API Design

Postman Collection JSON Example

A real-world JSON example of a Postman Collection v2.1 — folders, requests, and variables. Copy-ready for understanding the collection format or generating one programmatically.

JSON

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{
  "info": {
    "_postman_id": "8f3a2b1c-4d5e-6f70-8a9b-0c1d2e3f4a5b",
    "name": "JSONKit API",
    "schema": "https://schema.getpostman.com/json/collection/v2.1.0/collection.json"
  },
  "item": [
    {
      "name": "Users",
      "item": [
        {
          "name": "Get User",
          "request": {
            "method": "GET",
            "header": [
              {
                "key": "Authorization",
                "value": "Bearer {{accessToken}}"
              }
            ],
            "url": {
              "raw": "{{baseUrl}}/users/:id",
              "host": [
                "{{baseUrl}}"
              ],
              "path": [
                "users",
                ":id"
              ],
              "variable": [
                {
                  "key": "id",
                  "value": "usr_9k2mXpQr4t"
                }
              ]
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "variable": [
    {
      "key": "baseUrl",
      "value": "https://api.example.com/v1"
    },
    {
      "key": "accessToken",
      "value": ""
    }
  ]
}

Field Reference

info._postman_idrequiredstringA unique UUID identifying this collection — regenerated when a collection is duplicated, not when it's exported/imported

itemrequiredarrayNested tree of folders and requests — an item with its own item array is a folder; one with a request object is an actual API call

request.url.variableoptionalarrayPath variables (like :id) declared separately from the raw URL string, so Postman can render them as editable fields

variableoptionalarrayCollection-level variables (like {{baseUrl}}) usable in any request within the collection via double-curly syntax

Variants

With a Test ScriptRequests can carry pm.test() assertions that run automatically after the response arrives.

With a Test Script

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{
  "name": "Get User",
  "request": {
    "method": "GET",
    "url": "{{baseUrl}}/users/usr_9k2mXpQr4t"
  },
  "event": [
    {
      "listen": "test",
      "script": {
        "type": "text/javascript",
        "exec": [
          "pm.test('Status is 200', () => pm.response.to.have.status(200));"
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Common Use Cases

→Generating a Postman collection programmatically from an OpenAPI spec or route list
→Understanding the collection JSON format to build a custom import/export tool
→Sharing a versioned, git-trackable API test suite instead of Postman's cloud sync

postmanapi testingcollectionRESTdeveloper tools

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Frequently Asked Questions

Collection variables (shown here) travel with the collection file itself and are the same for anyone who imports it; environment variables live in a separate Postman Environment file and let the same collection run against different base URLs (dev/staging/prod) without editing the collection.

Yes — if you already have an OpenAPI/Swagger spec, Postman can import it directly and generate a collection with one request per documented endpoint, which is usually far less work than hand-building one from scratch.

Folders let you organize by resource or workflow (Users, Orders, Auth) and also allow folder-level settings — like a shared auth header or a pre-request script — to apply to every request inside without repeating it.

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