From cURL, OpenAPI, HAR, and more

This page covers the import paths that work for any supported format, plus the formats without a page of their own: cURL, OpenAPI, HAR, and Nouto’s own export format. For other tools, see From Postman, From Thunder Client, From Insomnia, From Hoppscotch, and From Bruno.

Every collection import adds new collections next to your existing ones. Nothing is merged or overwritten.

Import a collection file

Import Collection reads a file, detects its format, and imports it. To run it, click Import / Export in the Collections toolbar of the sidebar and select Import Collection. In VS Code, you can also run Nouto: Import Collection (Auto-Detect) from the Command Palette.

The file dialog lists .json, .yaml, and .yml files. The desktop app also lists .bru files. Nouto detects these formats:

Format	VS Code	Desktop app
Nouto export	Yes	Yes
Postman Collection v2.0 or v2.1	Yes	Yes
OpenAPI 3.x, JSON or YAML	Yes	Yes
Insomnia v4 export, JSON or YAML	Yes	Yes
Hoppscotch collection	Yes	Yes
HAR 1.2	Yes	Yes
Thunder Client export	No	Yes
Bruno .bru file	No	Yes

When the format isn’t recognized, Nouto shows an error that lists the supported formats. A Postman environment file gets its own error that points you to the environment import. See Import a Postman environment.

Import from a URL

To import a file that’s hosted online, click Import / Export in the Collections toolbar and select Import from URL, then enter an http:// or https:// URL. In VS Code, the Nouto: Import from URL command does the same. Nouto downloads the file and detects its format the same way Import Collection does. In the desktop app, the downloaded file must be JSON. To import a YAML file such as an OpenAPI spec, download it and use Import Collection.

cURL

Paste a cURL command into the URL bar of a request. Nouto parses it and fills in the method, URL, query parameters, headers, auth, and body of the current request.

The other cURL import paths depend on the platform:

• In VS Code, run Nouto: Import from cURL or press Ctrl+U (Cmd+U on macOS), then paste the command. Nouto asks for a collection and saves the request there, or creates a collection for it.
• In the desktop app, click Import / Export in the Collections toolbar and select Import cURL. Nouto loads the command into the current request.
• In a request tab, click More actions (the ... button next to Code) and select Import cURL to load a command into that request.

OpenAPI

Nouto imports OpenAPI 3.x specifications in JSON or YAML. Swagger 2.0 documents are rejected.

In VS Code, run Nouto: Import OpenAPI Specification and choose From File or From URL. In the desktop app, use Import Collection or Import from URL.

Nouto creates one collection named after the spec’s title and version, with one request per operation:

• Operations are grouped into folders by their first tag. Untagged operations sit at the collection root.
• Path parameters such as {id} become {{id}} variables.
• The request URLs start with the first server URL in the spec.

To edit an OpenAPI spec, or to generate a collection from the spec you’re editing, see OpenAPI editor.

HAR files

Nouto reads HAR 1.2 files, such as those saved from the browser developer tools, and creates one request for each recorded entry. When the entries come from more than one host, Nouto creates a folder per host. Each request body gets the body type that matches the recorded MIME type.

In VS Code, run Nouto: Import HAR File. Its file dialog accepts .har and .json files.

In the desktop app, use Import Collection. Its file dialog doesn’t list .har files, so rename the file to .json first.

Nouto export files

A Nouto export file holds one or more collections in Nouto’s own format, with every setting intact. See Exporting.

In VS Code, run Nouto: Import Nouto Collection. In the desktop app, use Import Collection. Nouto gives every imported collection, folder, and request a new ID, so you can import the same file twice without conflicts.