What's Hurl?

Hurl is a command line tool that runs HTTP requests defined in a simple plain text format.

It can perform requests, capture values and evaluate queries on headers and body response. Hurl is very versatile: it can be used for both fetching data and testing HTTP sessions.

```hurl

Get home:

GET https://example.net

HTTP/1.1 200 [Captures] csrftoken: xpath "string(//meta[@name='csrf_token']/@content)"

Do login!

POST https://example.net/login?user=toto&password=1234 X-CSRF-TOKEN: {{csrf_token}}

HTTP/1.1 302 ```

Chaining multiple requests is easy:

hurl GET https://api.example.net/health GET https://api.example.net/step1 GET https://api.example.net/step2 GET https://api.example.net/step3

Also an HTTP Test Tool

Hurl can run HTTP requests but can also be used to test HTTP responses. Different types of queries and predicates are supported, from [XPath] and [JSONPath] on body response, to assert on status code and response headers.

It is well adapted for REST / JSON apis

```hurl POST https://api.example.net/tests { "id": "456", "evaluate": true }

HTTP/1.1 200 [Asserts] jsonpath "$.status" == "RUNNING" # Check the status code jsonpath "$.tests" count == 25 # Check the number of items

```

HTML content

```hurl GET https://example.net

HTTP/1.1 200 [Asserts] xpath "normalize-space(//head/title)" == "Hello world!" ```

and even SOAP apis

```hurl POST https://example.net/InStock Content-Type: application/soap+xml; charset=utf-8 SOAPAction: "http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope" GOOG

HTTP/1.1 200 ```

Hurl can also be used to test HTTP endpoints performances:

```hurl GET http://api.example.org/v1/pets

HTTP/1.0 200 [Asserts] duration < 1000 # Duration in ms ```

And responses bytes content

```hurl GET http://example.org/data.tar.gz

HTTP/1.0 200 [Asserts] sha256 == hex,039058c6f2c0cb492c533b0a4d14ef77cc0f78abccced5287d84a1a2011cfb81; ```

Why Hurl?

• Text Format: for both devops and developers
• Fast CLI: a command line for local dev and continuous integration
• Single Binary: easy to install, with no runtime required

Powered by curl

Hurl is a lightweight binary written in [Rust]. Under the hood, Hurl HTTP engine is powered by [libcurl], one of the most powerful and reliable file transfer library. With its text file format, Hurl adds syntactic sugar to run and tests HTTP requests, but it's still the [curl] that we love.

Feedbacks

[Feedback, suggestion, bugs or improvements] are welcome!

hurl POST https://hurl.dev/api/feedback { "name": "John Doe", "feedback": "Hurl is awesome !" } HTTP/1.1 200

Resources

[License]

[Documentation]

[GitHub]

Table of Contents

• Samples
  • Getting Data
    • HTTP Headers
    • Query Params
  • Sending Data
    • Sending HTML Form Datas
    • Sending Multipart Form Datas
    • Posting a JSON Body
    • Templating a JSON / XML Body
  • Testing Response
    • Testing Response Headers
    • Testing REST Apis
    • Testing HTML Response
    • Testing Set-Cookie Attributes
  • Others
    • Testing Endpoint Performance
    • Using SOAP Apis
    • Capturing and Using a CSRF Token
    • Checking Byte Order Mark (BOM) in Response Body
• Man Page
  • Name
  • Synopsis
  • Description
  • Hurl File Format
    • Capturing values
    • Asserts
  • Options
  • Environment
  • Exit Codes
  • WWW
  • See Also
• Installation
  • Binaries Installation
    • Linux
      • Debian / Ubuntu
      • Arch Linux / Manjaro
    • macOS
    • Windows
      • Zip File
      • Installer
      • Chocolatey
      • Scoop
      • Windows Package Manager
    • Cargo
  • Building From Sources
    • Build on Linux, macOS
    • Build on Windows

      Samples

To run a sample, edit a file with the sample content, and run Hurl:

```shell $ vi sample.hurl

GET https://example.net

$ hurl sample.hurl ```

You can check [Hurl tests suit] for more samples.

Getting Data

A simple GET:

hurl GET https://example.net

Doc

HTTP Headers

A simple GET with headers:

hurl GET https://example.net/news User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 Accept: */* Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5 Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br Connection: keep-alive

Doc

Headers can be used to perform [Basic authentication]. Given a login bob with password secret:

In a shell:

shell $ echo -n 'bob:secret' | base64 Ym9iOnNlY3JldA==

Then, use [Authorization header] to add basic authentication to a request:

hurl GET https://example.com/protected Authorization: Basic Ym9iOnNlY3JldA==

Alternatively, one can use [--user option].

