Xh.1

NAME

xh - Friendly and fast tool for sending HTTP requests

SYNOPSIS

xh [OPTIONS] [METHOD] URL [REQUEST_ITEM ...]

DESCRIPTION

xh is an HTTP client with a friendly command line interface. It strives to have readable output and easy-to-use options.

xh is mostly compatible with HTTPie: see http(1).

The --curl option can be used to print a curl(1) translation of the command instead of sending a request.

POSITIONAL ARGUMENTS

• [METHOD]: The HTTP method to use for the request.

  This defaults to GET, or to POST if the request contains a body.

• URL: The URL to request.

  The URL scheme defaults to http:// normally, or https:// if the program is invoked as xhs.

  A leading colon works as shorthand for localhost. :8000 is equivalent to localhost:8000, and :/path is equivalent to localhost/path.

• [REQUEST_ITEM ...]:

  Optional key-value pairs to be included in the request.

  The separator is used to determine the type:

  • key==value: Add a query string to the URL.

  • key=value: Add a JSON property (--json) or form field (--form) to the request body.

  • key:=value: Add a field with a literal JSON value to the request body.

    Example: numbers:=[1,2,3] enabled:=true

  • key@filename: Upload a file (requires --form or --multipart).

    To set the filename and mimetype, ;type= and ;filename= can be used respectively.

    Example: [email protected];type=image/jpeg;filename=profile.jpg

  • @filename: Use a file as the request body.

  • header:value: Add a header, e.g. user-agent:foobar

  • header:: Unset a header, e.g. connection:

  • header;: Add a header with an empty value.

  An @ prefix can be used to read a value from a file. For example: x-api-key:@api-key.txt.

  A backslash can be used to escape special characters, e.g. weird\:key=value.

  To construct a complex JSON object, the REQUEST_ITEM's key can be set to a JSON path instead of a field name. For more information on this syntax, refer to https://httpie.io/docs/cli/nested-json.

OPTIONS

Each --OPTION can be reset with a --no-OPTION argument.

• -j, --json: (default) Serialize data items from the command line as a JSON object.

  Overrides both --form and --multipart.

• -f, --form: Serialize data items from the command line as form fields.

  Overrides both --json and --multipart.

• --multipart: Like --form, but force a multipart/form-data request even without files.

  Overrides both --json and --form.

• --raw=RAW: Pass raw request data without extra processing.

• --pretty=STYLE: Controls output processing. Possible values are:

  • all: (default) Enable both coloring and formatting
  • colors: Apply syntax highlighting to output
  • format: Pretty-print json and sort headers
  • none: Disable both coloring and formatting

  Defaults to format if the NO_COLOR env is set and to none if stdout is not tty.

• --format-options=FORMAT_OPTIONS: Set output formatting options. Supported option are:

  • json.indent:<NUM>
  • json.format:<true|false>
  • xml.indent:<NUM>
  • xml.format:<true|false>
  • headers.sort:<true|false>

  Example: --format-options=json.indent:2,headers.sort:false.

• -s, --style=THEME: Output coloring style.

  [possible values: auto, solarized, monokai, fruity]

• --response-charset=ENCODING: Override the response encoding for terminal display purposes.

  Example: --response-charset=latin1.

• --response-mime=MIME_TYPE: Override the response mime type for coloring and formatting for the terminal.

  Example: --response-mime=application/json.

• -p, --print=FORMAT: String specifying what the output should contain

  • H: request headers
  • B: request body
  • h: response headers
  • b: response body
  • m: response metadata

  Example: --print=Hb.

• -h, --headers: Print only the response headers. Shortcut for --print=h.

• -b, --body: Print only the response body. Shortcut for --print=b.

• -m, --meta: Print only the response metadata. Shortcut for --print=m.

• -v, --verbose: Print the whole request as well as the response.

  Additionally, this enables --all for printing intermediary requests/responses while following redirects.

  Using verbose twice i.e. -vv will print the response metadata as well.

  Equivalent to --print=HhBb --all.

