The response opens in the right-hand pane as soon as the request returns: a status line on top, then four tabs — Body, Headers, Cookies and Tests. The body is highlighted according to Content-Type, JSON is reformatted for you, search covers the whole document, and binary payloads are never rendered in the editor — they are offered as a file to save. Every execution is recorded in the workspace history, so the previous response is still reachable after the next send.
Status line#
The code and status text are coloured by class: 2xx green, 3xx blue, 4xx orange, 5xx red. Next to them sit the duration in milliseconds and the body size in B, KB or MB. While the request is in flight the pane shows an elapsed-time counter. If no response arrives at all — DNS, TLS, timeout — you get an error card with a title, a detail line and a short list of things to check.
Body#
The body opens in a read-only editor. The highlighting language follows Content-Type: json, xml, html, and plain text for anything else. JSON is reformatted with two-space indentation; a body that does not parse as JSON is shown exactly as received, with no repair attempts.
To copy it, use the copy icon at the right end of the tab bar, or right-click inside the body for Copy Body and Select All. Cmd/Ctrl + A selects the entire document rather than the visible part, so Cmd/Ctrl + C copies all of it.
Line wrapping and editor font size live in Settings and apply to every editor in the app.
Searching the body#
A Search field appears on the right of the tab bar while Body is open. Matches highlight as you type: Enter jumps to the next one, Shift + Enter to the previous one, Escape clears the query. The arrow buttons beside the field do the same with the mouse.
Cmd/Ctrl + F does not drive this field — that shortcut focuses the collection search in the sidebar. The full list is on Keyboard shortcuts.
Headers, Cookies, Tests#
Headers is a key/value table with a count on the tab; a header sent several times takes one row per value.
Cookies shows the Set-Cookie headers from this response together with the cookies that were sent to this address from the workspace jar. More about the jar in HTTP requests.
Tests collects pm.test results, console.log output from both script phases, and script errors. Writing those is covered in Scripting.
Large responses#
The body is read up to 50 MB; anything beyond that is dropped. An HTTP request is bounded by a 30-second timeout and ten redirects.
For payloads in the hundreds of kilobytes, search instead of scrolling — the editor renders only the visible viewport, while search runs over the whole document. Better still, assert the structure with pm.test in a post-response script and read pass/fail off the Tests tab.
Binary responses#
A response counts as binary when Content-Type says so — images, audio, video, fonts and most application/* subtypes — or when Content-Disposition: attachment arrives. Text formats are safe: text/*, application/json, application/xml, and the structured suffixes +json and +xml, so image/svg+xml stays text.
Such a body never reaches the editor. The pane shows the media type, the size and a Save to file button that opens the system save dialog. The suggested filename comes from Content-Disposition (including the RFC 5987 filename* form) or from the extension registered for that media type.
Request history#
Every execution is written to the workspace history — the History section in the left bar. Entries are grouped by date — Today, Yesterday, This week, Earlier — and arrive in pages of 200: Load more at the bottom pulls in older ones, and nothing caps the total. You can search by URL substring and filter by protocol (HTTP, gRPC, GraphQL) and status class (2xx, 3xx, 4xx, 5xx, error).
Clicking an entry opens it read-only, with Request, Response and — when the call failed — Error tabs. The clock icon in the URL bar opens history filtered down to the current request.
Replay turns an entry into a draft you can edit and send, or save into a collection. Scripts and auth are not restored: history stores what actually went over the wire, not the configuration behind it. The trash icon on hover removes one entry; Clear all in the section header wipes the workspace history.