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Collections & Folders

Organize your API requests using Collections and Folders. Keep your workflow efficient by grouping related endpoints and structuring your API testing environment.

What are Collections?​

Collections are containers for organizing related API requests. Think of them as projects or workspaces where you group all requests for a specific API or feature.

Benefits of Collections​

  • 📁 Organization – Group related requests together
  • 🔄 Reusability – Share variables across requests
  • 📝 Documentation – Add descriptions and context
  • 🚀 Efficiency – Find requests quickly
  • 💾 Portability – Export and share with team

Creating Collections​

Create a New Collection​

  1. Click the "New Collection" button in the sidebar
  2. Enter a name for your collection
  3. Add an optional description
  4. Click Create

Example collections:

📁 User Management API
📁 Payment Gateway
📁 E-commerce Backend
📁 Authentication Service

Collection Properties​

Each collection can have:

  • Name – Descriptive title
  • Description – Purpose and context
  • Variables – Shared across all requests
  • Requests – HTTP, GraphQL, and gRPC calls
  • Folders – Sub-organization within collection

Working with Folders​

Folders help you organize requests within a collection into logical groups.

Create a Folder​

  1. Right-click on a collection
  2. Select "New Folder"
  3. Enter a folder name
  4. Click Create

Folder Hierarchy​

📁 E-commerce API
  ├── 📂 Authentication
  │   ├── Login
  │   ├── Logout
  │   └── Refresh Token
  ├── 📂 Users
  │   ├── Get User
  │   ├── Create User
  │   ├── Update User
  │   └── Delete User
  ├── 📂 Products
  │   ├── List Products
  │   ├── Get Product
  │   ├── Create Product
  │   └── Update Product
  └── 📂 Orders
      ├── Create Order
      ├── Get Order Status
      └── Cancel Order

Nested Folders​

Create sub-folders for deeper organization:

📁 Microservices API
  ├── 📂 User Service
  │   ├── 📂 Public Endpoints
  │   │   ├── Register
  │   │   └── Login
  │   └── 📂 Protected Endpoints
  │       ├── Get Profile
  │       └── Update Profile
  ├── 📂 Product Service
  │   ├── 📂 Catalog
  │   └── 📂 Inventory
  └── 📂 Order Service
      ├── 📂 Cart
      └── 📂 Checkout

Managing Requests​

Add Request to Collection​

  1. Create or open a request
  2. Click the folder icon or "Save to Collection"
  3. Select a collection or folder
  4. Name your request
  5. Click Save

Move Requests​

Drag and drop requests to reorganize:

  • Move between folders
  • Reorder within a folder
  • Move to different collections

Duplicate Requests​

Create copies of existing requests:

  1. Right-click on a request
  2. Select "Duplicate"
  3. Modify the copy as needed

Useful for:

  • Creating similar requests
  • Testing variations
  • A/B testing different payloads

Collection Variables​

Define variables that apply to all requests in a collection.

Setting Collection Variables​

  1. Click on a collection
  2. Go to Variables tab
  3. Add variables for this collection

Example:

base_url: https://api.example.com
api_version: v1
auth_token: collection_specific_token

Variable Inheritance​

Variables cascade from collection to request:

Global Variables (lowest priority)
    ↓
Collection Variables
    ↓
Request Variables (highest priority)

Example:

  • Global: {{timeout}} = 30
  • Collection: {{timeout}} = 60
  • Request uses: 60 seconds

Organizing Strategies​

By Feature​

Group by application features:

📁 Social Media App
  ├── 📂 Posts
  ├── 📂 Comments
  ├── 📂 Likes
  ├── 📂 Followers
  └── 📂 Notifications

By HTTP Method​

Group by request type:

📁 REST API
  ├── 📂 GET Requests
  ├── 📂 POST Requests
  ├── 📂 PUT Requests
  ├── 📂 PATCH Requests
  └── 📂 DELETE Requests

By Environment​

Separate development and production:

📁 Development
  ├── 📂 Users API (Dev)
  └── 📂 Payments API (Dev)

📁 Production
  ├── 📂 Users API (Prod)
  └── 📂 Payments API (Prod)

By Workflow​

Group by user workflows:

📁 User Registration Flow
  ├── 1. Check Email Availability
  ├── 2. Create Account
  ├── 3. Send Verification Email
  ├── 4. Verify Email
  └── 5. Complete Profile

By Service​

For microservices architectures:

📁 Backend Services
  ├── 📂 Auth Service
  ├── 📂 User Service
  ├── 📂 Product Service
  ├── 📂 Order Service
  └── 📂 Payment Service

Collection Actions​

Rename Collection​

  1. Right-click on collection
  2. Select "Rename"
  3. Enter new name

Delete Collection​

  1. Right-click on collection
  2. Select "Delete"
  3. Confirm deletion
caution

Deleting a collection permanently removes all requests, folders, and variables inside it.

Duplicate Collection​

  1. Right-click on collection
  2. Select "Duplicate"
  3. New collection is created with all contents

Useful for:

  • Creating environment copies
  • Backing up collections
  • Testing changes safely

Search and Filter​

Search in Collection​

Use the search box to find:

  • Requests by name
  • Requests by URL
  • Requests by method
  • Folders by name

Filter Requests​

Filter by:

  • Method – Show only GET, POST, etc.
  • Status – Show requests with errors
  • Type – HTTP, GraphQL, or gRPC

Documenting Collections​

Collection Description​

Add documentation to your collection:

# E-commerce API Collection

This collection contains all endpoints for the e-commerce platform.

