I want to post 20 links to 20 great FHIR tools for developers.
But I can’t. I can’t even find that many tools much less recommend them.
Lots of companies are building FHIR servers and Enterprise tooling. But nobody is building tools or apps for developers who work with FHIR.
Here’s my list of the 6 tools I use most often as a working developer who uses FHIR every day. Most are generic, not aimed at FHIR at all.
1. Postman
Love it or hate it, you can’t work with FHIR without becoming familiar with Postman.
I use it every day: https://www.postman.com/
2. Notepad++
An absolute requirement for browsing large JSON bundles and resources. You need the JSON Viewer plug-in for the formatting.
I use it every day: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
3. Vanya
My own app. A quick and easy way for devs like me to see the resources I’ve just updated. Great for demos too.
I use it every day: https://vanyalabs.com/
4. Docker Desktop
Trying to write code against a shared FHIR server gets tiresome quickly. Nothing beats your own FHIR instance. Microsoft and HAPI provide server images.
I use it every day: https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/
5. Simplifier
For me, this only comes into play when I’m formalizing the profiles, extensions and SearchParameters I created in previous sprints.
I use it every few weeks: https://simplifier.net/
6. Fhirpath.js
Javascript implementation of FHIRPath. Useful for testing expressions before using them in SearchParameters. Also a quick and easy way to pull data from large FHIR bundles.
I use it every few weeks: https://hl7.github.io/fhirpath.js/
I sincerely hope there are tools and apps that I’ve missed. If there are, please leave a comment and a link so that everyone can benefit.
What I’m looking for are day-to-day tools to help developers working with FHIR. No servers, please.
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