Examples of Chaining Requests in Postman: 3 Practical Patterns You’ll Actually Use

If you look at real examples of chaining requests in Postman, almost all of them start with authentication. You log in once, store a token, and reuse it across several follow‑up requests.

Here’s a realistic login → authorized request flow that you’ll see in many teams’ Postman collections.

Example of login → use token in headers

Imagine a typical OAuth2 or JWT‑based API with a /auth/login endpoint. You send credentials, get back an access_token, and then call a protected endpoint like /users/me.

Request 1: Login
POST https://api.example.com/auth/login

Body (JSON):

{
  "email": "test.user@example.com",
  "password": "SuperSecurePassword123"
}

Tests tab (extract token and set environment variable):

pm.test("Login successful", function () {
    pm.response.to.have.status(200);
});

const json = pm.response.json();

pm.environment.set("access_token", json.access_token);
pm.environment.set("refresh_token", json.refresh_token);

Now you’ve chained the first step: the login request writes access_token into the environment. The second request can read it.

Request 2: Get current user
GET https://api.example.com/users/me

Headers:

Authorization: Bearer {{access_token}}

That’s the simplest and probably the most common example of chaining requests in Postman. The first call generates state (the token), and subsequent calls consume it.

Extending the chain: auto-refresh expired tokens

Modern APIs often expire access tokens quickly. A more realistic example of chaining requests in Postman is:

• Login → get access_token and refresh_token
• Call protected endpoint
• If you hit 401, call /auth/refresh automatically
• Retry the original request with the new token

You can approximate this pattern in Postman using a Pre‑request Script that checks token age.

Environment variables you might keep:

access_token
refresh_token
token_expires_at

Pre-request Script (simplified logic):

const expiresAt = pm.environment.get("token_expires_at");

if (!expiresAt || Date.now() > Number(expiresAt)) {
    // Token missing or expired – trigger refresh
    pm.sendRequest({
        url: pm.environment.get("base_url") + "/auth/refresh",
        method: "POST",
        header: {
            "Content-Type": "application/json"
        },
        body: {
            mode: "raw",
            raw: JSON.stringify({
                refresh_token: pm.environment.get("refresh_token")
            })
        }
    }, function (err, res) {
        if (err) {
            console.error("Refresh failed", err);
            return;
        }
        const data = res.json();
        pm.environment.set("access_token", data.access_token);
        pm.environment.set("token_expires_at", Date.now() + (data.expires_in * 1000));
    });
}

Now every protected request is implicitly chained to the refresh endpoint. This is one of the best examples of chaining requests in Postman for teams working with short‑lived tokens or zero‑trust architectures.

If you want to go deeper on modern auth patterns, the NIST Digital Identity Guidelines give a good overview of how tokens are used in secure systems.

2. CRUD Workflow: The Classic “Create → Read → Update → Delete” Chain

Another set of real examples of chaining requests in Postman comes from basic CRUD operations. These are the flows you use every day when testing REST APIs.

Think about a simple resource like orders or projects. The chain usually looks like this:

• Create a resource
• Store its id
• Fetch it
• Update it
• Delete it

Example of chaining an order workflow

Let’s say your API has an /orders resource.

Request: Create order
POST https://api.example.com/orders

Body:

{
  "customer_id": "12345",
  "items": [
    { "sku": "ABC-001", "quantity": 2 },
    { "sku": "XYZ-999", "quantity": 1 }
  ]
}

Tests tab (capture order_id):

pm.test("Order created", function () {
    pm.response.to.have.status(201);
});

const order = pm.response.json();
pm.environment.set("order_id", order.id);

Now every subsequent request can reference {{order_id}}.

