Set up Aidbox with Postman

This tutorial will guide you through the process of setting up and using Postman with Aidbox for API testing and development.

Prerequisites

• Aidbox instance up and running. You can run Aidbox locally or in the Health Samurai sandbox.
• Postman installed on your computer
• Basic understanding of REST APIs and FHIR

Step 1: Create a Client in Aidbox

First, you need to create a client in Aidbox that will be used for authentication. You can do this through the Aidbox UI or by making a direct API call.

 {
  "resourceType": "Client",
  "id": "postman",
  "secret": "secret",
  "grant_types": ["basic"]
}

POST /fhir/Client
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "resourceType": "Client",
  "id": "postman",
  "secret": "secret",
  "grant_types": ["basic"]
}

Step 2: Create Access Policy

Create an access policy to define what operations your Postman client can perform. While Aidbox supports multiple engines (matcho, json-schema, and others), we'll use the simplest allow engine.

{
 "resourceType": "AccessPolicy",
 "engine": "allow",
 "id": "postman-access-policy",
 "link": [
   {
     "id": "postman",
     "resourceType": "Client"
   }
 ]
}

POST /fhir/AccessPolicy
Content-Type: application/json

{
 "resourceType": "AccessPolicy", 
 "engine": "allow",
 "id": "postman-access-policy",
 "link": [
   {
     "id": "postman",
     "resourceType": "Client"
   }
 ]
}

Step 3: Set up Postman

1. Open Postman and create a new request
2. Configure Authorization using

   1. Select Auth Type Basic Auth

   2. Specify Username as postman and Password as secret \

      

3. Set the request method to GET
4. Set the URL to {{base_url}}/fhir/Patient
5. Add the following header:
   • Content-Type: application/json
6. Run query

Debugging Tips

1. Check the response headers for additional information about the request processing
2. If you get a 401 Unauthorized error:
   • Verify your client credentials
   • Check that your access policy is correctly configured

Additional Resources