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dotancohen parent
As a Postman user, who uses Org Mode with Evil, can you sell me on Emacs' restclient-mode?

iLemming
You don't need to "buy" restclient, want you want is to understand Org-mode. Org-mode is a literate programming environment, you can run code snippets and "pipe" the results into one another. So, this is how I usually test my API endpoints - I would use ob-http, or verb.el, or restclient (although iirc this one no longer maintained) and then make a simple call to an endpoint, then I can pipe the results into a Clojure source block passing the data in, where I can easily parse the json and slice, dice, group and filter on the data. You can do the same thing in Python or Javascript or R (or whatever) source block. Then you can spit it out as is or pipe into another block for further tranformation. Very often I have to query a SQL DB to retrieve the payload I need to send to the API, that all I also do right there, in the same context.

What's great is that all my experimentation is "reproducible", and all of it is in my notes. Notes that are easily searchable, exportable (e.g. for a blog content), etc.

I can easily add links to some relevant PDFs, and youtube vids right there. I can start annotating those pdfs, where my notes will be interwoven with my API research. I can watch videos while controlling playback from Emacs, without having to switch to the app - it's very nice when taking notes. I can retrieve the transcript, send it to LLM, get the summary of the video and add it to my notes.

If I come up with something that I'd like to memorize better, I can easily export chunks as Anki cards. That information is also within my notes. I can easily find it, edit it, etc. I don't need to navigate multiple different apps to get this work done.

dotancohen OP
Thank you. I didn't mean to literally sell me something, rather to explain it such that I would see how it could fit into my workflow. Which you did.

I do use Org mode, but only for simple personal notes. When I get home I'll explore using it as a REST client. They always told me that Emacs is a great OS, that just lacks a decent text editor.

iLemming
Of course. Here are some practical examples of passing data between org mode source blocks¹.

I love Emacs, but honestly Org-mode is such a treasure, a gem that the only regret I have is not discovering it sooner. It is a truly fantastic tool. I manage my entire life in it - I have my work notes and personal journal in it - I use Org-Roam. All my LLM chats are in Org-mode. My research and learning materials, my flashcards. I use it for pomodoro. I manage my dotfiles with Org-mode - it makes my entire system "immutable", I don't have to manipulate files individually - I do it from one place. Shit, I'm even reading your comment right now in Org-mode outline format¹. The value of plain text is absolutely underestimated. Once you see it, it's really difficult to give it up. And you'd ask yourself "give it up in exchange for what?" So you can keep searching for a "better and shinier" tool whenever you need to perform a fartworthy piece of task? A tool that has its own set of rules, and doens't even let you rebind keys or change colors?

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¹ https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/1hbi751/passing_data...

² https://www.hackerneue.com/item?id=44264368

dotancohen OP
Thank you! Just so you know, Reddit removed the examples. Maybe this weekend I'll see if one of the popular LLMs can help provide examples.
Emacs has a great text editor, and has had for a few years. If you have not given Evil mode a fair chance, you definitely should.

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