## Authentication
All requests require a Bearer token in the Authorization header.

## Base URL
- Dev: https://dev-api.example.com
- Prod: https://api.example.com

## Rate Limits
- 100 requests per minute
- 10,000 requests per day

Request Descriptions​

Document individual requests:

## Get User by ID

Retrieves detailed information about a user.

**Parameters:**
- `id` (required) – User ID

**Returns:**
- User object with profile information

**Example Response:**
{
  "id": "123",
  "name": "John Doe",
  "email": "john@example.com"
}

Exporting Collections​

Export Format​

Export collections as JSON:

{
  "name": "User API",
  "description": "User management endpoints",
  "variables": {
    "base_url": "https://api.example.com",
    "auth_token": "token123"
  },
  "folders": [
    {
      "name": "Authentication",
      "requests": [...]
    }
  ],
  "requests": [...]
}

Export Steps​

  1. Right-click on collection
  2. Select "Export Collection"
  3. Choose location to save
  4. JSON file is created

Sharing Collections​

Share with teammates:

  1. Export collection
  2. Send JSON file
  3. Teammate imports in their Solo
tip

Remove sensitive data like auth tokens before sharing collections.

Importing Collections​

Import from File​

  1. Click "Import" button
  2. Select JSON file
  3. Collection is added to Solo

Import from cURL​

Import multiple cURL commands:

  1. Click "Import" button
  2. Paste multiple cURL commands
  3. Solo creates requests in a new collection

Real-World Examples​

Example 1: REST API Collection​

📁 Blog API
  ├── 📂 Authentication
  │   ├── POST /auth/login
  │   ├── POST /auth/register
  │   └── POST /auth/refresh
  ├── 📂 Posts
  │   ├── GET /posts
  │   ├── GET /posts/:id
  │   ├── POST /posts
  │   ├── PUT /posts/:id
  │   └── DELETE /posts/:id
  ├── 📂 Comments
  │   ├── GET /posts/:id/comments
  │   ├── POST /posts/:id/comments
  │   └── DELETE /comments/:id
  └── 📂 Users
      ├── GET /users/:id
      └── PUT /users/:id

Variables:

base_url: https://api.blog.com
api_version: v1
auth_token: {{user_token}}

Example 2: GraphQL Collection​

📁 GitHub GraphQL API
  ├── 📂 Repositories
  │   ├── Get Repository
  │   ├── List Repositories
  │   └── Create Repository
  ├── 📂 Issues
  │   ├── List Issues
  │   ├── Create Issue
  │   └── Update Issue
  └── 📂 Pull Requests
      ├── List PRs
      └── Create PR

Variables:

endpoint: https://api.github.com/graphql
token: ghp_yourtokenhere
owner: igorvieira
repo: Solo

Example 3: gRPC Collection​

📁 User gRPC Service
  ├── 📂 User Management
  │   ├── GetUser
  │   ├── CreateUser
  │   ├── UpdateUser
  │   └── DeleteUser
  ├── 📂 Authentication
  │   ├── Login
  │   └── Logout
  └── 📂 Streaming
      ├── StreamUsers
      └── BulkUpdate

Variables:

server: localhost:50051
auth_metadata: token:abc123

Example 4: Multi-Environment Collection​

📁 Payment API - Development
Variables: base_url=https://dev-api.pay.com

📁 Payment API - Staging
Variables: base_url=https://staging-api.pay.com

📁 Payment API - Production
Variables: base_url=https://api.pay.com

Same requests, different variables.

Keyboard Shortcuts​

  • Cmd/Ctrl + N – New request in current collection
  • Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + N – New collection
  • Cmd/Ctrl + F – Search in collection
  • Cmd/Ctrl + S – Save request to collection

Best Practices​

Use Meaningful Names​

# Good
📁 E-commerce Backend API
  ├── 📂 User Authentication & Authorization
  ├── 📂 Product Catalog Management
  └── 📂 Order Processing

# Less clear
📁 API
  ├── 📂 Auth
  ├── 📂 Products
  └── 📂 Orders

Group by Workflow​

Organize requests in the order they're typically called:

📁 Checkout Flow
  ├── 1. Get Cart
  ├── 2. Validate Items
  ├── 3. Calculate Shipping
  ├── 4. Process Payment
  ├── 5. Create Order
  └── 6. Send Confirmation

Use Collection Variables​

Define common values once:

Collection Variables:
  base_url: https://api.example.com
  api_key: your_api_key
  timeout: 30

Requests:
  GET {{base_url}}/users
  POST {{base_url}}/orders

Document Everything​

Add descriptions to:

  • Collections – Overall purpose
  • Folders – What's grouped here
  • Requests – What it does, parameters, responses

Keep Collections Focused​

# Good – Focused collections
📁 User Service API
📁 Payment Service API
📁 Inventory Service API

# Less organized
📁 All APIs
  ├── Users, Payments, Inventory, Orders...

Troubleshooting​

Collection Not Saving​

  • Check available disk space
  • Ensure Solo has write permissions
  • Try exporting as backup

Missing Requests​

  • Check if moved to another folder
  • Use search to find by name or URL
  • Check deleted items (if available)

Variables Not Working​

  • Verify variable scope
  • Check variable name spelling
  • Ensure no circular references

Next Steps​