Query Params

hurl GET https://example.net/news [QueryStringParams] order: newest search: something to search count: 100

Or:

hurl GET https://example.net/news?order=newest&search=something%20to%20search&count=100

Doc

Sending Data

Sending HTML Form Datas

hurl POST https://example.net/contact [FormParams] default: false token: {{token}} email: john.doe@rookie.org number: 33611223344

Doc

Sending Multipart Form Datas

```hurl POST https://example.net/upload [MultipartFormData] field1: value1 field2: file,example.txt;

On can specify the file content type:

field3: file,example.zip; application/zip ```

Doc

Posting a JSON Body

With an inline JSON:

hurl POST https://api.example.net/tests { "id": "456", "evaluate": true }

Doc

With a local file:

hurl POST https://api.example.net/tests Content-Type: application/json file,data.json;

Doc

Templating a JSON / XML Body

Using templates with [JSON body] or [XML body] is not currently supported in Hurl. Besides, you can use templates in [raw string body] with variables to send a JSON or XML body:

~~~hurl PUT https://api.example.net/hits Content-Type: application/json { "key0": "{{a_string}}", "key1": {{a_bool}}, "key2": {{a_null}}, "key3": {{a_number}} } ~~~

Variables can be initialized via command line:

shell $ hurl --variable key0=apple \ --variable key1=true \ --variable key2=null \ --variable key3=42 \ test.hurl

Resulting in a PUT request with the following JSON body:

{ "key0": "apple", "key1": true, "key2": null, "key3": 42 }

Doc

Testing Response

Testing Response Headers

Use implicit response asserts to test header values:

```hurl GET http://www.example.org/index.html

HTTP/1.0 200 Set-Cookie: theme=light Set-Cookie: sessionToken=abc123; Expires=Wed, 09 Jun 2021 10:18:14 GMT ```

Doc

Or use explicit response asserts with [predicates]:

```hurl GET https://example.net

HTTP/1.1 302 [Asserts] header "Location" contains "www.example.net" ```

Doc

Testing REST Apis

Asserting JSON body response (node values, collection count etc...) with [JSONPath]:

```hurl GET https://example.org/order screencapability: low

HTTP/1.1 200 [Asserts] jsonpath "$.validated" == true jsonpath "$.userInfo.firstName" == "Franck" jsonpath "$.userInfo.lastName" == "Herbert" jsonpath "$.hasDevice" == false jsonpath "$.links" count == 12 jsonpath "$.state" != null jsonpath "$.order" matches "^order-\d{8}$" # metacharacters beginining with \ must be escaped ```

Doc

Testing status code:

```hurl GET https://example.org/order/435

HTTP/1.1 200 ```

Doc

```hurl GET https://example.org/order/435

Testing status code is in a 200-300 range

HTTP/1.1 * [Asserts] status >= 200 status < 300 ```

Doc

Testing HTML Response

```hurl GET https://example.com

HTTP/1.1 200 Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

[Asserts] xpath "string(/html/head/title)" contains "Example" # Check title xpath "count(//p)" == 2 # Check the number of p xpath "//p" count == 2 # Similar assert for p xpath "boolean(count(//h2))" == false # Check there is no h2
xpath "//h2" not exists # Similar assert for h2 ```

Doc

Testing Set-Cookie Attributes

```hurl GET http://myserver.com/home

HTTP/1.0 200 [Asserts] cookie "JSESSIONID" == "8400BAFE2F66443613DC38AE3D9D6239" cookie "JSESSIONID[Value]" == "8400BAFE2F66443613DC38AE3D9D6239" cookie "JSESSIONID[Expires]" contains "Wed, 13 Jan 2021" cookie "JSESSIONID[Secure]" exists cookie "JSESSIONID[HttpOnly]" exists cookie "JSESSIONID[SameSite]" == "Lax" ```

Doc

Others

Testing Endpoint Performance

```hurl GET https://sample.org/helloworld

HTTP/* * [Asserts] duration < 1000 # Check that response time is less than one second ```

Doc

Using SOAP Apis

```hurl POST https://example.net/InStock Content-Type: application/soap+xml; charset=utf-8 SOAPAction: "http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope" GOOG

HTTP/1.1 200 ```

Doc

Capturing and Using a CSRF Token

```hurl GET https://example.net

HTTP/* 200 [Captures] csrftoken: xpath "string(//meta[@name='csrf_token']/@content)"

POST https://example.net/login?user=toto&password=1234 X-CSRF-TOKEN: {{csrf_token}}

