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https://github.com/Kong/insomnia
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8cea5edc26
* add smoke test fixture * respect INSOMNIA_DATA_PATH override in CI * add playwright * remove spectron * move CLI tests after app smoke tests in CI * remove onboarding skip * random path feedback * npx feedback * remove DATA_PATH override * remove step from import process * cleanup * restore readme * move specs to tests * feedback on DESIGNER_DATA_PATH * remove skipLibCheck * last mention of spectron * fix windows npm run test:smoke:build * DATA_PATH override is required * github CI is slow sometimes
80 lines
4.6 KiB
Markdown
80 lines
4.6 KiB
Markdown
# Development Overview
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The purpose of this document is to provide a general overview of the application architecture.
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## Technologies
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Insomnia is a desktop application built on top of [Electron](http://electronjs.org/). Electron
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provides a Chromium runtime for the Insomnia web app to run inside of, as well as additional tools
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to provide access to operating system features.
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There are a few more technologies and tools worth mentioning:
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- [`React`](https://reactjs.org/) is the library used for all UI components.
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- [`styled-components`](https://styled-components.com/) and [`Less`](http://lesscss.org/) are used for styling UI components.
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- [`Electron Builder`](https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder) is used to help build, sign, and package Insomnia for distribution.
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- [`Flow`](https://flow.org/) is used for adding types to the codebase. Not everything is Flow but all new code should be typed with Flow.
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- [`Webpack`](https://webpack.js.org/) is the bundler used to compile the JS/Less/babel/etc
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- [`libcurl`](https://curl.se/libcurl/) is the library that Insomnia uses to make requests. Libcurl is the HTTP client of choice because it allows the deepest amount of debuggability and control of HTTP requests.
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- [`nedb`](https://github.com/louischatriot/nedb) a local in-memory database.
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- [`node-libcurl`](https://github.com/JCMais/node-libcurl) is a Node.js wrapper around the native libcurl library.
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- [`Codemirror`](https://codemirror.net/) is a web-based, extendable, code editor used for highlighting and linting of data formats like JSON, GraphQL, and XML.
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- [`Commander.js`](https://github.com/tj/commander.js) is used for building the inso CLI.
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## Project Structure
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Insomnia uses [`lerna`](https://lerna.js.org/) to manage multiple npm packages within a single repository. There are currently two package locations:
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- `/packages` contains related packages that are consumed by `insomnia-app` or externally.
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- `/plugins` contains plugin packages that are included by default with the application.
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## The `insomnia-app` Main Package
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`/packages/insomnia-app` is the entry point for the app. All other packages are imported from this one.
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There are a few notable directories inside of it:
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- `/main.development.js` Entry for Electron.
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- `/app/main` Stuff that runs inside Electron's main process.
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- `/app/ui` React components and styling.
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- `/app/common` Utilities used across both main and render processes.
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- `/app/plugins` Logic around installation and usage of plugins.
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- `/app/models` DB models used to store user data.
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- `/app/network` Sending requests and performing auth (eg. OAuth 2).
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- `/app/templating` Nunjucks and rendering related code.
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- `/app/sync(-legacy)?` and `/app/accounts` Team sync and account stuff.
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## Data and State Architecture
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Insomnia stores data in a few places:
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- A local in-memory NeDB database stores data for data models (requests, folder, workspaces, etc).
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- A local Redux store contains an in-memory copy of all database entities.
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- Multiple React Context stores, defined in `/app/ui/context`.
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> Note: Eventually, Redux could/should be removed, which would both reduce memory overhead and simplify the codebase. NeDB should essentially replace it
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## Automated testing
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We use [Jest](https://jestjs.io/) and [react-testing-library](https://testing-library.com/docs/react-testing-library)
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to write our unit tests, and [Playwright](https://github.com/microsoft/playwright) for integration tests.
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Unit tests exist alongside the file under test. For example:
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- `/app/common/database.js` contains the database business logic
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- `/app/common/__tests__/database.test.js` contains the database tests
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Unit tests for components follow the same pattern.
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The structure for smoke tests is explained in the smoke testing package: [`packages/insomnia-smoke-test`](/packages/insomnia-smoke-test).
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## Technical Debt
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This is just a brief summary of Insomnia's current technical debt.
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- Loading large responses (~20MB) can crash the app on weaker hardware.
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- An in-memory duplicate of the local DB is stored in Redux, unnecessarily doubling memory usage. Moving forward, Redux shouldn't need to be considered much and may be able to be removed eventually.
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- Bundling `libcurl` (native module) has caused many weeks of headaches trying to get builds working across Windows, Mac, and Linux. More expertise here is definitely needed.
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- All input fields that support templating/autocomplete/etc are actually Codemirror instances. This isn't really debt but may affect things going forward.
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- Use of `libcurl` means Insomnia can't run in a web browser and can't support bidirectional socket communication.
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