• --debug: Print full error stack traces and debug log messages.

  Logging can be configured in more detail using the $RUST_LOG environment variable. Set RUST_LOG=trace to show even more messages. See https://docs.rs/env_logger/0.11.3/env_logger/#enabling-logging.

• --all: Show any intermediary requests/responses while following redirects with --follow.

• -P, --history-print=FORMAT: The same as --print but applies only to intermediary requests/responses.

• -q, --quiet: Do not print to stdout or stderr.

  Using quiet twice i.e. -qq will suppress warnings as well.

• -S, --stream: Always stream the response body.

• -x, --compress: Content compressed (encoded) with Deflate algorithm.

  The Content-Encoding header is set to deflate.

  Compression is skipped if it appears that compression ratio is negative. Compression can be forced by repeating this option.

  Note: Compression cannot be used if the Content-Encoding request header is present.

• -o, --output=FILE: Save output to FILE instead of stdout.

• -d, --download: Download the body to a file instead of printing it.

  The Accept-Encoding header is set to identity and any redirects will be followed.

• -c, --continue: Resume an interrupted download. Requires --download and --output.

• --session=FILE: Create, or reuse and update a session.

  Within a session, custom headers, auth credentials, as well as any cookies sent by the server persist between requests.

• --session-read-only=FILE: Create or read a session without updating it from the request/response exchange.

• -A, --auth-type=AUTH_TYPE: Specify the auth mechanism.

  [possible values: basic, bearer, digest]

• -a, --auth=USER[:PASS] | TOKEN: Authenticate as USER with PASS (-A basic|digest) or with TOKEN (-A bearer).

  PASS will be prompted if missing. Use a trailing colon (i.e. USER:) to authenticate with just a username.

  TOKEN is expected if --auth-type=bearer.

• --ignore-netrc: Do not use credentials from .netrc.

• --offline: Construct HTTP requests without sending them anywhere.

• --check-status: (default) Exit with an error status code if the server replies with an error.

  The exit code will be 4 on 4xx (Client Error), 5 on 5xx (Server Error), or 3 on 3xx (Redirect) if --follow isn't set.

  If stdout is redirected then a warning is written to stderr.

• -F, --follow: Do follow redirects.

• --max-redirects=NUM: Number of redirects to follow. Only respected if --follow is used.

• --timeout=SEC: Connection timeout of the request.

  The default value is 0, i.e., there is no timeout limit.

• --proxy=PROTOCOL:URL: Use a proxy for a protocol. For example: --proxy https:http://proxy.host:8080.

  PROTOCOL can be all, http or https.

  If your proxy requires credentials, put them in the URL, like so: --proxy http:socks5://user:[email protected]:8000.

  You can specify proxies for multiple protocols by repeating this option.

  The environment variables ALL_PROXY, HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY can also be used, but are completely ignored if --proxy is passed.

• --verify=VERIFY: If no, skip SSL verification. If a file path, use it as a CA bundle.

  Specifying a CA bundle will disable the system's built-in root certificates.

  false instead of no also works. The default is yes (true).

• --cert=FILE: Use a client side certificate for SSL.

• --cert-key=FILE: A private key file to use with --cert.

  Only necessary if the private key is not contained in the cert file.

• --ssl=VERSION: Force a particular TLS version.

  auto gives the default behavior of negotiating a version with the server.

  [possible values: auto, tls1, tls1.1, tls1.2, tls1.3]

• --native-tls: Use the system TLS library instead of rustls (if enabled at compile time).

• --https: Make HTTPS requests if not specified in the URL.

• --http-version=VERSION: HTTP version to use.

  [possible values: 1.0, 1.1, 2, 2-prior-knowledge, 3-prior-knowledge]

• --resolve=HOST:ADDRESS: Override DNS resolution for specific domain to a custom IP.

  You can override multiple domains by repeating this option.

  Example: --resolve=example.com:127.0.0.1.

• --interface=NAME: Bind to a network interface or local IP address.

