Postman’s desktop app automatically installed plugins for Codex and Claude Code on a user’s machine, according to a GitHub issue that reached 1,517 points on Hacker News under the title “Postman silently auto-installs AI plugins and attempts to share all API data.” The issue itself, opened on October 25, 2026, does not claim that data was sent anywhere, and on November 5 a Postman member wrote that the company is reverting the change.

What the issue reports

The issue, titled “[SEVERE] Desktop auto-installs Codex/Claude plugins; installer attempts to trust its own startup hook,” was opened by a user named indicava. The reporter says that after opening Postman desktop they saw “recurring MCP authentication warnings” and found Codex routing API work through Postman skills. They identified a user-wide Postman plugin, a startup instruction hook, a remote MCP connection, a Claude Code plugin and a separately installed Postman CLI. They cite a Postman log entry with source “auto-existing-upgrade” and results “claude-code:installed,codex:installed,” and say the installer approves Postman’s own hook by writing a trusted hash. The reporter describes the behavior as “a severe consent and trust-boundary problem” and says an API client “should not make itself the default workflow in other tools simply because I opened it.”

  • Versions and platform: Postman desktop 12.33.4, Codex Postman plugin 1.1.0 and Claude plugin 2.0.1, on macOS, signed in. The reporter says the sequence was “not yet reproduced on a clean Mac.”
  • Evidence: excerpts from Postman’s main.log (timestamp 2026-10-24T09:34:14.418Z), the Codex configuration file, the hook registration file, installer source files and Codex and Claude Code logs.
  • Data sharing: the reporter states that the issue “does not claim to establish data exfiltration.” It mentions a remote MCP endpoint at mcp.postman.com but makes no claim about data sent to it.
  • Requests: stop automatic agent-plugin and CLI installation for existing desktop users pending explicit opt-in; remove installer self-approval of hooks; name the responsible release or feature flag; and provide a rollback path.

Postman’s response

On November 5, a commenter named yumeria said Postman bundles the CLI and agent plugins with the desktop app to ease setup and that “we’re going to make the opt-in clearer, especially for existing users.” The commenter said Postman is reviewing hook approval and session-start behavior and that components can be uninstalled from inside the app. A member named preethammavin wrote, “In the meantime, we are reverting this change,” and said Postman will redesign the experience “with the right level of control.” A user asked what the reversal means for people already affected, and no reply is visible. A contributor then locked the thread, citing “ragebait and unnecessary discussion,” and closed the issue as completed; Postman also deleted one comment the same day.

Reaction

The original post had 623 reactions in total, including 437 thumbs-up. Twenty-three comments were visible, dated November 2 to 5, with 46 more activity items behind a “Load more” link that Lens did not expand. Some commenters used strong language about the company.

Sources and notes

This post is based on GitHub issue #14370 in the postmanlabs/postman-app-support repository as read on November 6, 2026, and the Hacker News submission. The behavior is the reporter’s account; Lens did not install or test Postman and did not review Postman’s release notes. The Hacker News title’s wording about sharing API data is not what the issue claims.

Image: a white USB power adapter plugged into a wall outlet, by cogdogblog via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0; cropped. Stand-in photo; it is not related to the Postman story and does not show the events described.