curlie - Modern HTTP Client Guide (curl with HTTPie-like Interface)

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Installation
• Basic Usage
• HTTP Methods
• Headers & Data
• Authentication
• Output Formatting
• Advanced Features
• Best Practices

Overview

curlie is a frontend to curl that adds the ease of use of HTTPie while retaining curl’s powerful features.

Key Features

• HTTPie-like syntax
• curl compatibility
• JSON highlighting
• Intuitive interface
• Header formatting
• Color output
• Automatic formatting
• curl command translation

Installation

Using Go

# Install using go
go install github.com/rs/curlie@latest

Using Package Managers

# macOS
brew install curlie
 
# Arch Linux
yay -S curlie

Basic Usage

Simple Requests

# GET request
curlie example.com
 
# Show headers
curlie -I example.com
 
# Follow redirects
curlie -L example.com
 
# Verbose output
curlie -v example.com

Common Options

# Silent mode
curlie -s example.com
 
# Include response headers
curlie -i example.com
 
# Show curl command
curlie --curl example.com

HTTP Methods

GET Requests

# Basic GET
curlie get api.example.com/users
 
# GET with parameters
curlie get api.example.com/users id==123 type==active
 
# GET with headers
curlie get api.example.com/users Accept:application/json

POST Requests

# POST JSON
curlie post api.example.com/users \
    name=john \
    age:=25
 
# POST form data
curlie -f post api.example.com/users \
    name=john \
    age=25
 
# POST raw JSON
curlie post api.example.com/users \
    Content-Type:application/json \
    @data.json

Other Methods

# PUT request
curlie put api.example.com/users/123 \
    name=john \
    age:=26
 
# DELETE request
curlie delete api.example.com/users/123
 
# PATCH request
curlie patch api.example.com/users/123 \
    age:=26

Headers & Data

Custom Headers

# Add headers
curlie api.example.com \
    Authorization:"Bearer token123" \
    Accept:application/json
 
# Content-Type
curlie api.example.com \
    Content-Type:application/json \
    data:='{"key":"value"}'

Data Formats

# JSON data
curlie post api.example.com \
    key=value \
    array:='[1,2,3]'
 
# Form data
curlie -f post api.example.com \
    file@/path/to/file.txt
 
# Raw data
curlie post api.example.com \
    @raw.txt

Authentication

Basic Auth

# Username and password
curlie -a username:password api.example.com
 
# Bearer token
curlie api.example.com \
    Authorization:"Bearer token123"

API Authentication

# API key in header
curlie api.example.com \
    X-API-Key:key123
 
# API key in query
curlie api.example.com apiKey==key123

Output Formatting

Response Formatting

# Pretty JSON
curlie get api.example.com/users
 
# Raw output
curlie -r get api.example.com/users
 
# Download file
curlie -o file.txt example.com/file

Debug Information

# Show verbose info
curlie -v api.example.com
 
# Show timing
curlie -v api.example.com \
    -w "%{time_total}\n"
 
# Show curl command
curlie --curl api.example.com

Advanced Features

Proxy Settings

# HTTP proxy
curlie -x proxy.example.com:8080 api.example.com
 
# SOCKS proxy
curlie --proxy socks5://proxy.example.com api.example.com

SSL Options

# Ignore SSL
curlie -k api.example.com
 
# Custom cert
curlie --cacert ca.crt api.example.com
 
# Client cert
curlie --cert client.crt --key client.key api.example.com

Best Practices

Error Handling

# Show errors
curlie -f api.example.com
 
# Retry on failure
curlie --retry 3 api.example.com
 
# Set timeout
curlie --max-time 10 api.example.com

Debugging

# Debug mode
curlie -v api.example.com
 
# Show curl command
curlie --curl api.example.com
 
# Save full session
curlie -v --output-dir ./debug api.example.com

Example Scripts

API Testing Script

#!/bin/bash
# API testing script
API_URL="https://api.example.com"
TOKEN="your-token"
 
# GET request
test_get() {
    echo "Testing GET endpoint..."
    curlie get "$API_URL/users" \
        Authorization:"Bearer $TOKEN"
}
 
# POST request
test_post() {
    echo "Testing POST endpoint..."
    curlie post "$API_URL/users" \
        Authorization:"Bearer $TOKEN" \
        name=test \
        [email protected]
}
 
# Run tests
test_get
test_post

Batch API Requests

#!/bin/bash
# Batch API requests
API_URL="https://api.example.com"
ENDPOINTS=(
    "users"
    "posts"
    "comments"
)
 
for endpoint in "${ENDPOINTS[@]}"; do
    echo "Fetching $endpoint..."
    curlie get "$API_URL/$endpoint" \
        Accept:application/json \
        -o "${endpoint}.json"
done

API Health Check

#!/bin/bash
# API health check script
ENDPOINTS=(
    "https://api1.example.com/health"
    "https://api2.example.com/health"
)
LOG_FILE="health_check.log"
 
check_endpoint() {
    local url=$1
    echo "Checking $url..."
    
    response=$(curlie -s -w "%{http_code}" get "$url")
    status=$?
    
    if [ $status -eq 0 ] && [ "$response" == "200" ]; then
        echo "$(date): $url - OK" >> "$LOG_FILE"
    else
        echo "$(date): $url - FAIL (Status: $response)" >> "$LOG_FILE"
        notify_admin "$url" "$response"
    fi
}
 
notify_admin() {
    local url=$1
    local status=$2
    echo "Alert: $url returned status $status"
}
 
for endpoint in "${ENDPOINTS[@]}"; do
    check_endpoint "$endpoint"
    sleep 1
done

Performance Testing

#!/bin/bash
# API performance testing
URL="https://api.example.com/endpoint"
ITERATIONS=10
RESULTS_FILE="performance.csv"
 
echo "timestamp,duration" > "$RESULTS_FILE"
 
for i in $(seq 1 $ITERATIONS); do
    timestamp=$(date +%s)
    duration=$(curlie -s -w "%{time_total}" "$URL" -o /dev/null)
    echo "$timestamp,$duration" >> "$RESULTS_FILE"
    sleep 1
done
 
echo "Results saved to $RESULTS_FILE"