I have set up a Postman collection, and have shared it via a link, with the option to allow guests to view the collection. I have set up several variables, with the intention of giving our clients a convenient way to test our API with their own security key and other values.
I seem to be stuck, however, because of limitations that guest users seem to have. For one, they cannot save variable values - not even ones put into the “current value” column. And of course, updated values are not used in subsequent calls unless they are saved.
I then thought of having them fork or copy the Collection, but it seems by default they are not able to do this either, and I don’t know if this is possible anyway.
Does anyone have any ideas for my situation? Are there any plans for allowing guests to either save their own copy of variables, or even copy a Collection into their own Workspace?
Is the Collection in a Public Workspace? How are you defining a Guest user here - Is it just someone who has read-only access via the link you have shared?
Or have you invited them as a Guest to your Team?
I just want to clarify this first before we can see what can be done here.
Thanks for your response. Currently, the collection is in a private workspace, and the guest has read-only access via a shared link.
As a note: Right now, our team is “full” (free plan, 3 members). I think our company would be willing to upgrade to a paid plan, if we could limit access for our clients. Basically, we don’t want them to change basic info about the collection, but do want them to be able to save their own copies of variables, as each client would have different values (i.e. for API keys).
Given the plan you’re on, it’s probably not a “Private” Workspace and more likely a Team Workspace.
Could you walk we through how you have generated that shared linked in the platform?
You could share a Collection with them by either manually exporting it so that they have a copy in their own Workspace and can create a new environment with the variables. Or you can create a sharable link using the Postman API, which has a limited scope. You would also be able to disable that link once you’re finished with it. That can be using on their Import flow to bring that Collection into their Workspace.
You’re correct, it’s a team workspace. I generated a shared link via the Postman app, by the following:
Clicking the “…” menu on the collection, and selecting “share”
Selecting the tab “Via Run in Postman”, choosing the “Team” option, and clicking “Next”
Selecting “Allow guests to view collection via Run in Postman”
Copying the embed code, for use on our website
A little more information about how we’re using Postman:
We have a Swagger-generated API test page, where the link to Postman resides. Our aim is that any of our clients can either use our API test page, or (for more technical users), click on “Run in Postman”.
If the shared collection can’t easily be used the way I’m trying to do it, I might consider the exported JSON option, though I prefer sharing the live collection if possible.