HTTP/* 302 ```

Doc

Checking Byte Order Mark (BOM) in Response Body

```hurl GET https://example.net/data.bin

HTTP/* 200 [Asserts] bytes startsWith hex,efbbbf; ```

Doc

Man Page

Name

hurl - run and test HTTP requests.

Synopsis

hurl [options] [FILE...]

Description

Hurl is an HTTP client that performs HTTP requests defined in a simple plain text format.

Hurl is very versatile, it enables to chain HTTP requests, capture values from HTTP responses and make asserts.

$ hurl session.hurl

If no input-files are specified, input is read from stdin.

$ echo GET http://httpbin.org/get | hurl { "args": {}, "headers": { "Accept": "*/*", "Accept-Encoding": "gzip", "Content-Length": "0", "Host": "httpbin.org", "User-Agent": "hurl/0.99.10", "X-Amzn-Trace-Id": "Root=1-5eedf4c7-520814d64e2f9249ea44e0" }, "origin": "1.2.3.4", "url": "http://httpbin.org/get" }

Output goes to stdout by default. For output to a file, use the -o option:

$ hurl -o output input.hurl

By default, Hurl executes all HTTP requests and outputs the response body of the last HTTP call.

Hurl File Format

The Hurl file format is fully documented in https://hurl.dev/docs/hurl-file.html

It consists of one or several HTTP requests

hurl GET http:/example.net/endpoint1 GET http:/example.net/endpoint2

Capturing values

A value from an HTTP response can be-reused for successive HTTP requests.

A typical example occurs with csrf tokens.

```hurl GET https://example.net HTTP/1.1 200

Capture the CSRF token value from html body.

[Captures] csrftoken: xpath "normalize-space(//meta[@name='csrf_token']/@content)"

Do the login !

POST https://example.net/login?user=toto&password=1234 X-CSRF-TOKEN: {{csrf_token}} ```

Asserts

The HTTP response defined in the Hurl session are used to make asserts.

At the minimum, the response includes the asserts on the HTTP version and status code.

hurl GET http:/google.com HTTP/1.1 302

It can also include asserts on the response headers

hurl GET http:/google.com HTTP/1.1 302 Location: http://www.google.com

You can also include explicit asserts combining query and predicate

hurl GET http:/google.com HTTP/1.1 302 [Asserts] xpath "//title" == "301 Moved"

Thanks to asserts, Hurl can be used as a testing tool to run scenarii.

Options

Options that exist in curl have exactly the same semantic.

Option | Description --- | --- --color | Colorize Output
-b, --cookie <file> | Read cookies from file (using the Netscape cookie file format).

Combined with -c, --cookie-jar, you can simulate a cookie storage between successive Hurl runs.
--cacert | Tells curl to use the specified certificate file to verify the peer.
The file may contain multiple CA certificates.
The certificate(s) must be in PEM format.
Normally curl is built to use a default file for this, so this option is typically used to alter that default file.
--compressed | Request a compressed response using one of the algorithms br, gzip, deflate and automatically decompress the content.
--connect-timeout <seconds> | Maximum time in seconds that you allow Hurl's connection to take.

See also -m, --max-time option.
-c, --cookie-jar <file> | Write cookies to FILE after running the session (only for one session).
The file will be written using the Netscape cookie file format.

Combined with -b, --cookie, you can simulate a cookie storage between successive Hurl runs.
--fail-at-end | Continue executing requests to the end of the Hurl file even when an assert error occurs.
By default, Hurl exits after an assert error in the HTTP response.

Note that this option does not affect the behavior with multiple input Hurl files.

All the input files are executed independently. The result of one file does not affect the execution of the other Hurl files.
--file-root <dir> | Set root filesystem to import files in Hurl. This is used for both files in multipart form data and request body.
When this is not explicitly defined, the files are relative to the current directory in which Hurl is running.
--glob <glob> | Specify input files that match the given blob.
Multiple glob flags may be used.
-h, --help | Usage help. This lists all current command line options with a short description.
--html <dir> | Generate html report in dir.

If the html report already exists, it will be updated with the new test results.
--ignore-asserts | Ignore all asserts defined in the Hurl file.
-i, --include | Include the HTTP headers in the output (last entry).
--interactive | Stop between requests.
This is similar to a break point, You can then continue (Press C) or quit (Press Q).
--json | Output each hurl file result to JSON. The format is very closed to HAR format.
-k, --insecure | This option explicitly allows Hurl to perform "insecure" SSL connections and transfers.
-L, --location | Follow redirect. You can limit the amount of redirects to follow by using the --max-redirs option.
-m, --max-time <seconds> | Maximum time in seconds that you allow a request/response to take. This is the standard timeout.

