RESTK uses offline-first sync — you can work without internet and sync when ready. When you sync, the app pulls the latest changes from your team, merges them with your local changes using field-level smart merge, and pushes your changes to the server.

Quick Start

Work Anywhere

Make changes on any device — create, edit, delete, and reorder requests fully offline.

Sync When Ready

Tap Sync Now or enable Auto-Sync to push your changes and pull your team's updates.

Smart Merge

RESTK merges changes at the field level — non-conflicting changes merge automatically, and when both sides edit the same field, your local version is preserved.

How Sync Works

When you tap Sync Now (or Auto-Sync triggers), the app follows this sequence:

Pull the latest changes from the server
Merge them with your local changes (field-level smart merge)
Push your local changes to the server

Collections sync before folders, and folders before requests. This ensures parent items exist before syncing their children.

Auto-Sync

Auto-Sync periodically syncs your workspace in the background. You can configure the interval in settings:

Interval	Best for
Manual	Full control — sync only when you tap "Sync Now"
30 seconds	Real-time collaboration with teammates
4 minutes	Balanced — recommended for most teams
6 minutes	Light collaboration
10 minutes	Minimal background activity

Push Notifications

When a teammate syncs changes, you receive a push notification. If Auto-Sync is enabled, the app automatically pulls the latest data in the background — no manual action needed.

Working Offline

You can use RESTK fully offline. All changes are saved locally and queued as pending changes.

When offline, you can:

Create new collections, folders, and requests
Edit existing items
Delete and reorder items
Execute requests (to reachable servers)
View history

No Data Loss

Your changes are saved safely on your device even if you quit the app while offline. Everything syncs when you reconnect.

Pending Changes

Pending changes are local edits that haven't been pushed to the server yet. These include:

Modified requests, collections, or folders
Newly created items
Deleted items
Reordered items (drag-and-drop changes)

You can view all pending changes in the Sync dialog and manage them before syncing.

Discarding Pending Changes

In the Sync dialog, tap View all changes to see pending items. You can:

Select individual items using checkboxes
Select All / Clear All to toggle selection
Discard Selected to revert those changes

What Discard Does

Discarding a modified item keeps it in your workspace but reverts it to the last synced version. Discarding a locally-created item deletes it entirely.

How Merging Works

RESTK uses smart field-level merge — not whole-item replacement. Each field of a request, collection, or folder is merged independently:

If only you changed a field → your version is kept
If only your teammate changed a field → their version is applied
If both changed the same field → your local version wins (last-writer-wins)

For list fields like headers, parameters, and variables — additions from both sides are kept, deletions are respected, and reordering is preserved.

Non-Conflicting Changes Merge Automatically

If you change the URL and someone else changes the method, both changes are kept automatically. No manual resolution is needed.

What If I Haven't Synced In a While?

Your local changes are safe. When you sync:

Fields you didn't modify get updated with the latest from your team automatically
Fields you modified keep your local version — your work is never lost
If a teammate also changed the same field you changed, your local version takes priority

To minimize overwriting teammates' recent work, we recommend enabling Auto-Sync.

What Gets Synced

Here's exactly what syncs across devices and what stays local.

Entity	Synced	Local-Only
Request	Name, URL, method, sort order, parent references, headers, parameters, body type + data, auth type, scripts, skip-parent-scripts flag, variable keys + enabled status, description	Auth credentials (stored in Keychain), selected tab, request settings, variable values
Collection	Name, sort order, visibility, auth type, scripts, variable keys + enabled status	Auth credentials (stored in Keychain), AI sharing preference, variable values
Folder	Name, sort order, parent references, auth type, auth override flag, scripts, variable keys + enabled status	Auth credentials (stored in Keychain), variable values
Environment	Name, workspace, creator, description	Active selection (per-user)
Env Variable	Key, type, enabled status, display order	Values (stored locally), secret values, script-set values (runtime overrides)

Always stays on your device (never synced):

Response history and saved responses
Cookies
Mock server configurations
Window layout and open tabs

Environment Variable Values

Environment variable keys (names) are synced so your team shares the same variable structure. Variable values stay local — each team member can have their own API keys, tokens, and secrets without exposing them to the server or teammates.

This means:

Your team shares {{base_url}}, {{auth_token}}, {{api_key}} as variable names
Each person sets their own values locally (dev server, staging, production)
No secrets are ever sent to the sync server

Variable Values Stay Local

All variable values stay local — only keys and enabled status sync. This applies to collection, folder, request, and environment variables alike. Secret variable values and script-set overrides always stay local.

Auth Inheritance and Sync

Authentication settings sync with their inheritance chain:

Collection-level auth syncs and is inherited by all folders and requests within it
Folder-level auth syncs and overrides collection auth for requests in that folder
Request-level auth syncs and overrides folder/collection auth for that specific request

When a teammate updates the collection's OAuth config, all requests inheriting from it automatically use the new config after your next sync.

Workspace Roles and Permissions

Sync respects your workspace role:

Role	Can push changes?	Can pull changes?
Owner / Admin / Manager	Yes	Yes
Editor	Yes	Yes
Viewer	No (read-only)	Yes (pull only)

Viewers can browse the workspace and pull updates but cannot push changes. If your role changes, the app updates automatically on next sync.

Multi-Device Sync

Your workspace syncs across all your devices. Sign in on your Mac at home and at work — both stay in sync. Each device maintains its own:

Environment variable values (your API keys stay per-device)
Response history
Cookie jar
Window layout and open tabs

Drag-and-Drop Reordering

When you reorder requests or folders by dragging, the new order syncs to your team. Each item's position is tracked individually — reordering one item doesn't require updating every other item in the list.

Data Security

Workspaces with end-to-end encryption enabled encrypt sensitive fields before they leave your device:

Request body content
Auth configuration (tokens, credentials)
Header and parameter values

The server only sees encrypted data. See Security & Encryption for details.

Sync Status Indicators

Visual indicators show the sync state of your items.

Indicator	Meaning
Green checkmark	Synced successfully
Orange badge with count	Pending sync (changes waiting)
Blue spinner	Currently syncing
Red X	Sync error, check connection

What If Sync Fails?

If sync fails (network error, server unavailable), your local data is safe. The app will:

Show an error message in the Sync dialog
Keep your pending changes queued
Retry on the next Auto-Sync interval or when you tap "Sync Now"

No data is ever lost due to a sync failure.

Best Practices

Enable Auto-Sync — the 4-minute interval works well for most teams
Sync before major edits — pull the latest before making big changes
Check pending changes — review what's pending before syncing
Use environments for secrets — keep API keys in environment variables, not hardcoded in requests
Use auth inheritance — set auth at collection level so the whole team benefits from updates

Troubleshooting

Changes Not Syncing

Check:

Internet connection is active
You're signed in on both devices
You're in the correct workspace
Your workspace role allows pushing changes

Solution:

Click the sync icon to force sync
Check the Sync dialog for error messages
Restart the app if needed

Sync Keeps Failing

Cause: Network issues or server unavailable.