Bifurc

Developer Workflows

Recommended workflows for capture, mocking, GitHub sync, TLS, and extension-driven usage.

Developer Workflows

This guide collects the best day-to-day Bifurc workflows across routing, capture, mocking, protocol testing, extension usage, and workspace sync.

1. Local service to friendly domain

Use this when you want readable local URLs for frontend or API work.

  1. Open Services
  2. Find the local process you care about
  3. Create a mapping from the detected port
  4. Save a domain such as billing.localhost
  5. Route browser traffic through Bifurc
  6. Browse against the mapped domain and inspect traffic in Capture

Best for:

  • frontend apps calling local APIs
  • multiple local services with stable hostnames
  • demos and local integration testing

2. Capture first, then mock

Use this when an API already exists and you want a realistic mock quickly.

  1. Route traffic through Bifurc
  2. Reproduce the target flow in your browser or app
  3. Open Capture and inspect the exact request/response pair
  4. Create a mock from the captured item
  5. Trim or generalize the response body if needed
  6. Re-run the flow with the upstream offline or unavailable

Best for:

  • frontend isolation
  • flaky upstream services
  • offline product demos
  • QA reproduction packs

3. Browser DevTools to workspace

Use the browser extension when you want the fastest feedback loop from a live page into Bifurc.

  1. Load the Bifurc Companion extension
  2. Match the popup proxy and companion ports to Bifurc
  3. Enable proxy routing when you want capture/mocking
  4. Open the page and then open DevTools
  5. Use the Bifurc DevTools panel to review requests
  6. Click Save to create a request or Mock to create a mock

This is the best workflow for:

  • turning browser traffic into reproducible request definitions
  • extracting a backend surface from an existing site
  • building mock suites from real UI usage

4. Bulk capture to mock folder

Use this when you want to snapshot a flow or entire page behavior.

  1. Filter the DevTools capture view down to the requests you want
  2. Use the bulk mock action
  3. Let the extension create a folder and send all selected traffic
  4. Review the created mocks in Bifurc
  5. Disable or generalize noisy endpoints

This is especially useful for:

  • onboarding frontend developers to a large backend
  • building stable UI demos
  • isolating integration tests from upstream volatility

5. Save authored requests by protocol

Bifurc now supports protocol-specific request authoring beyond plain REST.

REST

  • import cURL
  • use raw, form-data, or binary bodies
  • run pre-request and post-response scripts

GraphQL

  • introspect schemas
  • browse operations
  • generate query skeletons

SOAP

  • fetch or paste WSDLs
  • generate envelopes from operations
  • send SOAPAction-aware requests

gRPC

  • import proto files
  • use server reflection
  • test unary and streaming RPCs

6. TLS interception for HTTPS debugging

Use this when you need mocks, rules, or inspection on encrypted traffic.

  1. Open Settings
  2. Generate a local CA
  3. Install and trust the CA
  4. Enable TLS interception
  5. Re-run your HTTPS traffic through Bifurc

This unlocks:

  • HTTPS capture visibility
  • HTTPS mock interception
  • HTTPS proxy rule mutation

7. Git-backed workspace publishing

Use this when your Bifurc configuration should be durable and reviewable.

  1. Create or edit mappings, mocks, requests, environments, and other entities
  2. Review change indicators in the UI
  3. Publish changes from the footer or per entity
  4. Inspect history and diffs when needed

Recommended for:

  • keeping reproducible local tooling state
  • moving workspace configuration between machines
  • reviewing environment and mock changes safely

8. Syncing a workspace to GitHub

Use GitHub sync to back up a workspace or move it between your machines.

  1. Open Config
  2. Sign in with GitHub
  3. Publish the workspace to a new repository you own (private by default)
  4. On another machine, sign in and import the workspace
  5. Continue publishing and syncing changes

This works best for:

  • keeping a backup of your local setup
  • moving between a desktop and a laptop
  • reviewing and reverting changes to mocks and mappings
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