Migrating from Postman
Bruno makes migrating from Postman easy. All you need to do is export your collections and environments and import them to Bruno.
Collection Export
Open Postman and select the collection you want to migrate. Click on the ··· followed by View more actions to open the dropdown menu and scroll down until you find Export, then click on it.
A popup dialog will appear, select either Collection v2 or Collection v2.1 format and click on the Export button.
The collection will be downloaded as a JSON file.
Now simply follow the instructions for Importing Collections and you're done!
Export Data Dump
You can export a data dump of all your collections and environments in Postman. You can then import the data into any Bruno.
To export a data dump ↗, do the following in Postman:
-
Select the settings icon in the header, then select
Settings. -
Select the Data tab, then select
Request Data Export. -
Select
Export Data, then select the data types you want to export. You can export collections, environments, or both. -
Select
Request Data Export.
To import your Data Dump to Bruno:
-
Open the import menu and select
Import Collections -
Select the zip file where the export was saved
-
You will now see a list of all collections available for import. By default, all collections will be selected. You can chose to omit any from the import that you'd like.
-
Designate a location for the collections and press
import
pm.test, pm.environment, pm.globals, pm.collectionVariables, and pm.response) to their Bruno equivalents during import.
See the Scripts Translator page for the full list of supported translations.
If your Postman account has grown large or disorganized, the Postman Export Organizer can group your data dump by workspace, flag duplicates, and produce a ZIP ready for bulk import.
npm packages used by Postman scripts
When you import a Postman collection, Bruno scans the scripts for pm.require() and require() calls and groups any external packages it finds into an Install packages prompt. You'll see a dialog-box below after the import completes whenever the collection references packages that need attention.
The prompt can show up to three sections:
| Section | What it means |
|---|---|
| Packages used in scripts | npm packages referenced by the imported scripts that aren't yet installed in the collection's folder. Bruno can install them for you with a single click, or you can copy the suggested npm install --save <packages> command and run it yourself in a terminal. |
| Libraries that need Developer Mode | Bundled libraries and Node.js built-ins (such as lodash, moment, crypto, or fs) that are only available when the collection runs in Developer Mode. Bruno offers a Switch to Developer Mode action when these are detected. |
| Not supported in Bruno | Postman-specific packages without a Bruno equivalent (for example, postman-collection, postman-runtime, newman, or @postman/* packages). Scripts that call these will fail at runtime and need to be rewritten. |
After Bruno finishes installing the requested packages, the prompt confirms the install and if the collection is still in Safe Mode, it will offer to switch it to Developer Mode so the newly installed packages can be loaded by require() at runtime.
If npm isn't on your PATH, the install step fails with a clear error. Install Node.js/npm, then either retry from the prompt or run the suggested command manually.
Bulk imports queue one prompt per imported collection so you can review each one in turn.
Environment Import and Export
Environments in API clients are sets of variables that allow you to run requests against different server configurations (development, staging, production) without changing your request URLs.
Exporting Environment from Postman
- Open Postman and locate the Environments section in the sidebar
- Find the environment you want to export
- Click on the three dots (...) next to the environment name
- Select Export from the dropdown menu
- Choose a location to save the JSON file and click Save
Importing Environment into Bruno
Importing Your First Environment
- Open Bruno
- Click on the Environments icon in the top-right corner
- Click on Configure environments
- You'll see options to Create environment and Import environment
- Click on Import environment
- Select the Postman environment JSON file you exported
- The environment will be imported with all its variables
Adding to Existing Environments
- Open Bruno
- Click on the Environments icon in the top-right corner
- Click on Configure environments
- Look for the Import button at the left sidebar
- Click on Import environment
- Select the Postman environment JSON file you exported
- The environment will be added to your existing environments
If an imported name already exists in the collection, Bruno prompts you to Replace, import as New (a copy), or Skip. See Duplicate environment names. A Postman data dump that contains environments with the same name is imported without that prompt, Bruno handles those names internally.
With environments properly configured, your API requests will work seamlessly across different deployment environments without manual changes.
5000 becomes "5000", true becomes "true", and objects are serialized as JSON strings.
Preserve Postman Scripts
By default, Bruno translates Postman script APIs (such as pm.test and pm.environment) to their Bruno equivalents during import and export.
If you have complex scripting setups and want Bruno to leave scripts untouched, enable Preserve scripts. When this option is on:
- Scripts are kept verbatim as
pm.*during import. - Collection structure, requests, variables, and settings are still converted as usual during import.
- Scripts are converted to Bruno script APIs during export.
Enable Preserve scripts on import
- Click the + icon in the top-left sidebar and select Import Collection.
- Choose your Postman collection file and continue to the import dialog.
- Click Options, then expand Show Advanced Options.
- Turn on the Preserve scripts toggle (off by default).
- Click Import.
The same Preserve scripts option is available when exporting a Bruno collection to Postman format, so you can round-trip collections without Bruno rewriting your scripts.