MicroRapid Team 5 min read

Why We Built TiefWise: A Local-First API Client for Teams Who Care About Their Data

Your API collections belong in your repository, not someone else's cloud. TiefWise is local-first, fast, and secure by architecture — not settings.

API TestingDeveloper ToolsLocal-FirstSecurityTiefWise

Why We Built TiefWise: A Local-First API Client for Teams Who Care About Their Data

Your API collections belong in your repository, not someone else’s cloud.

That statement alone explains why TiefWise exists.

TL;DR

Most API clients sync your requests, credentials, and secrets to the cloud by default. TiefWise doesn’t.

It’s local-first, fast, and secure by architecture — not settings.

  • Collections are files.
  • Secrets are protected.
  • Teams can collaborate through git.

TiefWise is built for developers and teams who want to test APIs locally, keep collections in git, and avoid cloud sync entirely.

The Problem Nobody Talks About

It’s 2025, and we’ve normalized sending API keys, bearer tokens, OAuth credentials, and customer data to third-party cloud servers just to test an endpoint.

Every time you click Send in most popular API clients, your request data is synced to a cloud you don’t control — protected by security policies you didn’t write.

And then we act surprised when API keys leak.

This isn’t hypothetical. It’s documented:

  • Public Postman workspaces leaking secrets
  • Misconfigured visibility exposing production credentials
  • Exports accidentally shared with tokens intact

These aren’t user mistakes. They’re architectural failures.

Security shouldn’t depend on remembering to toggle the right setting.

The Pain Is Real

We didn’t build TiefWise because we wanted another API client. We built it because existing tools have become unworkable.

1. Startup Time Has Become Absurd

Developers report Postman taking 10–15 seconds to open on modern machines. For a tool whose core job is send an HTTP request, that’s unacceptable.

When did this become a 400MB problem?

2. Collections Live in Someone Else’s Cloud

Many tools now require login and cloud sync for basic functionality. That means:

  • Staging credentials
  • Admin API keys
  • OAuth tokens
  • Real customer payloads

…are stored on servers you don’t control.

This is the opposite of least privilege. It’s convenience over safety — and teams are paying for it.

3. Collaboration Is Broken

Every team has lived this:

  • Alice creates a collection
  • Bob needs it → export → Slack
  • Bob edits it
  • Alice edits her copy
  • Now there are two versions
  • Neither is canonical

Collections are code — but they aren’t treated like it.

No diffs. No PRs. No reviews. No history. No source of truth.

4. Secrets Are Too Easy to Leak

Postman breaches didn’t happen because developers are careless. They happened because the architecture allows secrets to be exported.

When you share a collection with a contractor, you shouldn’t have to manually scrub environment variables hoping you didn’t miss the production password.

Secrets should be protected by design, not vigilance.

5. Debugging Is Harder Than It Should Be

You test staging. It works. You test production. It fails.

What’s different?

In most tools, you:

  • copy responses
  • paste them into a diff tool
  • lose headers, timing, and context

And you still aren’t sure.

Enter TiefWise

TiefWise is built on one simple idea:

Your data stays on your machine. Your collections can live in your repo. Your secrets are protected on export.

Local-First by Default

TiefWise runs entirely on your machine.

  • No cloud sync
  • No accounts
  • No telemetry
  • No background uploads

TiefWise does not collect, store, or transmit any user data.

Git-Friendly Export

Export collections to plain JSON files. Commit them to your repo.

/collections
  /auth
    login.json
  /users
    get-user.json
/environments
  dev.json
  prod.json

Your API specs live alongside your code. Version control. Code review. One source of truth.

Security by Architecture

Sensitive data warnings on export.

When you export a collection or request, TiefWise scans for potential secrets:

  • API keys
  • Bearer tokens
  • Basic auth credentials
  • AWS keys
  • JWTs

If detected, you get a warning before export — so you can review what you’re sharing.

Built-In Response Comparison

Select two responses. Click compare.

  • Status codes
  • Headers
  • Body
  • Timing

Side by side. In context. Debugging takes seconds, not minutes.

Request Preview

Before hitting send, you see the final URL, rendered body, and full headers.

No more guessing. No more archaeology.

cURL Export That Works

Right-click any request → Export as cURL.

Variables substituted. Headers included. Ready to run.

Fast Because It Should Be

TiefWise launches in under 2 seconds.

Desktop builds are signed and notarized on macOS and Windows.

What We Believe

  • Your data is yours
  • Collections are code
  • Secrets must be protected by architecture
  • Speed matters
  • Simplicity wins

Try TiefWise

  • Local-first
  • Git-friendly export
  • Security-first
  • Sub-2s startup
  • Free
  • macOS & Windows

Download TiefWise

Use it for a week. Then decide if you ever want to send secrets to the cloud again.

“Local-first isn’t nostalgia. It’s responsibility.”

Sources