Collections & folders

A collection is an ordinary folder on your disk. Every request inside it is a plain-text .tiger file, subfolders nest arbitrarily, and the whole tree is version-controlled with Git - no proprietary database, no account.

What a collection looks like on disk

When you open a folder in Tiger, or create a new one, Tiger reads it as a collection. The layout is straightforward:

my-api/                       ← collection root (the folder you open)
  collection.tiger            ← optional collection settings
  environments/
    staging.tiger             ← named environment
    production.tiger
  get-users.tiger             ← a request at the collection root
  auth/
    login.tiger               ← a request in the "auth" folder
    refresh-token.tiger
  posts/
    create-post.tiger
    folder.tiger              ← optional folder settings
    drafts/
      list-drafts.tiger

Tiger scans the root recursively. Any .tiger file that is not named collection.tiger or folder.tiger, and is not inside the environments/ directory, is treated as a request. Hidden directories (names starting with .) are skipped, so your .git folder is never touched.

collection.tiger - collection settings

Placing a collection.tiger file at the root lets you store collection-level settings. The file is optional; Tiger opens the folder even without one.

Three things can go in collection.tiger:

• A display name - overrides the folder name in the sidebar.
• A default auth - inherited by every request in the collection unless the request sets its own auth (including an explicit auth:none to opt out of inheritance).
• Free-form documentation - a docs block that holds Markdown notes shown on the collection page.

meta {
  name: JSONPlaceholder API
}

auth:bearer {
  token: {{token}}
}

docs {
  Public REST API at https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com.
  Rate-limited to 100 requests/minute per IP.
}

The auth:bearer block above means every request inherits bearer auth automatically. A request that adds its own auth:basic block will use basic auth instead. A request that adds auth:none sends no auth at all, regardless of the collection default.

folder.tiger - folder-level settings

A folder.tiger file inside any subfolder stores the same three fields as collection.tiger: a display name, a default auth for requests inside that folder, and a docs block. Folder settings override collection settings for requests inside the folder.

Creating a new collection

Tiger offers three ways to start a collection:

• New collection - click the + button in the sidebar header (or use the welcome screen). Tiger prompts you to pick a parent directory, creates an empty folder there, and immediately opens it. The folder starts with no files; add your first request with the + button on the collection header in the sidebar.
• Open a folder - click the folder icon in the sidebar header to open any existing directory. Tiger reads it as a collection whether or not it already contains .tiger files.
• Clone from Git - click the branch icon to clone a remote repository directly inside Tiger. After the clone finishes, the collection opens automatically.

Multiple collections can be open at the same time. Each appears as its own collapsible section in the sidebar.

Sidebar - the full action set

Everything you need to manage a collection is in the sidebar, accessible from the row buttons or the right-click context menu.

Collection-level actions

Folder actions

Request actions

Inline rename

Tiger follows the file-manager convention for renaming. Double-click any request or folder name in the sidebar to start editing it inline. Press Enter to confirm or Escape to cancel. For the currently active request, pressing F2 starts rename without needing the mouse.

Renaming a request renames the underlying .tiger file on disk (and updates the meta.name field inside it). Renaming a folder renames the directory.

Search

The search box at the top of the sidebar filters across all open collections by request name. Matching requests are shown flat, grouped by collection name, so you can find a request without knowing which folder it lives in. Clear the search to return to the full tree view.

Git status chips

When a collection folder is a Git repository, the collection header shows small status chips:

• A number - uncommitted changes in the working tree.
• An up arrow with a count - commits ahead of the remote (ready to push).
• A down arrow with a count - commits behind the remote (available to pull).
• A check mark - the working tree is clean and in sync with the remote.

Clicking any chip opens the Git panel for that collection. The full Git workflow (status, diff, commit, pull, push, branch, log, and more) is documented on the Git integration page.

Tabs

Every request and every collection or folder page opens in its own tab at the top of the editor area. Tabs let you work on several requests at once and switch between them quickly.

Tab shortcuts

Drag-to-reorder

Drag any tab left or right along the tab bar to reorder it. The new order is remembered within the session.

Unsaved-change indicator

A small dot appears on a tab when the request has unsaved changes. The dot disappears after you save (Cmd/Ctrl+S).

Session restore

When you quit and reopen Tiger, the sidebar restores all previously open collections, and the tab strip and active tab are exactly as you left them. You pick up where you stopped without manually reopening anything.

Right-click tab menu

Right-clicking a tab shows options to close just that tab, close all other tabs, close tabs to the right, close all tabs, or reveal the corresponding request in the sidebar.

The .tiger file format

Each request is stored as a single .tiger text file. The format uses named blocks, is readable in any editor, and produces clean, reviewable diffs. A minimal example:

meta {
  name: Create post
  seq: 2
}

post {
  url: {{baseUrl}}/posts
}

headers {
  Content-Type: application/json
}

body:json {
  { "title": "Hello from Tiger" }
}

auth:bearer {
  token: {{token}}
}

capture {
  postId: body.id
}

A ~ prefix on a header or query-param line disables it without deleting it - handy for commenting out a value during debugging. The capture block writes a value from the response into an environment variable for the next request in a chain.

For the full field reference see the .tiger format page.

Importing an existing collection

If your team already has a collection in Postman, Insomnia, Bruno, or OpenAPI, you can import it instead of rebuilding it by hand. Tiger converts each request into its own .tiger file and creates matching subfolders. The importer handles:

• Postman v2.0 and v2.1 JSON exports
• Insomnia v4 exports
• Bruno folder of .bru files
• OpenAPI 3 and Swagger 2 specs (.json or .yaml)
• WSDL / SOAP (.wsdl or .xml) - each binding operation becomes a POST with a ready-to-fill SOAP envelope (new in 0.4.0)
• A pasted curl command - creates a single request

Click the Import / Export icon (double-arrow) in the sidebar header to open the importer. The full import guide is on the Importing page.

Related pages