Request: Get order
GET https://api.example.com/orders/{{order_id}}

Request: Update order status
PATCH https://api.example.com/orders/{{order_id}}

Body:

{
  "status": "shipped"
}

Request: Delete order
DELETE https://api.example.com/orders/{{order_id}}

These aren’t just toy examples of chaining requests in Postman. In real test suites you’ll often:

• Create multiple resources (e.g., user, address, payment method) and tie them together
• Keep separate variables like user_id, address_id, payment_id
• Assert that deleting a parent resource cascades correctly

Advanced CRUD chain: dependent resources

A slightly more advanced pattern is chaining dependent resources. For example, in a healthcare API you might:

• Create a patient
• Create a visit for that patient
• Attach lab_results to that visit

Request: Create patient
POST /patients

Tests:

const patient = pm.response.json();
pm.environment.set("patient_id", patient.id);

Request: Create visit for that patient
POST /patients/{{patient_id}}/visits

Tests:

const visit = pm.response.json();
pm.environment.set("visit_id", visit.id);

Request: Create lab result for that visit
POST /visits/{{visit_id}}/lab-results

This style of chaining mirrors how real EHR and clinical APIs behave. For context on how complex healthcare data models can get, look at the HL7 FHIR standard, which many modern health APIs follow.

3. Multi-Step Business Processes: The Best Examples of Chaining Requests in Postman

The most interesting examples of chaining requests in Postman: 3 practical examples usually come from multi-step business processes. These flows are where Postman starts to feel like a low‑code client.

Think of things like:

• E‑commerce checkout
• Subscription signup
• KYC (Know Your Customer) onboarding
• Payment disputes and refunds

Example: E‑commerce checkout flow

Here’s a realistic chain that QA teams use all the time:

1. Search for a product
2. Add it to a cart
3. Create a checkout session
4. Confirm payment
5. Verify order status

You can wire this into a single Postman collection run, with each request feeding into the next.

Request: Search products
GET /products?query=wireless+headphones&limit=5

Tests:

const products = pm.response.json();

pm.environment.set("product_id", products[0].id);
pm.environment.set("product_price", products[0].price);

Request: Add to cart
POST /cart/items

Body:

{
  "product_id": "{{product_id}}",
  "quantity": 1
}

Tests:

const cart = pm.response.json();
pm.environment.set("cart_id", cart.id);

Request: Create checkout session
POST /checkout/sessions

Body:

{
  "cart_id": "{{cart_id}}",
  "currency": "USD"
}

Tests:

const session = pm.response.json();
pm.environment.set("checkout_session_id", session.id);
pm.environment.set("payment_client_secret", session.client_secret);

Request: Confirm payment
POST /payments/confirm

Body:

{
  "checkout_session_id": "{{checkout_session_id}}",
  "payment_method": "test_visa_4242"
}

Tests:

const payment = pm.response.json();
pm.environment.set("order_id", payment.order_id);

Request: Verify order
GET /orders/{{order_id}}

This is one of the best examples of chaining requests in Postman because it covers:

• Query parameters
• Request bodies
• Multiple variables
• A realistic business process

It’s also the kind of chain that reveals real bugs: pricing mismatches, tax rounding errors, or orders created in the wrong status.

Example: KYC onboarding with file upload

Another real example of chaining requests in Postman is a KYC onboarding flow:

• Create user profile
• Upload ID document
• Poll verification status

Request: Create user
POST /kyc/users

Tests:

const user = pm.response.json();
pm.environment.set("kyc_user_id", user.id);

Request: Upload ID document
POST /kyc/users/{{kyc_user_id}}/documents

Body (form‑data):

file: <attach file in Postman>
type: passport

Tests:

const doc = pm.response.json();
pm.environment.set("kyc_document_id", doc.id);

Request: Poll verification status
GET /kyc/users/{{kyc_user_id}}/status

You can even add a Pre‑request Script that retries the status call up to N times until it becomes verified. This style of chaining is common in fintech and regulated industries. For an idea of why these flows matter legally, the FinCEN guidance on KYC and AML shows how tightly they’re regulated.

4. More Real Examples of Chaining Requests in Postman (Beyond the Big 3)

So far we’ve covered the headline patterns—auth, CRUD, and business flows. To make this guide more practical, here are several additional examples you’ll actually use.

Paginated search with dynamic next-page requests

Many APIs return pagination metadata like next_cursor or page. You can chain requests in Postman to walk through pages automatically.

