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Inspectr Architecture

Inspectr is a lightweight yet powerful proxy and inspection tool that helps developers debug, analyze, and simulate API traffic. It consists of modular components that work together to provide real-time visibility and control over HTTP requests.

Core Components

Section titled “Core Components”

Inspectr Proxy

Section titled “ Inspectr Proxy”

The Inspectr proxy acts as an HTTP middleman between clients and your backend service.

  • Listens on a local port (e.g. :8080)
  • Captures incoming requests and optionally forwards them to a backend
  • Logs and broadcasts requests/responses for inspection

Mock & Catch Engine

Section titled “Mock & Catch Engine”

Built-in Inspectr Proxy, used when no backend is defined or when mocking is required.

  • Catch Mode: Returns a 200 OK without forwarding
  • Mock Mode: Uses OpenAPI specs to simulate backend behavior
  • Supports dynamic and example-based responses

Data Store

Section titled “Data Store”

Captures all operations (requests/responses) and stores them locally:

  • In-memory (ephemeral) or SQLite (persistent)
  • Indexed for searching and filtering in the API & UI

Inspectr App (Web UI)

Section titled “ Inspectr App (Web UI)”

A web-based dashboard for viewing and analyzing captured requests.

  • Accessible at http://localhost:4004
  • Displays live request/response data
  • Supports filtering, replaying, and metadata inspection

Inspectr Ingress (Public Exposure)

Section titled “ Inspectr Ingress (Public Exposure)”

An optional cloud service to expose your local Inspectr proxy securely to the public. Creates a public ingress endpoint that forwards incoming requests to your local Inspectr Proxy.

  • Subdomain routing on in-spectr.dev
  • Forwards external traffic to your local Inspectr instance
  • Supports secure channels via --channel-code

Request Lifecycle

Section titled “Request Lifecycle”
  1. Receive: Inspectr listens for HTTP requests or Webhook events on the configured --listen port.
  2. Inspect: Headers, method, URL, and body are parsed.
  3. Route:
  • If --backend is set → forward request to a backend service and capture the response.
  • If --mock-backend is set → generate response based on OpenAPI.
  • If --catch is enabled → return default 200 OK.
  1. Response: Return the response to the client

Summary

Section titled “Summary”

Inspectr’s modular architecture allows it to adapt to many workflows—from debugging local APIs to capturing external webhooks. Its combination of proxying, mocking, and live inspection provides a full API traffic debugging toolkit.