---
name: httpie
description: >
Use this skill whenever the user wants to make HTTP requests, test APIs, call REST endpoints,
debug web services, or interact with any HTTP/HTTPS API using the HTTPie CLI tool (`http` command).
Trigger this skill for any request involving: sending GET/POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE requests, testing
API endpoints, sending JSON or form data, working with authentication (Bearer token, Basic auth),
uploading files, downloading responses, managing sessions, inspecting request/response headers,
or piping HTTP calls in shell scripts. Use this skill even when the user just says "call the API",
"send a request", "hit this endpoint", or "test with httpie" ¿ don't wait for explicit httpie mention.
---
# HTTPie CLI Skill
HTTPie is a modern, human-friendly HTTP client for the command line. The main command is `http` (or `https` for HTTPS-only).
## Installation
```bash
# pip (recommended)
pip install httpie
# brew (macOS)
brew install httpie
# apt (Debian/Ubuntu)
sudo apt install httpie
```
Verify: `http --version`
---
## Request Syntax
```
http [METHOD] URL [REQUEST_ITEMS...]
```
- **METHOD** is optional: defaults to `GET` when no data, `POST` when data is present
- **URL**: scheme defaults to `http://`; use `:3000` as shorthand for `localhost:3000`
---
## Request Items ¿ Key Separators
| Separator | Type | Example |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| `=` | JSON string field (or form field with `-f`) | `name=Jean` |
| `:=` | Raw JSON value (non-string) | `active:=true`, `count:=42`, `tags:='["a","b"]'` |
| `==` | URL query parameter | `search==httpie` |
| `:` | HTTP header | `Authorization:Bearer TOKEN` |
| `@` | File upload (form/multipart) | `file@./report.pdf` |
| `=@` | File content as string field | `body=@./message.txt` |
| `:=@` | File content as raw JSON | `config:=@./config.json` |
---
## Common Examples
### GET requests
```bash
# Simple GET
http GET https://api.example.com/users
# With query params
http GET https://api.example.com/users search==alice limit==10
# Shorthand (method inferred)
http https://api.example.com/users
# Localhost shorthand
http :8080/health
```
### POST with JSON (default)
```bash
# String and non-string fields
http POST https://api.example.com/users \
name="Jean-Jacques" \
email="[email protected]" \
active:=true \
roles:='["admin","user"]'
# Inline raw JSON body (pipe it in)
echo '{"name":"test"}' | http POST https://api.example.com/users
```
### PUT / PATCH / DELETE
```bash
http PUT https://api.example.com/users/42 name="Updated"
http PATCH https://api.example.com/users/42 email="[email protected]"
http DELETE https://api.example.com/users/42
```
### Form data (`-f`)
```bash
http -f POST https://api.example.com/login username=admin password=secret
```
### File upload (multipart)
```bash
http -f POST https://api.example.com/upload file@./document.pdf title="My Doc"
```
---
## Authentication
```bash
# Basic auth
http -a username:password https://api.example.com/secure
# Bearer token
http -A bearer -a TOKEN https://api.example.com/secure
# Prompt for password (don't expose it in shell history)
http -a username https://api.example.com/secure
```
---
## Headers
```bash
# Custom headers
http GET https://api.example.com/data \
Accept:application/json \
X-Request-Id:abc-123 \
Authorization:"Bearer $(cat token.txt)"
```
---
## Output Control
```bash
# Show full exchange (request + response)
http -v GET https://api.example.com/users
# Only response headers
http -h GET https://api.example.com/users
# Only response body
http -b GET https://api.example.com/users
# Show request headers + response body
http --print=Hb GET https://api.example.com/users
# Flags: H=request headers, B=request body, h=response headers, b=response body, m=metadata
# No color / formatting (useful in scripts)
http --pretty=none GET https://api.example.com/users
# Check HTTP status (exit non-zero on 4xx/5xx)
http --check-status GET https://api.example.com/users
```
---
## Download Files
```bash
# Download and auto-name
http --download https://example.com/file.zip
# Download to specific path
http --download -o /tmp/output.zip https://example.com/file.zip
# Resume interrupted download
http --download --continue -o /tmp/output.zip https://example.com/file.zip
```
---
## Sessions (Persist cookies & auth)
```bash
# Create/use named session (stored in ~/.config/httpie/sessions/)
http --session=myapi POST https://api.example.com/login username=admin password=secret
http --session=myapi GET https://api.example.com/profile
# Read-only session (don't update it)
http --session-read-only=myapi GET https://api.example.com/data
```
---
## Useful Flags
```bash
--offline # Build and print request without sending it (dry-run)
--follow # Follow redirects
--timeout=10 # Set timeout in seconds (default: 0 = no timeout)
--proxy=http:http://proxy:8080 # Use a proxy
--verify=no # Skip SSL certificate verification (¿¿ dev only)
--cert=./cert.pem # Client TLS certificate
--stream # Stream response body (useful for SSE / long-polling)
--quiet # Suppress output except errors
```
---
## Scripting Patterns
### Avoid stdin conflicts in scripts
When running HTTPie in a script or CI pipeline where stdin may not be a TTY, add `--ignore-stdin` to avoid the "body from stdin and key=value cannot be mixed" error:
```bash
http --ignore-stdin POST https://api.example.com/users name=test active:=true
```
### Use in shell pipelines
```bash
# Extract a field with jq
TOKEN=$(http POST https://api.example.com/auth username=admin password=secret \
--pretty=none -b | jq -r '.token')
# Pass token to next call
http GET https://api.example.com/profile "Authorization:Bearer $TOKEN"
```
### Exit codes with --check-status
```bash
if http --check-status --quiet GET https://api.example.com/health; then
echo "API is up"
else
echo "API returned error"
fi
```
### Offline dry-run (inspect before sending)
```bash
http --offline POST https://api.example.com/users name=test active:=true
```
---
## HTTPie vs curl Equivalents
| Goal | HTTPie | curl |
| ------------ | ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| GET request | `http GET url` | `curl url` |
| POST JSON | `http POST url key=val` | `curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"key":"val"}' url` |
| Bearer auth | `http -A bearer -a TOKEN url` | `curl -H 'Authorization: Bearer TOKEN' url` |
| Show headers | `http -h url` | `curl -I url` |
| Verbose | `http -v url` | `curl -v url` |
---
## Configuration
HTTPie config lives at `~/.config/httpie/config.json`:
```json
{
"default_options": ["--style=monokai", "--pretty=all", "--check-status"]
}
```
---
## Tips
- **Always quote values with spaces**: `description='hello world'`
- **Escape colons in field names**: `field\:name=value`
- **GCP/cloud APIs**: use `http -A bearer -a "$(gcloud auth print-access-token)" ...`
- **Pipe JSON input**: `cat payload.json | http POST https://api.example.com/endpoint`
- **Debug CI pipelines**: use `--offline` to validate request shape without actually calling the API
- **Combine with `jq`** for powerful JSON manipulation in scripts