Getting Started

Bifurc is a desktop-first API development workspace for routing, mocking, capture, protocol testing, browser-assisted workflows, and git-backed collaboration.

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Install Bifurc

Download a release

Download the latest desktop build from the GitHub releases page.

• Windows: supported today
• macOS: planned
• Linux: planned

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/HarshalKudale/bifurc.git
cd local-panel
npm install
cd local-panel
npm run dev

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First launch checklist

1. Open Settings and confirm the Bifurc ports you want to use.
2. Open Services to discover local processes already listening on localhost.
3. Create a Mapping from a discovered service or add one manually.
4. Decide how traffic should reach Bifurc:
   • via the browser extension
   • via a browser or OS proxy
   • via an explicit *.localhost:<port> URL
5. Open Capture to confirm requests are flowing through the app.

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Core navigation

The application is organized around a few top-level workflows:

Services and routing

• Services — discover local ports and create mappings quickly
• Mappings — bind *.localhost domains to local targets
• Proxy Rules — redirect and transform matching traffic
• Capture — inspect live proxied traffic

Mocking and request authoring

• Mock → REST / GraphQL / SOAP / gRPC
• Request → REST / GraphQL / SOAP / gRPC
• WebSockets
• Webhooks

Workspace management

• Environments — variables and built-in randomizers
• Health Bar — endpoint monitoring
• Workspace — git remote sync and collaboration settings
• Settings — proxy, TLS, CA, ports, and application options

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Recommended first workflows

Map a local service

1. Open Services
2. Find your app or API port
3. Click the quick-map action
4. Save a mapping such as api.localhost → 127.0.0.1:3000
5. Route browser traffic through Bifurc and open http://api.localhost

Capture and mock an existing API

1. Route traffic through Bifurc
2. Open Capture
3. Trigger a request from your browser or app
4. Inspect the captured entry
5. Create a mock from the captured request/response
6. Enable the mock and retry the request

Save and replay a request

1. Open Request → REST
2. Create a request tab
3. Paste a URL or a full cURL command
4. Add headers, body, scripts, and variables
5. Send, inspect the response, then save it into your workspace

Use browser-assisted workflows

1. Load the Bifurc Companion extension in Chrome or Edge
2. Configure its proxy and companion ports to match your Bifurc settings
3. Open the extension popup and enable proxy routing when needed
4. Use the DevTools panel to turn captured browser traffic into Bifurc mocks or saved requests

See browser-extension.md and workflows.md for the operational details.

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Recent release-ready improvements

The current release prep includes several workflow and UX upgrades:

• Common tab shortcuts across tabbed surfaces: Ctrl/Cmd+S, Ctrl/Cmd+T, Ctrl/Cmd+W
• Better keyboard-visible focus, control sizing, and navigation consistency
• Persisted high-value UI state for active panel, sidebars, searches, folders, and tabs
• Stronger settings, workspace, and navigation ergonomics
• Expanded protocol docs for GraphQL, SOAP, and gRPC
• More complete extension-assisted capture and mock creation workflows

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Port notes

Common defaults documented in the project:

*.localhost resolves to 127.0.0.1 automatically per RFC 6761. If Bifurc is not listening on port 80, traffic still needs to reach it through one of these paths:

• a browser or OS proxy
• the browser extension proxy toggle
• an explicit http://your-domain.localhost:<bifurc-port> URL

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System requirements

• OS: Windows 10+ today
• Node.js: 18+ for source builds
• Git: required for workspace history and sync features
• Local network access: only localhost bindings are required for normal operation

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Where the docs live now

The Bifurc website is the primary user-facing documentation surface. The repository docs remain available for contributors and local reading, but the website carries the canonical published version.