman command. If installing from the command linefirst ensure that you’re set up for snaps. Alternativelyyou can download the latest version of Postman and unpack the file using the tar zxf linux_64 command.

Create a Linux launcher icon

To start the app from a launcher iconinstall the desktop filelocated in the bundleinto an applications subdirectory of a path contained in $XDG_DATA_DIRS (for example~/.local/share/applications/):

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$
install -t ~/.local/share/applications/ /</path/to/file>/Postman/app/resources/Postman.desktop

Enter the following content in the filereplacing </path/to/file> with the location of the filethen save it:

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$
[Desktop Entry]
$
Encoding=UTF-8
$
Name=Postman
$
Exec=</path/to/file>/Postman/app/Postman %U
$
Icon=</path/to/file>/Postman/app/resources/app/assets/icon.png
$
Terminal=false
$
Type=Application
$
Categories=Development;

Additional requirements for installation on Linux

When installing Postman on Linux:

• Don’t start Postman with the sudo command. If you dofiles created by Postman will have permissions issues.
• Ensure you have read/write permission for the ~/.config folder. This is where Postman stores information.
• Ensure that you’ve installed openssl on your machine.
• On Ubuntu 18install the libgconf-2-4 package with the apt-get install libgconf-2-4 command.

Use the Postman web app

You can use Postman in your web browser to complete your API development and testing tasks with the Postman Agents.

Install the Postman Desktop Agent

If you’re using the Postman web appPostman recommends downloading and installing the Postman Desktop Agentan application that runs locally on your desktop. The Desktop Agent overcomes the cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) limitations of browsers and acts as your agent for making API requests from the Postman web app.

Web limitations

The following features require the Postman desktop app and aren’t available when using the Postman web app:

• Find and replace - The Postman desktop app supports finding and replacing values in a workspacebut this feature isn’t available in the Postman web app.
• Proxy configuration - The Postman desktop app enables you to use your system’s configured proxy to send API requests or access the internet. In the Postman web appyou can configure a proxy for sending requests but not for connecting to online services.
• Request and cookie capture - Interceptor and the Postman proxy enable you to capture traffic and syncs cookies from your browser or client apps to the Postman desktop app. It’s not possible to use Interceptor or the Postman proxy with the Postman web app.
• Collection run export - You can export the results of a collection run to a JSON file using the Postman desktop app. This feature isn’t available in the Postman web app.
• Performance testing - You can use the Postman desktop app to simulate user trafficso you can observe how your API behaves under load. Performance testing isn’t available for the Postman web app.
• Postman Vault - You can use the Postman desktop app to send requests with vault secrets that are stored in your Postman Vault. If you’re using the Postman web appuse the Desktop or Browser Agent to send requests with vault secretsdepending on which is best suited for your request.
• Lightweight Postman API Client - You can use the lightweight API Client to send requests from the Postman desktop app when you aren’t signed in to Postman.
• Terminal - The Postman desktop app supports a built-in terminal with Native Git that lets you run command-line operations in Postman.

Install the Postman CLI

The Postman CLI is a secure command-line companion for Postman. Runtestand validate your APIs from the command line to keep quality checks fast and seamless in your workflow.

To learn more about how to install and use the Postman CLIsee Install the Postman CLI.

Use the Postman VS Code extension

You can use the Postman VS Code extension to test and collaborate on your APIs in the same application you’re using to develop. With the VS Code extensionyou can send API requestsmanage collections and environmentstroubleshoot requestsand moredirectly from VS Code. Learn how to install the VS Code extension.

Update Postman

To check whether your Postman app is up to dateclick Settings in the headerclick App settingsthen click the Update tab.

If it’s not already up to datePostman might be waiting for a restart because it has automatically downloaded an update. When you restart Postmanit will install the update (Postman v9.13 and later downloads updates automatically).

• When the Update tab says Postman is up to dateyou can still check for newer updates. This can happen if Postman went offline after its last update. In this caseclick Check for Updates.

• When Postman is waiting to install an automatically downloaded updateclick Restart to Install Update.

