Collaboration
Set up team workspaces, share collections, manage roles and permissions, and collaborate on API development in RESTK.
RESTK is built for teams. Create shared workspaces, invite members, assign roles, and collaborate on API collections -- all while maintaining the offline-first experience that makes RESTK fast and reliable.
Team Workspaces Overview
Team workspaces are shared environments where multiple people can work on the same collections, environments, and requests. Unlike personal workspaces, team workspaces belong to an organization and are accessible to members who have been granted access.
Personal vs Team Workspaces
| Feature | Personal Workspace | Team Workspace |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership | You | Organization |
| Visibility | Only you | Organization members with access |
| Sync | Across your devices | Across all member devices |
| Roles | N/A | Owner, Manager, Editor, Viewer |
| Offline | Full support | Full support |
Creating and Joining a Team
Creating an Organization
Create Organization
Click Create Organization from the context switcher in the sidebar. Enter a name for your organization (e.g., "Acme Engineering").
Create a Team Workspace
Inside your organization, click + New Workspace and give it a descriptive name (e.g., "Payment API", "Mobile Backend").
Add Collections
Create collections inside the workspace or import existing ones. All content in the workspace is shared with team members who have access.
Joining an Existing Team
You can join a team in two ways:
Via email invitation:
- Check the notification bell for pending invitations
- Review the organization name and your assigned role
- Click Accept to join
Via invitation code:
- Obtain a 6-character code from your team
- Go to Join Organization and enter the code
- Click Join to become a member
Immediate Access
Once you accept an invitation, you immediately gain access to organization workspaces according to your assigned role.
Inviting Members
Open Members Panel
Navigate to your organization and open the Members tab (Owner or Admin role required).
Click Invite
Click Invite Members to open the invitation dialog.
Enter Email Addresses
Add one or more email addresses, separated by commas for bulk invitations.
Assign Role
Select the role for invited members: Member or Admin. Owners can invite with any role; Admins can only invite as Member.
Send
Click Send to deliver invitation emails. Pending invitations appear in the members list and can be revoked before acceptance.
Role-Based Access
RESTK uses a two-level role system: organization roles control who can manage the team, and workspace roles control who can edit content.
Organization Roles
| Capability | Owner | Admin | Member |
|---|---|---|---|
| View organization | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Invite members | Yes (any role) | Yes (Member only) | No |
| Manage members | Yes (all) | Yes (Members only) | No |
| Edit organization settings | Yes | Yes | No |
| Delete organization | Yes | No | No |
| Create workspaces | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Workspace Roles
| Capability | Owner | Manager | Editor | Viewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| View collections and requests | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Send requests | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create and edit collections | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Delete collections, folders, requests | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Manage workspace settings | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Invite workspace members | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Delete workspace | Yes | No | No | No |
Two Separate Systems
Organization roles and workspace roles are independent. An organization Admin does not automatically get Editor access to every workspace -- workspace roles must be assigned separately.
Sharing Collections
Collections inside a team workspace are automatically shared with everyone who has access to that workspace. There is no separate sharing step.
To make a personal collection available to your team:
- Export the collection from your personal workspace
- Import it into the team workspace
- The collection is now accessible to all workspace members with the appropriate role
Import & Export
Use the Import & Export feature to move collections between workspaces. Export from one workspace and import into another.
Real-Time Sync
Changes propagate across all team members when devices are online.
What Syncs Automatically
- Collection structure (folders, request order)
- Request definitions (URL, method, headers, body, scripts)
- Environment variable keys, types, and enabled status
- Workspace and organization settings
What Stays Local
- Active environment selection (per-user)
- Auth credentials (stored in the macOS Keychain)
- Variable values for collection, folder, and request scopes
- Script-set variable values (runtime overrides)
Auto-Commit
Changes to requests are saved automatically. Edits sync to your team on the next sync cycle.
Conflict Resolution
RESTK automatically merges non-conflicting changes and preserves your local version when both sides edit the same field (last-writer-wins).
How It Works
- During sync, RESTK compares your local changes with the server version field by field
- If only one side changed a field, that change is applied automatically
- If both sides changed the same field, your local version wins
For example, if you change the URL and a teammate changes the headers, both changes are preserved automatically — no manual resolution needed.
Minimize Overwrites
Enable Auto-Sync to keep changes flowing frequently. The shorter the sync interval, the less likely you are to overwrite a teammate's recent work.
Organization Features
For larger teams, RESTK organization accounts offer additional capabilities.
- Centralized billing: One subscription covers all members
- Member management: Disable and re-enable member accounts without removing them
- Audit visibility: See who created and last modified collections, requests, and environments
Offline Collaboration
RESTK's offline-first architecture means your team can work without an internet connection.
How It Works
- Work offline: Create, edit, and test requests without connectivity
- Changes queue locally: All modifications are saved to your device
- Sync on reconnect: When you come back online, RESTK pushes your changes and pulls updates from teammates
- Auto-merge: Non-conflicting changes merge automatically; same-field conflicts resolve with last-writer-wins
Best Practices for Offline Teams
- Enable Auto-Sync: Changes sync automatically when you reconnect
- Avoid editing the same requests: Coordinate with teammates to minimize overwrites
- Check sync status after reconnecting: Look for the green checkmark to confirm everything is synced
No Data Loss
RESTK never discards your offline changes. All changes are preserved and merged automatically on sync.
Best Practices
- One workspace per project or service -- Keep things organized by creating separate workspaces for each API or microservice
- Use descriptive workspace names -- "Payment Service API" is better than "API 1"
- Assign the right roles -- Give Viewer access to stakeholders, Editor access to developers, and Manager access to team leads
- Set collection-level auth -- Configure authentication once on the collection so all requests inherit it
- Use environment variables for secrets -- Store credentials in Secret variables, not hardcoded in requests
- Communicate about changes -- Let your team know when you add new required environment variables