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March 10, 2025 22:08
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HTTPie Command-Line HTTP Client Cheatsheet

A comprehensive guide to using HTTPie, a command-line HTTP client, for making API requests, testing endpoints, and inspecting HTTP traffic with examples and usage scenarios.

Basic Usage and Parameters

Making Basic Requests

http [METHOD] URL [item [item]] - Basic syntax for making HTTP requests.

Example:
http GET example.com - Sends a GET request to example.com
http POST example.com - Sends a POST request.

Specifying HTTP Method:
HTTPie defaults to GET if no method is specified. Other methods like POST, PUT, DELETE, etc., can be explicitly used.

Examples:
http PUT example.com/api/resource/1
http DELETE example.com/api/resource/1

Including Headers:
Custom headers can be included directly in the command.

Example:
http GET example.com 'Content-Type: application/json'

Passing Request Data

item - Request data (query parameters, body).
field=value

String parameters in the request body or query string.

Example:
http POST example.com name='John Doe' - Sends a POST request with name=John Doe in the body.

field==value

URL parameters.

Example:
http GET example.com search=='my search' - Sends a GET request to example.com?search=my+search.

field:=value

Non-string parameters. Useful for JSON payloads.

Example:
http POST example.com age:=29 - Sends a POST request with age: 29 as a JSON field.

field:='[1,2,3]'

JSON Data. Sends a JSON array.

Example:
http POST example.com list:='[1,2,3]' - sends list equals to [1, 2, 3]

file@path

Attach files.

Example:
http POST example.com file@/path/to/file.txt - Sends a POST request with the contents of file.txt.

field=@file

Read field value from a file (text).

Example:
http POST example.com [email protected] - Sets the token field to the content of token.txt.

field:[email protected]

Read field value from a file (JSON).

Example:
http POST example.com user:[email protected] - Sets the user field to the JSON content of user.json.

Working with Forms and Raw JSON

Submitting Forms

--form - To submit forms, use the --form option. This sets the Content-Type to application/x-www-form-urlencoded.

Example:
http --form POST example.com name='John Smith' [email protected]

Ensure correct Content-Type:
When submitting forms, HTTPie automatically sets the Content-Type header. Manually setting this header might be necessary in some cases.

Example:
http --form POST example.com Content-Type:application/x-www-form-urlencoded name='value'

Sending Raw JSON Data

Piping Raw JSON:
You can pipe raw JSON data to HTTPie for POST or PUT requests. This is useful when you have a JSON payload from another command or file.

Example:
echo '{"hello": "world"}' | http POST example.com/post

Specifying Content-Type for JSON:
When sending raw JSON data, ensure that the Content-Type header is set to application/json.

Example:
echo '{"key": "value"}' | http POST example.com Content-Type:application/json

Handling Different Content Types

HTTPie supports various content types, and you can specify them using the Content-Type header. This ensures that the server correctly interprets the data you send.

Example:
http POST example.com Content-Type:application/xml < data.xml

Options for Output and Authentication

Printing Options

-v, --verbose

Verbose mode, same as --print=HhBb --all.

Example:
http -v example.com - Shows full request and response details.

-h, --headers

Print only headers, same as --print=h.

Example:
http -h example.com - Displays only the response headers.

-b, --body

Print only body, same as --print=b.

Example:
http -b example.com - Shows only the response body.

--all

Print intermediate requests.

Example:
http --all example.com - Shows all requests in case of redirects.

--print=FORMAT

Specify which parts of the request/response to print.

Example:
http --print=HhBb example.com - Shows request headers, response headers, request body, and response body.

--pretty=STYLE

Style for output formatting (none, all, colors, format).

Example:
http --pretty=colors example.com - Formats output with colors.

--json, -j

Response is serialized as a JSON object.

Example:
http -j example.com - Ensures the response is treated as JSON.

Authentication Options

--auth USER:PASS

Provide HTTP Basic authentication credentials.

Example:
http --auth user:password example.com

--auth-type TYPE

Specify the authentication type (basic, digest).

Example:
http --auth-type digest --auth user:password example.com

Session Management and Downloading

Session Handling

--session NAME

Create or use a session to store authentication and cookies.

Example:
http --session mysession example.com - Creates a session named ‘mysession’.

--session-read-only NAME

Use a read-only session.

Example:
http --session-read-only mysession example.com - Uses ‘mysession’ in read-only mode.

Session Use Cases

Sessions are useful for maintaining authentication and cookies across multiple requests. They help simulate a user’s interaction with a website.

Example:
http --session logintest POST example.com/login username=myuser password=mypass
http --session logintest GET example.com/protected - Accesses a protected resource using the stored session.

Downloading Content

--download, -d

Download the response body like wget.

Example:
http -d example.com/file.zip - Downloads file.zip.

--continue, -c

Continue an interrupted download.

Example:
http -c -d example.com/largefile.iso - Continues downloading largefile.iso.

--output FILE, -o FILE

Specify the output file for the downloaded content.

Example:
http -d -o output.html example.com - Downloads the content and saves it to output.html.

Advanced Options

Redirection and Timeouts

--follow, -F

Follow HTTP redirects.

Example:
http -F example.com - Follows any redirects from example.com.

--max-redirects N

Set the maximum number of redirects to follow.

Example:
http --max-redirects 3 -F example.com - Follows up to 3 redirects.

--timeout SECONDS

Set a timeout for the request.

Example:
http --timeout 10 example.com - Sets a 10-second timeout.

SSL Verification and Proxies

--verify no

Skip SSL verification.

Example:
http --verify no example.com - Skips SSL verification (not recommended for production).

--proxy PROTO:URL

Specify a proxy to use for the request.

Example:
http --proxy http:http://proxy.example.com:8080 example.com - Uses the specified HTTP proxy.

Request Headers Examples

Content-Type

Sets the media type of the body of the request.

Example:
http POST example.com Content-Type:application/json data='{"key": "value"}'

Authorization

Provides credentials to authenticate with a server.

Example:
http GET example.com Authorization:'Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN'

User-Agent

Identifies the client making the request.

Example:
http GET example.com User-Agent:'MyCustomApp/1.0'