httpie

user-friendly HTTP client for the command line

TLDR

Simple GET request

$ http [https://api.example.com/users]

POST with JSON

$ http POST [https://api.example.com/users] name=John age:=30

POST form data

$ http -f POST [url] name=John email=john@example.com

Add custom header

$ http [url] Authorization:"Bearer [token]"

Download file

$ http --download [https://example.com/file.zip]

Authenticated request

$ http -a [user:password] [url]

Follow redirects

$ http --follow [url]

Show verbose request and response

$ http --verbose [url]

Show only response headers

$ http --headers [url]

SYNOPSIS

http [options] [method] url [items...]

DESCRIPTION

HTTPie is a user-friendly HTTP client for the command line. It provides intuitive syntax, colored output, and sensible defaults for API testing and debugging.

PARAMETERS

method

HTTP method (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.).

--json, -j

JSON data (default).

--form, -f

Form data.

--headers, -h

Print only headers.

--body, -b

Print only body.

--download, -d

Download file.

--follow, -F

Follow redirects.

--auth, -a user:pass

Basic authentication.

--auth-type, -A type

Auth type: basic, digest, bearer.

--verbose, -v

Print entire HTTP exchange (request and response).

--print, -p what

Selectively print: H (request headers), B (request body), h (response headers), b (response body), m (metadata).

--verify verify

SSL certificate verification. Set to "no" to skip.

--timeout seconds

Connection timeout in seconds (default: 30).

--proxy protocol:url

Set proxy (e.g., http:http://proxy:8080).

--check-status

Exit with error on HTTP 3xx/4xx/5xx status codes.

--output, -o file

Save response body to file.

--session name

Named session for persisting cookies/auth/headers.

--pretty mode

Output formatting: all, colors, format, none.

--offline

Build request offline without sending.

$ key=value       String data (request body)
key:=value      Raw JSON value (request body)
key==value      URL query parameter
Header:value    HTTP header
@file           File upload (multipart)
key@file        File upload with field name

CAVEATS

Requires Python. Syntax differs from curl. Large responses may be slow to colorize. The command is `http` (or `https`), not `httpie`.

HISTORY

HTTPie was created by Jakub Roztočil in 2012 as a more user-friendly alternative to curl for interacting with HTTP APIs.