Session management aka cookies in Advanced REST Client

In recent update there is a new session management mechanism. After last big update some of you complained about lack of cookies support. The networking in Chrome apps is separated from Chrome. Therefore it wasn't possible (and still isn't) to use cookies set in Chrome tab.

Advanced REST Client is not in a tab anymore

Well, it can't.
Recently I've published an update of the Advanced Rest Client. New version has been upgraded to Chrome app (from so called legacy app) because old ones are deprecated in Chrome and the support for them has been removed in Chrome Web Store.

Advanced REST Client NET::ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID and net::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID

UPDATE with better solution

Update 12-02-2018: ARC desktop client ignores all certificate errors and just make the request.
Install ARC desktop client to avoid any problem with the application.

install now

UPDATE with solution

To use ARC with invalid certificates use the Use XHR switch in the main toolbar.

The Use XHR switch

You'll be required to install additional extension to Chrome that will be used as a proxy for making a request. It will work as old version of the app worked.

This extensions require new permissions:

• cookies - to be able to read cookies and send it to the app when making a request; only cookies for current request domain will be read and inserted to the headers part
• access to all websites - the cookies API can read cookies from domain that the extension can read from. Therefore access to all URL's is required

You can install additional extension from Chrome Web Store.

Below is the original post.

Hi developers,

After a latest update some of you has issues with certificates in the app. You have probably seen one of this screens:

There is a solution for this. But first two words on underlying cause.
The app is a Chrome app and it is not using the same resources as the browser. Even if you allow the Chrome to enter the webpage that have certificate issues the app will not even know about it. And there is very little to do about it because the connection to external resources are controlled by Chrome.


If you see NET::ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID error - well, generate new certificate with proper domain name. Certificates must work on the domain that they were set for.

Fix NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID error in Advanced REST Client

It's quite easy. All its gone when you install the self signed certificate in the browser's certificates storage.

There is a video instruction of how to do it:


1. Click on the red lock in the URL bar and then details. Security tab in Chrome DevTools will appear. Click View certificate.

In new overlay select Details tab and click Export button. Save the file somewhere choosing PKCS # 7 single certificate option.

2. Open Chrome settings and under advanced find section Manage certificates button and click it.
In Authorities tab find Import button and open previously saved certificate.
Then select at least "Trust this certificate for identifying websites.".

After you restart Chrome and app it should work just fine.

Data sharing options in new Advanced REST client

Hi developers.

With new version of the app you have more options for data sharing in the app.
First at all Google Drive integration has been rewritten from scratch. It works similar to previous implementation but require less permissions from you. Instead of asking you where to save the data the app will save it in the root folder of your Drive. From there you can place it wherever you want and share it with anyone.

ARC new version release (5 and 6)

With version 5 and 6 of the app there’s a lot of new features.

First at all the app is now so called Chrome App. Previously it was “legacy app”. The change was described in my blog post.

Transport is now based on sockets (chrome.socket API) instead of XHR object. This means that the app is no longer limited to the XHR’s spec. All headers can be set to the request and read from the response. Now you can set headers like “User-Agent”, “Content-Length”, “Cookie”, “Referer” etc. It was impossible in previous version. The app is using socket-fetch library created for the ARC project.

New Advanced REST Client - The Chrome app

Hi developers,

The new version of the Advanced REST client application build on Chrome platform is now available. It is new(ish) kind of Chrome apps that was introduced some time ago by Chrome team.
So what’s the big deal? The app was already working on Chrome platform before. Well, in so called packaged apps (the new ones) authors can deliver experience comparable to native apps.