I Built a Full HTTP Client Extension for VS Code — Here's Everything I Learned

DotFetch v1.2.0 — A deep dive into building a professional REST client inside VS Code with Auth, Retry Logic, JSON Highlighting, and a modular ES Modules architecture." tags: vscode, typescript, javascript, webdev cover_image: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kareem2099/DotFetch/main/media/screenshot-main.png I've been building DotFetch — a VS Code extension that replaces Postman/Insomnia for developers who live inside their editor. Version 1.2.0 just dropped, and I want to share the interesting engineering decisions behind it. 🔗 GitHub | VS Code Marketplace | Open VSX What is DotFetch? An HTTP client that lives inside your VS Code sidebar. No context switching, no separate app. Just open the panel and fire requests. Features shipped in v1.2.0: ✅ Basic Auth (RFC 7617) + Bearer Token (RFC 6750) ✅ JSON Syntax Highlighting ✅ Request Templates ✅ Auto Retry with Linear Backoff ✅ History Search & Filter ✅ Collection Export to JSON ✅ Modular ES Modules architecture 🎥 See it in action (