# curl/curl

A command line tool and library for transferring data with URL syntax, supporting DICT, FILE, FTP, FTPS, GOPHER, GOPHERS, HTTP, HTTPS, IMAP, IMAPS, LDAP, LDAPS, MQTT, MQTTS, POP3, POP3S, RTSP, SCP, SFTP, SMB, SMBS, SMTP, SMTPS, TELNET, TFTP, WS and WSS. libcurl offers a myriad of powerful features

Repository: https://github.com/curl/curl
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/curl
Homepage: https://curl.se/
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: http, https, ftp, user-agent, client, library, curl, libcurl, c, transfer-data, ldap, mqtt, sftp, scp, imaps, gopher, pop3, transferring-data, hacktoberfest, websocket
Last push: 2026-08-26T21:45:52+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 92/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 78, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 6012, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 70, "gap_med": 49, "n_releases_24m": 16}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 42687, forks 7327 (observed 2026-08-28T04:12:08.856754+00:00)

## What it is
curl is a command-line tool and libcurl is a C library for transferring data to or from servers using URL syntax, supporting dozens of protocols including HTTP/HTTPS, FTP, SFTP, SCP, MQTT, SMTP, IMAP, and WebSockets. It is one of the most widely deployed pieces of internet software, embedded in billions of devices and applications.

## Use cases
- download a file from a url from the command line
- test an http api endpoint with custom headers and post data
- upload files over ftp or sftp in scripts
- embed http client functionality in a c or c++ application
- fetch web content with redirects, cookies, and tls
- send email via smtp from a script
- debug http/2 and http/3 connections
- transfer data through socks or http proxies

## When to choose
- you need a battle-tested, ubiquitous tool for url-based data transfer across virtually every platform
- you want a mature C library for adding protocol support to native applications
- you need broad protocol coverage (HTTP/1-3, FTP, SFTP, SCP, SMTP, IMAP, MQTT, WebSockets) in one tool
- you need fine-grained control over TLS, proxies, authentication, and connection behavior

## When to avoid
- you need a high-level HTTP client with automatic JSON handling in a scripting language - use that language's native libraries
- you need a full browser engine with JavaScript execution
- you want a GUI download manager
- you need a persistent download service with scheduling - use a dedicated download manager

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: http-client, cli, file-upload, networking, security
- domain: developer-tools, networking, apis, cross-platform
- platform: windows, bsd, cross-platform, cli, c, embedded
- tags: libcurl, data-transfer, ftp, sftp, http2, http3, quic, tls, websocket, url-syntax, proxy-support, command-line, linux, macos, android, ios

## Member repositories
- curl/curl (main) score 92

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:12:08.856754+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T16:22:37.295258+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/curl/curl (fetched 2026-08-28T04:12:08.856754+00:00, sha 11d1ca2946f1)
  - homepage: https://curl.se/ (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:12.312113+00:00, sha 67eaf0501a2d)
  - site_page: https://curl.se/docs/releases.html (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:12.325323+00:00, sha 27635af6c478)
  - site_page: https://curl.se/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:12.328054+00:00, sha d571fe515003)
  - site_page: https://curl.se/docs/projdocs.html (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:12.329837+00:00, sha 60800800ee8e)
  - site_page: https://curl.se/docs/faq.html (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:12.331537+00:00, sha 5de4f659e63f)
  - site_page: https://curl.se/docs/help-us.html (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:12.335197+00:00, sha 8aee2ce7a3fc)
  - site_page: https://curl.se/docs/knownbugs.html (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:12.336934+00:00, sha 7cb1967d3e48)
  - site_page: https://curl.se/docs/knownrisks.html (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:12.339369+00:00, sha 728f75f33c2d)
  - site_page: https://curl.se/ch (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:12.315339+00:00, sha 545446dcb742)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.