Request: First page
GET /transactions?limit=50

Tests:

const res = pm.response.json();

pm.environment.set("next_cursor", res.meta.next_cursor || "");
pm.environment.set("has_more", res.meta.has_more);

Request: Next page
GET /transactions?cursor={{next_cursor}}&limit=50

Pre‑request Script:

if (pm.environment.get("has_more") !== "true") {
    postman.setNextRequest(null); // stop collection run
}

This gives you a concrete example of chaining requests in Postman to simulate client‑side pagination logic.

Feature flag or config‑driven tests

You can also chain a config request into several test requests. For example:

• Call /config to get feature flags
• Use those flags to decide which requests to run

Tests for /config:

const config = pm.response.json();
pm.environment.set("feature_new_checkout", config.features.new_checkout);

if (config.features.new_checkout === true) {
    postman.setNextRequest("New Checkout Flow");
} else {
    postman.setNextRequest("Legacy Checkout Flow");
}

This is a subtle but powerful example of chaining requests in Postman: the output of one request controls the path of the entire collection run.

Data seeding and teardown in CI pipelines

In 2024–2025, more teams are running Postman collections in CI (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins) using the Postman CLI or Newman. Chaining requests is perfect for data seeding and teardown:

• Seed: create test user, wallet, and starting balance
• Run: execute transaction test cases
• Teardown: delete user and related records

Each phase is a chain of requests passing IDs and state via environment variables. This keeps your test environments cleaner and your CI runs predictable.

5. Patterns and Best Practices from These Examples of Chaining Requests in Postman

Looking across these real examples of chaining requests in Postman, a few patterns stand out.

Use environments aggressively

Separate environments (Local, Staging, Production‑like) and keep variables like:

• base_url
• access_token
• user_id, order_id, patient_id

That way your examples of chaining requests in Postman work everywhere with minimal changes.

Keep extraction logic in Tests, not in the UI

Always use the Tests tab to:

• Parse JSON: const data = pm.response.json();
• Set variables: pm.environment.set("order_id", data.id);
• Assert expectations before chaining further

If a request fails or returns malformed JSON, you want the chain to fail loudly instead of quietly passing bad data forward.

Name requests by behavior, not by endpoint

Instead of naming a request POST /orders, call it Create Order (valid) or Create Order (missing sku). When you look back at a long chain, this makes the flow readable.

Use collection variables for shared state

If multiple environments share the same logic (e.g., default page_size, currency), keep those in collection variables instead of environment variables. It keeps your examples portable when teammates fork your collection.

6. FAQ: Common Questions About Examples of Chaining Requests in Postman

What are some real examples of chaining requests in Postman I can start with today?

Start with three:

• Login → Get profile (auth flow)
• Create resource → Get → Update → Delete (CRUD)
• Search product → Add to cart → Checkout → Verify order (business process)

Those cover most patterns you’ll need, and you can expand from there.

How is an example of chaining requests in Postman different from just using variables?

Chaining is about flow: one request runs, extracts parts of the response, and uses them to drive the next request. Variables are the storage mechanism. You can use variables without chaining, but chaining always uses variables under the hood.

Can I use these examples of chaining requests in Postman in CI/CD pipelines?

Yes. Export your collection and environment, then run them with the Postman CLI or Newman in your CI system. The same chains (login, CRUD, checkout) will run headless, which is how many teams do API regression testing in 2024–2025.

How do I avoid flaky tests when chaining many requests?

A few tips:

• Add assertions in every Tests tab so failures are localized
• Use realistic but stable test data (fixed test users, deterministic products)
• Handle async or eventually consistent operations with retries or polling, not blind setTimeout calls

Where can I learn more about designing APIs that are easy to test with chained requests?

Look at well‑documented public APIs and standards. For example, the U.S. Digital Services Playbook has guidance on building reliable government APIs, and the HL7 FHIR overview shows how complex resources can still be modeled in a predictable way.

If you take nothing else from this, remember: the strongest examples of chaining requests in Postman: 3 practical examples all share the same DNA—extract, store, reuse. Once you’re comfortable with that pattern, you can model almost any real‑world API workflow inside a single, repeatable Postman collection.