Your first request

This guide walks through the full loop from a blank workspace to a committed .tiger file: create a collection, add a request, send it, inspect the response, save, and commit with Tiger's built-in Git panel.

Step 1 - Open or create a collection

A collection in Tiger is a plain folder on disk. Every request you create inside it becomes a .tiger text file. There are three ways to start:

After any of these steps the collection appears in the left sidebar with its name at the top and any folders or requests nested below it.

Step 2 - Add a request

With a collection open, press Cmd+T (macOS) or Ctrl+T (Windows / Linux) to create a new request tab, or click the + icon next to the collection name in the sidebar. A new untitled request opens as an editor tab.

Two things to set right away:

1. Method - click the method badge on the left of the URL bar (defaults to GET) and choose the HTTP method you need: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, or OPTIONS.
2. URL - click into the URL field and type the endpoint. You can use a literal URL or a {{variable}} placeholder. A warning appears under the bar for any variable that is not defined in the active environment.

For a quick sanity check, try the public JSONPlaceholder API:

GET https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1

Step 3 - Add headers, query params, and a body

Below the URL bar a set of tabs lets you configure every part of the request. You only need to fill in what the endpoint actually requires - all tabs are optional.

Query params

Switch to the Params tab and add key/value rows. Tiger appends them to the URL as a query string. Uncheck a row to disable it without deleting it (the ~ prefix in the saved file marks disabled lines).

Headers

Switch to the Headers tab and add rows in the same way. A Content-Type header is added automatically when you choose a structured body type, so you usually do not need to set it by hand.

Authentication

The Auth tab covers the most common schemes: Bearer token, Basic (username + password), API key (sent as a header or a query parameter), and OAuth 2.0 client credentials. Tiger resolves {{variable}} references in every auth field, so you can store tokens in an environment instead of hard-coding them. See Authentication for the full reference.

Request body

The Body tab offers several body types. Pick the one that matches the endpoint:

For a POST request to JSONPlaceholder, switch to Body, choose json, and enter:

{
  "title": "Hello from Tiger",
  "body": "My first request",
  "userId": 1
}

Step 4 - Send and read the response

Click Send (or press Cmd+Enter / Ctrl+Enter) to fire the request. The response panel on the right fills in immediately.

The response panel shows:

• Status - the HTTP status code and reason phrase, color-coded (green for 2xx, yellow for 3xx/4xx, red for 5xx).
• Timing - total round-trip time. Hover over it for a breakdown: DNS lookup, TCP handshake, TLS negotiation, time to first byte (TTFB), and download time.
• Size - response body size after transfer.
• Headers - switch to the Headers sub-tab to inspect every response header.
• Body - JSON is syntax-highlighted and pretty-printed by default. Toggle between Pretty and Raw with the button in the panel, or turn on word-wrap. HTML responses can be previewed in a sandboxed frame; images are shown inline.

To search inside a large response body, press Cmd+F / Ctrl+F while the response panel is focused. Matches are highlighted and you can cycle through them.

If the request fails (network error, timeout, or certificate problem) the error is shown instead of a status code. You can cancel a slow in-flight request with the Cancel button that replaces Send while a request is running.

Step 5 - Save the request

Press Cmd+S / Ctrl+S, or click Save in the toolbar. Tiger writes a .tiger file to disk inside the collection folder. The filename is derived from the request name; you can rename it by double-clicking the name in the sidebar (or pressing F2).

The saved file is plain text and readable in any editor. For the POST example above it would look like this:

meta {
  name: Create post
  seq: 1
}

post {
  url: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts
}

headers {
  Content-Type: application/json
}

body:json {
  {
    "title": "Hello from Tiger",
    "body": "My first request",
    "userId": 1
  }
}

A ~ prefix on any line disables that header or param without removing it from the file. The format is designed to produce clean, readable diffs when you change a URL, add a header, or update a body field.

Step 6 - Commit with built-in Git

If your collection folder is a Git repository, Tiger shows a Git status indicator in the sidebar next to the collection name (a count of uncommitted changes and ahead/behind counts for the remote). Click the Git icon to open the Git panel.

From the Git panel you can:

• See a diff of every changed .tiger file.
• Stage files, write a commit message, and commit.
• Pull and push to the configured remote.
• Create or switch branches.
• View the commit log.
• Discard local changes to revert a file to its last committed state.

If the collection folder is not yet a Git repository, use Init in the Git panel to initialize one, then Set remote to add an origin and start pushing.

The diff for the new request file above would be clean and readable in any Git host's pull request view - which is exactly what makes the .tiger format useful for team workflows.

Quick-reference: keyboard shortcuts

Press Cmd+/ / Ctrl+/ at any time to open the full shortcuts overlay. The most useful ones while building requests:

Every one of these also lives in the native application menu (File, Edit, Request, View, Window, Help), so you can reach them with the mouse too. Tiger reopens at the window size and position you left it in, and remembers a maximized window.

What to explore next

• Environments and variables - swap base URLs and tokens without editing each request.
• Authentication - Bearer, Basic, API key, and OAuth 2.0 client credentials.
• The .tiger format - the full file format reference, including captures and scripts.
• Importing - bring in a Postman collection, OpenAPI spec, or curl command.