HTTPie CLI — Modern User-Friendly Command-Line HTTP Client

What it is

HTTPie is a command-line HTTP client designed for API exploration and testing. It provides an intuitive syntax where headers, query parameters, and JSON data are expressed naturally. Output is automatically formatted and colorized, making API responses readable without piping through jq.

HTTPie targets developers, QA engineers, and anyone who works with HTTP APIs from the terminal. If you find curl's flag syntax hard to remember, HTTPie offers a more ergonomic alternative with sensible defaults.

How it saves time or tokens

This workflow provides installation commands and common usage patterns. Instead of looking up curl flags for POST requests with JSON bodies, you get a natural syntax where http POST url key=value does the right thing. Sessions persist cookies and headers across requests, eliminating repetitive authentication headers.

How to use

1. Install HTTPie:

# macOS
brew install httpie

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install httpie

# Python
pip install httpie

1. Make requests with intuitive syntax:

# GET request
http httpbin.org/get

# POST JSON data
http POST httpbin.org/post name=John age:=30 admin:=true

# Custom headers
http httpbin.org/headers Authorization:'Bearer token123'

# Download a file
http --download https://example.com/file.zip

1. Use sessions for persistent state:

# Create a named session
http --session=myapi POST api.example.com/login username=admin password=secret

# Subsequent requests reuse cookies and headers
http --session=myapi api.example.com/dashboard

Example

# API testing workflow
# 1. Authenticate and save session
http --session=dev POST https://api.example.com/auth/login \
  email=dev@example.com password=secret

# 2. Create a resource (session carries auth cookie)
http --session=dev POST https://api.example.com/items \
  name='New Item' category='tools' price:=29.99

# 3. List resources with query params
http --session=dev https://api.example.com/items \
  page==1 per_page==20 sort==created_at

# 4. Upload a file
http --session=dev POST https://api.example.com/upload \
  file@./document.pdf

Related on TokRepo

• API tools -- Tools for building and testing APIs
• Automation tools -- CLI-based workflow automation

Common pitfalls

• HTTPie uses = for string values and := for raw JSON (numbers, booleans, arrays). Using = for a number sends it as a string, which may cause API validation errors.
• The == operator is for query parameters, not equality. http url page==2 adds ?page=2 to the URL.
• HTTPie defaults to JSON content type for POST requests. To send form data instead, use the --form flag.