Request body

The Body tab sets what a request sends after its headers. Choose the type in the row at the top of the tab; the editor below changes to match. The tab shows a dot when the request has a body.

Body typesCopy Anchor Link

The Content-Type shows under AUTO-GENERATED in the Headers tab. To send another one, add your own Content-Type header; it replaces Echolot's. The length and framing headers are worked out when the request is sent.

Every text body can hold {{variables}} and dynamic values, filled in at send time:

{
  "lines": [{ "sku": "{{productId}}", "quantity": 1 }],
  "note": "Sent at {{$isoTimestamp}}"
}

JSONCopy Anchor Link

Type or paste JSON into the editor. It has line numbers, syntax colours and the {{ list for variables.

Click Beautify to indent the JSON. Variables stay as written, so {{productId}} in a string or as a bare value is left alone. In a narrow pane the button shows only its wand.

To try it, open Orders › Create order in the Alpenglow example and look at its body, or send Echo › Echo anything, which returns the body it received.

URL-encodedCopy Anchor Link

The fields sit in a table of KEY and VALUE, like headers:

• Click Add field to add one. Ticked fields are sent; unticked ones are kept but not sent.
• Click Bulk edit to edit all fields as text, one Name: value per line, with // in front of a field that is switched off.

Echolot encodes the names and values when it sends them, and what a variable inserts is encoded too, so a +, & or space in a value arrives as that character.

MultipartCopy Anchor Link

Each row is one part of the form:

1. Tick the box to send the field.
2. Type its name.
3. Choose Text or File.
   • For Text, type the value. It may hold {{variables}}.
   • For File, click Choose… and pick the file. A field without a name takes the file's name, without its extension. The part carries the file's name as its filename.
4. Optionally type a content type for the part, such as image/png. Left empty (type (auto)), a file gets one from its extension (.json, .png, .pdf and so on, otherwise application/octet-stream) and a text field gets none.

Click Add Field for another row, and the − button to remove one. Files stream from disk when the request is sent, so a large upload never has to fit in memory.

GraphQLCopy Anchor Link

GraphQL sends the query text as the body with Content-Type: application/graphql, for servers that take a query that way. For a full GraphQL client, with variables, completion from the schema, the schema explorer and subscriptions, create a New GraphQL Request instead. See GraphQL.

Raw: text, XML and HTMLCopy Anchor Link

Choose Raw, then Text, XML or HTML in the row beside it. The editor colours XML and HTML, and the Content-Type follows your choice.

Binary: a fileCopy Anchor Link

Choose Binary, then Choose File…, and pick the file to send. The tab shows its name, size and path; Choose Another File… replaces it. The file is read from disk every time the request is sent, whatever its size, so the request always sends the file as it is now. Until you choose a file, nothing is sent.

Where bodies are savedCopy Anchor Link

A typed body is saved in its own file next to the request, such as create-order.body.json beside create-order.req.toml, so it reads well in Git. A binary body is saved as the file's path. See Workspace files.

Large bodiesCopy Anchor Link

Binary and multipart files stream from disk when the request goes out, so uploads of any size send without being loaded into memory. Responses are a separate matter: they are written to disk as they arrive and stay fast in the viewers even at hundreds of megabytes. See Responses.