See also --connect-timeout option.
--max-redirs <num> | Set maximum number of redirection-followings allowed
By default, the limit is set to 50 redirections. Set this option to -1 to make it unlimited.
--no-color | Do not colorize Output
--no-output | Suppress output. By default, Hurl outputs the body of the last response.
--noproxy <no-proxy-list> | Comma-separated list of hosts which do not use a proxy.
Override value from Environment variable noproxy.
--to-entry <entry-number> | Execute Hurl file to ENTRYNUMBER (starting at 1).
Ignore the remaining of the file. It is useful for debugging a session.
-o, --output <file> | Write output to instead of stdout.
--progress | Print filename and status for each test (on stderr)
--summary | Print test metrics at the end of the run (on stderr)
--test | Activate test mode; equals --no-output --progress --summary
-x, --proxy [protocol://]host[:port] | Use the specified proxy.
-u, --user <user:password> | Add basic Authentication header to each request.
--variable <name=value> | Define variable (name/value) to be used in Hurl templates.
Only string values can be defined.
--variables-file <file> | Set properties file in which your define your variables.

Each variable is defined as name=value exactly as with --variable option.

Note that defining a variable twice produces an error.
-v, --verbose | Turn on verbose output on standard error stream
Useful for debugging.

A line starting with '>' means data sent by Hurl.
A line staring with '<' means data received by Hurl.
A line starting with '*' means additional info provided by Hurl.

If you only want HTTP headers in the output, -i, --include might be the option you're looking for.
-V, --version | Prints version information

Environment

Environment variables can only be specified in lowercase.

Using an environment variable to set the proxy has the same effect as using the -x, --proxy option.

Variable | Description --- | --- http_proxy [protocol://]<host>[:port] | Sets the proxy server to use for HTTP.
https_proxy [protocol://]<host>[:port] | Sets the proxy server to use for HTTPS.
all_proxy [protocol://]<host>[:port] | Sets the proxy server to use if no protocol-specific proxy is set.
no_proxy <comma-separated list of hosts> | list of host names that shouldn't go through any proxy.

Exit Codes

Value | Description --- | --- 1 | Failed to parse command-line options.
2 | Input File Parsing Error.
3 | Runtime error (such as failure to connect to host).
4 | Assert Error.

WWW

https://hurl.dev

See Also

curl(1) hurlfmt(1)

Installation

Binaries Installation

Linux

Precompiled binary is available at [hurl-1.4.0-x86_64-linux.tar.gz]:

```shell $ INSTALLDIR=/tmp $ curl -sL https://github.com/Orange-OpenSource/hurl/releases/download/1.4.0/hurl-1.4.0-x8664-linux.tar.gz | tar xvz -C $INSTALLDIR $ export PATH=$INSTALLDIR/hurl-1.4.0:$PATH

$ hurl --version hurl 1.4.0 ```

Debian / Ubuntu

For Debian / Ubuntu, Hurl can be installed using a binary .deb file provided in each Hurl release.

shell $ curl -LO https://github.com/Orange-OpenSource/hurl/releases/download/1.4.0/hurl_1.4.0_amd64.deb $ sudo dpkg -i hurl_1.4.0_amd64.deb

Arch Linux / Manjaro

[hurl-bin package] for Arch Linux and derived distros are available via [AUR].

macOS

Precompiled binary is available at [hurl-1.4.0-x86_64-osx.tar.gz].

Hurl can also be installed with [Homebrew]:

```shell $ brew tap jcamiel/hurl $ brew install hurl

$ hurl --version hurl 1.4.0 ```

Windows

Zip File

Hurl can be installed from a standalone zip file [hurl-1.4.0-win64.zip]. You will need to update your PATH variable.

Installer

An installer [hurl-1.4.0-win64-installer.exe] is also available.

Chocolatey

shell $ choco install hurl

Scoop

shell $ scoop install hurl

Windows Package Manager

shell $ winget install hurl

Cargo

If you're a Rust programmer, Hurl can be installed with cargo.

shell $ cargo install hurl

Building From Sources

Hurl sources are available in [GitHub].

Build on Linux, macOS

Hurl depends on libssl, libcurl and libxml2 native libraries. You will need their development files in your platform.

```shell

debian based distributions

apt install -y pkg-config libssl-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libxml2-dev

redhat based distributions

yum install -y pkg-config gcc openssl-devel libxml2-devel

arch based distributions

pacman -Sy --noconfirm pkgconf gcc openssl libxml2 ```

Hurl is written in [Rust]. You should [install] the latest stable release.

shell $ curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh -s -- -y $ source $HOME/.cargo/env $ rustc --version $ cargo --version

Build

shell $ git clone https://github.com/Orange-OpenSource/hurl $ cd hurl $ cargo build --release $ ./target/release/hurl --version

Build on Windows

Please follow the [contrib on Windows section].