  Example: --interface=eth0 --interface=192.168.0.2.

• -4, --ipv4: Resolve hostname to ipv4 addresses only.

• -6, --ipv6: Resolve hostname to ipv6 addresses only.

• --unix-socket=FILE: Connect using a Unix domain socket.

  Example: xh :/index.html --unix-socket=/var/run/temp.sock.

• -I, --ignore-stdin: Do not attempt to read stdin.

  This disables the default behaviour of reading the request body from stdin when a redirected input is detected.

  It is recommended to pass this flag when using xh for scripting purposes. For more information, refer to https://httpie.io/docs/cli/best-practices.

• --curl: Print a translation to a curl command.

  For translating the other way, try https://curl2httpie.online/.

• --curl-long: Use the long versions of curl's flags.

• --generate=KIND: Generate shell completions or man pages. Possible values are:

  • complete-bash: Generate completions for bash
  • complete-elvish: Generate completions for elvish
  • complete-fish: Generage completions for fish
  • complete-nushell: Generate completions for nushell
  • complete-powershell: Generate completions for powershell
  • complete-zsh: Generate completions for zsh
  • man: Generate manual page in roff format
  • man-markdown: Generate manual page in markdown format

  Example: xh --generate=complete-bash > xh.bash.

• --help: Print help.

• -V, --version: Print version.

EXIT STATUS

• 0: Successful program execution.
• 1: Usage, syntax or network error.
• 2: Request timeout.
• 3: Unexpected HTTP 3xx Redirection.
• 4: HTTP 4xx Client Error.
• 5: HTTP 5xx Server Error.
• 6: Too many redirects.

ENVIRONMENT

• XH_CONFIG_DIR: Specifies where to look for config.json and named session data. The default is ~/.config/xh for Linux/macOS and %APPDATA%\xh for Windows.

• XH_HTTPIE_COMPAT_MODE: Enables the HTTPie Compatibility Mode. The only current difference is that --check-status is not enabled by default. An alternative to setting this environment variable is to rename the binary to either http or https.

• REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE, CURL_CA_BUNDLE: Sets a custom CA bundle path.

• ALL_PROXY=[protocol://]<host>[:port]: Sets the proxy server for all requests (unless overridden for a specific protocol).

• 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.

• NO_PROXY: List of comma-separated hosts for which to ignore the other proxy environment variables. * matches all host names.

• NETRC: Location of the .netrc file.

• NO_COLOR: Disables output coloring. See https://no-color.org

• RUST_LOG: Configure low-level debug messages. See https://docs.rs/env_logger/0.11.3/env_logger/#enabling-logging

FILES

• ~/.config/xh/config.json: xh configuration file. The only configurable option is default_options which is a list of default shell arguments that gets passed to xh. Example:

  jsonCopy

  { "default_options": ["--native-tls", "--style=solarized"] }
  

• ~/.netrc, ~/_netrc: Auto-login information file.

• ~/.config/xh/sessions: Session data directory grouped by domain and port number.

EXAMPLES

Send a GET request:

xh httpbin.org/json

Send a POST request with body {"name": "ahmed", "age": 24}:

xh httpbin.org/post name=ahmed age:=24

Send a GET request to http://httpbin.org/json?id=5&sort=true:

xh get httpbin.org/json id==5 sort==true

Send a GET request and include a header named X-Api-Key with value 12345:

xh get Ihttpbin.org/json x-api-key:12345

Send a POST request with body read from stdin:

echo "[1, 2, 3]" | xh post httpbin.org/post

Send a PUT request and pipe the result to less:

xh put httpbin.org/put id:=49 age:=25 | less

Download and save to res.json:

xh -d httpbin.org/json -o res.json

Make a request with a custom user agent:

xh httpbin.org/get user-agent:foobar

Make an HTTPS request to https://example.com:

xhs example.com

REPORTING BUGS

xh's Github issues https://github.com/ducaale/xh/issues

SEE ALSO

curl(1), http(1)

HTTPie's online documentation https://httpie.io/docs/cli