HTTPie – Modern Command-Line HTTP Client

HTTPie is a user-friendly command-line HTTP client designed for testing, debugging, and interacting with APIs and HTTP servers. Unlike curl, HTTPie features intuitive syntax, formatted and colorized output, built-in JSON support, and sensible defaults that make working with web services a pleasure. It is the perfect tool for developers and sysadmins who frequently interact with RESTful APIs.

Key Features

• Intuitive Syntax – Natural command structure that mirrors HTTP semantics
• Colorized Output – Syntax highlighting for headers and body content
• JSON Support – Native JSON encoding and pretty-printing
• Sessions – Persist cookies and authentication across requests
• Forms and File Uploads – Easy multipart form submissions
• HTTPS and Authentication – Built-in support for SSL and various auth methods

Installation

# Using pip (recommended)
pip install httpie

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install httpie

# RHEL/CentOS/Fedora
sudo dnf install httpie

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S httpie

# macOS
brew install httpie

Common Usage Examples

# Simple GET request
http httpbin.org/get

# POST with JSON data
http POST api.example.com/users name=John email=john@test.com

# Custom headers
http example.com Authorization:"Bearer token123"

# Form submission
http -f POST example.com/login username=admin password=secret

# Download file
http --download example.com/file.zip

# With authentication
http -a username:password example.com/protected

Use Cases

HTTPie shines in API development and testing, debugging web services, scripting HTTP interactions, exploring RESTful endpoints, and any scenario where readable HTTP output is valuable.

Download HTTPie