# httpie/cli

🥧 HTTPie CLI  — modern, user-friendly command-line HTTP client for the API era. JSON support, colors, sessions, downloads, plugins & more.

Repository: https://github.com/httpie/cli
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/httpie-cli
Homepage: https://httpie.io
Language: Python
License: BSD-3-Clause
License Family: permissive
Topics: http, cli, client, terminal, web, json, development, rest, debugging, python, usability, httpie, developer-tools, http-client, curl, devops, api, api-client, rest-api, api-testing
Last push: 2024-12-17T17:30:35+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5303, "days_push": 624, "days_rel": 670, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 38457, forks 3996 (observed 2026-08-28T04:12:07.426960+00:00)

## What it is
HTTPie CLI is a modern, user-friendly command-line HTTP client written in Python for testing, debugging, and interacting with APIs and HTTP servers. It offers intuitive syntax, built-in JSON support, colorized output, sessions, downloads, and a plugin system.

## Use cases
- test REST APIs from the terminal
- send HTTP requests with JSON bodies easily
- debug HTTP servers and webhooks
- download files over HTTP like wget
- manage authenticated API sessions
- replace curl with a more readable syntax

## When to choose
- you want a human-friendly curl alternative for API testing
- you frequently send JSON requests from the command line
- you need colorized, formatted HTTP response output
- you want persistent sessions and auth handling in a CLI

## When to avoid
- you need a GUI-based API client with collections and team sync
- you need scripted HTTP in a programming language rather than a CLI tool
- you require extremely lightweight or zero-dependency tooling

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: http-client, cli, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, apis, web-development
- platform: cli, cross-platform, python
- tags: http, rest-api, api-testing, curl-alternative, debugging, command-line

## Member repositories
- httpie/cli (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:12:07.426960+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 2026-08-29T16:24:50.932476+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/httpie/cli (fetched 2026-08-28T04:12:07.426960+00:00, sha 4f8c962636b6)
  - homepage: https://httpie.io (fetched 2026-08-29T07:47:01.186027+00:00, sha 834014f0aeeb)
  - site_page: https://httpie.io/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T07:47:01.195062+00:00, sha 094d0ee471f7)
  - site_page: https://httpie.io/about (fetched 2026-08-29T07:47:01.202713+00:00, sha bd81b28e4ee3)
  - site_page: https://httpie.io/blog/changelog-0027 (fetched 2026-08-29T07:47:01.196872+00:00, sha 791601e8f1dd)
  - site_page: https://httpie.io/blog/changelog-0017 (fetched 2026-08-29T07:47:01.199616+00:00, sha 3b317c8544eb)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.