dot-http is a text-based scriptable HTTP client. It is a simple language that resembles the actual HTTP protocol but with just a smidgen of magic to make it more practical for someone who builds and tests APIs.
Enter the following in a command prompt:
text,no_run
curl -LSfs https://japaric.github.io/trust/install.sh | sh -s -- --git bayne/dot-http
The easiest way for most users is simply to download the prebuilt binaries. You can find binaries for various platforms on the release page.
First, install cargo. Then:
bash,no_run
$ cargo install dot-http
You will need to use the stable release for this to work; if in doubt run
bash,no_run
rustup run stable cargo install dot-http
See dot-http --help for usage.
See this plugin to use dot-http within vim.
The request format is intended to resemble HTTP as close as possible. HTTP was initially designed to be human-readable and simple, so why not use that?
simple.http
text,no_run
GET http://httpbin.org
Accept: */*
Executing that script just prints the response to stdout:
```text,no_run
$ dot-http simple.http
GET http://httpbin.org/get
HTTP/1.1 200 OK access-control-allow-credentials: true access-control-allow-origin: * content-type: application/json date: Sat, 18 Jan 2020 20:48:50 GMT referrer-policy: no-referrer-when-downgrade server: nginx x-content-type-options: nosniff x-frame-options: DENY x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block content-length: 170 connection: keep-alive
{ "args": {}, "headers": { "Accept": "/", "Host": "httpbin.org" }, "url": "https://httpbin.org/get" } ```
Use variables to build the scripts dynamically, either pulling data from your environment file or from a previous request's response handler.
simplewithvariables.http ```text,no_run POST http://httpbin.org/post Accept: / X-Auth-Token: {{token}}
{ "id": {{env_id}} } ```
http-client.env.json
text,no_run
{
"dev": {
"env_id": 42,
"token": "SuperSecretToken"
}
}
Note that the variables are replaced by their values ```text,norun $ dot-http simplewith_variables.http POST http://httpbin.org/post
HTTP/1.1 200 OK access-control-allow-credentials: true access-control-allow-origin: * content-type: application/json date: Sat, 18 Jan 2020 20:55:24 GMT referrer-policy: no-referrer-when-downgrade server: nginx x-content-type-options: nosniff x-frame-options: DENY x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block content-length: 342 connection: keep-alive
{ "args": {}, "data": "{\r\n \"id\": 42\r\n}", "files": {}, "form": {}, "headers": { "Accept": "/", "Content-Length": "18", "Host": "httpbin.org", "X-Auth-Token": "SuperSecretToken" }, "json": { "id": 42 }, "url": "https://httpbin.org/post" } ```
Use an environment file to control what initial values variables have
http-client.env.json
text,no_run
{
"dev": {
"host": localhost,
"token": "SuperSecretToken"
},
"prod": {
"host": example.com,
"token": "ProductionToken"
}
}
env_demo.http
text,no_run
GET http://{{host}}
X-Auth-Token: {{token}}
Specifying different environments when invoking the command results in different values for the variables in the script
```text,norun $ dot-http -e dev envdemo.http GET http://localhost X-Auth-Token: SuperSecretToken
$ dot-http -e prod env_demo.htp GET http://example.com X-Auth-Token: ProductionToken ```
Use previous requests to populate some of the data in future requests
responsehandler.http ```text,norun POST http://httpbin.org/post Content-Type: application/json
{ "token": "sometoken", "id": 237 }
{% client.global.set('authtoken', response.body.json.token); client.global.set('someid', response.body.json.id); %}
PUT http://httpbin.org/put X-Auth-Token: {{auth_token}}
{ "id": {{some_id}} } ```
Data from a previous request
```text,no_run $ dot-http test.http POST http://httpbin.org/post
HTTP/1.1 200 OK access-control-allow-credentials: true access-control-allow-origin: * content-type: application/json date: Sat, 18 Jan 2020 21:01:59 GMT referrer-policy: no-referrer-when-downgrade server: nginx x-content-type-options: nosniff x-frame-options: DENY x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block content-length: 404 connection: keep-alive
{ "args": {}, "data": "{\r\n \"token\": \"sometoken\",\r\n \"id\": 237\r\n}", "files": {}, "form": {}, "headers": { "Accept": "/", "Content-Length": "46", "Content-Type": "application/json", "Host": "httpbin.org" }, "json": { "id": 237, "token": "sometoken" }, "url": "https://httpbin.org/post" } ```
Can populate data in a future request
```text,no_run $ dot-http -l 16 test.http PUT http://httpbin.org/put
HTTP/1.1 200 OK access-control-allow-credentials: true access-control-allow-origin: * content-type: application/json date: Sat, 18 Jan 2020 21:02:28 GMT referrer-policy: no-referrer-when-downgrade server: nginx x-content-type-options: nosniff x-frame-options: DENY x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block content-length: 336 connection: keep-alive
{ "args": {}, "data": "{\r\n \"id\": 237\r\n}", "files": {}, "form": {}, "headers": { "Accept": "/", "Content-Length": "19", "Host": "httpbin.org", "X-Auth-Token": "sometoken" }, "json": { "id": 237 }, "url": "https://httpbin.org/put" } ```
Contributions and suggestions are very welcome!
Please create an issue before submitting a PR, PRs will only be accepted if they reference an existing issue. If you have a suggested change please create an issue first so that we can discuss it.