/postman:search -- Discover APIs

Answer natural language questions about available APIs. Search across your Postman workspaces to find endpoints, understand capabilities, and drill into details.

Prerequisites

Postman MCP Server must be configured. If MCP tools fail, tell the user to run /postman:setup.

Workflow

Step 1: Search

1. Call searchPostmanElementsInPrivateNetwork with the user's query. This searches the organization's private API network and is the primary search path.
2. If private network results are sparse or private network search is not available, broaden the search:
   • Call getWorkspaces to get the user's workspace ID. If multiple workspaces exist, ask which to use. Then use getCollections with the workspace parameter. Use the name filter to narrow results.
   • Call getTaggedEntities to find collections by tag.
3. If the user is looking for a public/third-party API (e.g., Stripe, GitHub, Twilio), call searchPostmanElementsInPublicNetwork with the user's query.

Important: Default to searchPostmanElementsInPrivateNetwork for trusted APIs in user's organisation. Only use searchPostmanElementsInPublicNetwork when the user explicitly wants public/third-party APIs or private search returns no results.

Step 2: Drill Into Results

For each relevant match:

1. Call getCollection to get the overview
2. Scan endpoint names and descriptions for relevance
3. Call getCollectionRequest for the most relevant endpoints to get full details
4. Call getCollectionResponse to show what data is returned

Step 3: Present Results

Format results as a clear answer to the user's question. Answer first, source second.

When the answer is found:

Yes, you can get a user's email via the API.

  Endpoint: GET /users/{id}
  Collection: "User Management API"
  Auth: Bearer token required

  Response includes:
    {
      "id": "usr_123",
      "email": "[email protected]",
      "name": "Jane Smith",
      "role": "admin",
      "created_at": "2026-01-15T10:30:00Z"
    }

  Want me to generate a client for this API? (/postman:codegen)

When the answer is not found:

I didn't find an endpoint that returns user emails.

  Closest matches:
  - GET /users/{id}/profile -- returns name, avatar, but no email
  - GET /users -- list endpoint, doesn't include email in summary view

  The email field might be behind a different permission scope,
  or it might not be exposed via API yet.

When listing capabilities:

Found 3 collections related to "payments":

  1. Payment Gateway API (22 requests)
     - POST /charges -- Create a charge
     - GET /charges/{id} -- Get charge details
     - POST /refunds -- Issue a refund
     ... and 19 more

  2. Subscription API (14 requests)
     - POST /subscriptions -- Create subscription
     - GET /invoices -- List invoices
     ... and 12 more

  3. Billing Admin API (8 requests)
     - GET /revenue/summary -- Revenue dashboard
     ... and 7 more

  Want details on any of these? Or /postman:codegen to generate a client.

Error Handling

Error	Response
No results found	"Nothing matched in your private API network. Try different keywords, browse workspace collections with getCollections, or search the public Postman network."
Empty workspace	"This workspace has no collections. Use /postman:sync to create one from an API spec."
Auth failure	"Postman returned 401. Your API key may be expired. Run /postman:setup to reconfigure."