Quickstart

Get NAT running locally and scanning your first API in under five minutes.

Prefer NAT Cloud? Skip the CLI entirely — see the API Quickstart for the hosted REST API path.

Want the fastest local proof? Run nat demo after installation for a sandboxed walkthrough with no external target configuration.

Prerequisites

Python 3.10 or later
An OpenAPI/Swagger or Postman specification for the API you want to test, or use demo mode
The API base URL when running against your own target

A NAT Cloud account or NAT Cloud API key is not required for this local CLI path.

pip install nat-engine

Verify the installation:

nat --version

nat demo

Demo mode is the shortest way to confirm the installation and see NAT execute without configuring a real target.

From your project directory, let NAT detect supported project metadata and generate a starter .natrc:

nat init

Review the generated configuration before using it in CI or against a shared environment.

Provide the API specification and base URL explicitly:

nat scan \
  --spec ./openapi.yaml \
  --base-url https://api.example.com \
  --watch

For a Postman collection, add --format postman.

The default output is terminal text. To write HTML output:

nat scan \
  --spec ./openapi.yaml \
  --base-url https://api.example.com \
  --output html \
  --output-file nat-report.html

Authentication flags on nat scan configure access to your target API. For example:

nat scan \
  --spec ./openapi.yaml \
  --base-url https://api.example.com \
  --auth-token "$TARGET_BEARER_TOKEN"

or:

nat scan \
  --spec ./openapi.yaml \
  --base-url https://api.example.com \
  --api-key "$TARGET_API_KEY" \
  --api-key-header X-API-Key

These flags are separate from NAT Cloud account authentication.

Having trouble? Check the onboarding troubleshooting guide for common setup problems.

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