Use Postman behind a firewall

Postman’s infrastructure runs on Amazon’s AWS platform. If you’re operating behind a network firewallyou’ll need to allowlist certain domains. There is no fixed IP range to allowlist for Postman. If allowlisting the domains specified in this section is insufficientrefer to the current AWS IP ranges and allowlist the broad range provided.

To enable users to sign in to Postman with a passwordallowlist the challenges.cloudflare.com domain.

For the Postman VS Code extensionallowlist the following domains:

• wss://bifrost-extension-global.gw.postman.com
• https://bifrost-extension-https-global.gw.postman.com

By defaultWebSocket connections use the same ports as HTTP (80) and HTTPS (443). Allowlist the following domains for all versions of Postman to make WebSocket connections:

• *.getpostman.com
• *.postman.co
• *.pstmn.io
• *.postman.com

For the Postman web app v10 and later to make WebSocket connectionsallowlist the following domains:

• https://bifrost-web-polling-v4.gw.postman.co
• https://bifrost-web-premium.gw.postman.co
• https://bifrost-web-premium.gw.postman.com
• https://bifrost-web-public-v10.gw.postman.com
• https://bifrost-web-public-v4.gw.postman.com
• https://bifrost-web-v10.gw.postman.co
• https://bifrost-web-v10.gw.postman.com
• https://bifrost-web-v4.gw.postman.co
• https://bifrost-web-v4.gw.postman.com

For the Postman desktop app v10 and later to make WebSocket connectionsallowlist the following domains:

• https://bifrost-desktop-polling-v4.getpostman.com
• https://bifrost-premium-v10-global.gw.postman.com
• https://bifrost-premium-v4-global.gw.postman.com
• https://bifrost-v10-global.gw.postman.com
• https://bifrost-v4-global.gw.postman.com

For the Postman desktop app v10 and later to make HTTP connectionsallowlist the following domains:

• https://bifrost-https-v10.gw.postman.com
• https://bifrost-https-v4.gw.postman.com
• https://bifrost-premium-https-v10.gw.postman.com
• https://bifrost-premium-https-v4.gw.postman.com

Troubleshoot your Postman installation

If you encounter any issues installing and running Postmansee the following tips. If these tips don’t helprefer to the installation posts on the community forum and create a new post if your issue isn’t already covered. You can also contact Postman support for help.

Update Failed error

If you get an Update Failed notification in Postmanyou can use the DevTools console to investigate. To open the DevTools consoleclick View > Developer > Show DevTools (Current View).

Here are some common error messages:

• Cannot update while running on a read-only volume

  • This means that the app user doesn’t have write permission in the directory where Postman is installed. To resolve the problemmove Postman to a directory where the user has write permissionsfor example /Applications on macOS or home on Linux.

• EACCES: permission deniedopen '/opt/Postman/Postman-1620288011421.tar.gz

  • This means that the app user doesn’t have write permission in the directory where Postman is installed. To resolve the problemmove Postman to a directory where the user has write permissionsfor example home on Linux.

• Code signature at URL file:///... did not pass validation: code object is not signed at all

  • This means that multiple updates are running at the same time. This can happen if you open the app when one update is about to install itself but another update hasn’t finished yet. To resolve the problemquit and reopen the app.

Update not available

If you used the Ubuntu Software Center or Snap store to install Postman on Linuxyou might not have the Check for Updates option in Settings > Update. This is because the updates are handled by the storewhich automatically updates Postman on a regular cadence.

Helper tool dialog

If you’re using Postman for macOSyou may receive the “An update is ready to install. Postman is trying to add a new helper tool.” dialog:

This message indicates that the ~/Applications/Postman.app file is owned by the root user instead of your user account. This can interfere with the auto-update process.

To resolve the issuedo the following:

1. Ensure that you grant Full Disk Access to your terminal app. You can check this by going to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access.

2. Turn on Full Disk Access for your terminal app and quit Postman.

3. Change ownership to your user account using the following command:

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   sudo chown -R "$USER":staff /Applications/Postman.app

4. Restart Postman.