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: "pfp@ra.jpg;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>
        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 identify 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 form 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 "http", "https" or "all".

    If your proxy requires credentials, put them in the URL, like so: --proxy http:socks5://user:password@proxy.host:8000.

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

    The environment variables "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]

--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]

--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.

-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
        complete-elvish
        complete-fish
        complete-powershell
        complete-zsh
        man

    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.

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:

    { "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

xh httpbin.org/json
    Send a GET request.

xh httpbin.org/post name=ahmed age:=24
    Send a POST request with body {"name": "ahmed", "age": 24}.

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

xh get httpbin.org/json x-api-key:12345
    Send a GET request and include a header named X-Api-Key with value 12345.

echo "[1, 2, 3]" | xh post httpbin.org/post
    Send a POST request with body read from stdin.

xh put httpbin.org/put id:=49 age:=25 | less
    Send a PUT request and pipe the result to less.

xh -d httpbin.org/json -o res.json
    Download and save to res.json.

xh httpbin.org/get user-agent:foobar
    Make a request with a custom user agent.

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