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Workspace Modes

Choose where each RESTK workspace's data lives — fully local, versioned in a git repo you own, or synced through the cloud. Pick the mode per workspace.

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Every RESTK workspace runs in one of three modes, and you choose the mode per workspace. A personal scratch workspace can be local, your team's shared collection can be in git, and a fast-moving project can use cloud sync — all at the same time.

ModeWhere data livesAccount requiredBest for
LocalOnly on your machineNoSolo work, private experiments, anything that should never leave your device
GitPlain files in a repo you ownYesTeams who want API changes reviewed and versioned like code
CloudSynced through RESTK, encryptedYesTeams who want changes to propagate quickly across devices

Plans

Local individual use is free and needs no account. Git and Cloud are paid, account-based tiers.

Marked secrets are always local

A value you mark as secret is never synced and never committed — in any mode. It stays on your device regardless of which mode the workspace uses.

Local

Local mode keeps everything on your machine. There is no account, no login, and no network involved — install RESTK and start working. Your workspace is stored in an encrypted database on your device and goes nowhere.

Use local mode when you want a fast, native API client with no notion of a backend, or for any workspace whose data should simply never leave your machine. Because nothing of yours reaches a server, there is no infrastructure of ours in the loop at all.

Git

Git mode stores your workspace as plain files in a git repository you own. You commit, branch, and merge API changes with the same workflow you use for code, and RESTK does the git work from inside the app. Git Sync requires a RESTK account — but your workspace data lives in your repository, not on our servers.

  • Your requests, environments, folders, and runners are versioned in the repository.
  • You can see exactly what changed in each commit.
  • Merging keeps everyone's work, with a visual resolver for genuine conflicts.
  • Secrets are never committed: teammates see which secrets a workspace expects, never their values.

See the Git Sync guide for the full workflow.

Cloud

Cloud mode syncs your workspace through RESTK so changes propagate across your devices and your team — as often as every 30 seconds with Auto-Sync, or on demand. It is offline-first: you work locally and sync when ready, and RESTK merges changes field by field.

Cloud sync uses managed encryption. Cloud-synced values are encrypted on your device before they are sent, using a rotating per-workspace key. The keys are server-managed, which is what makes team features like invites and device recovery work, and it means we are technically able to decrypt synced data.

Cloud sync uses managed encryption, not zero-knowledge

Because the keys are server-managed, RESTK is technically able to decrypt cloud-synced data. We do not describe this as end-to-end or zero-knowledge. If you need a mode where that is not even possible, use local (no account, no network) or git (your workspace data lives as files in a repo you own — Git Sync still requires a RESTK account). In neither does your workspace data sit on our servers under a key of ours. Values marked secret are never synced in any mode. The full threat model is in Security & Encryption.

Choosing a Mode

Ask what a given workspace actually needs:

  • Should it ever leave this machine? If no, use local.
  • Should changes be reviewed and versioned like code, in infrastructure you own? Use git.
  • Should changes propagate quickly across a team's devices, without managing a repo? Use cloud.

You can run different workspaces in different modes at the same time, so you do not have to make one choice for everything.

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