HTTP CLI

A terminal-native HTTP client — like Postman, but in your terminal.

http-cli is a fully interactive TUI HTTP testing tool built in Go. Create, organize, and execute HTTP requests without leaving the terminal. Vim-style navigation, fully config-driven keybindings and colors, persistent storage, and contextual hints make it a complete replacement for GUI HTTP clients in keyboard-driven workflows.

Features

Three-panel layout — requests list, request editor, response viewer
Five-tab request editor — URL, Headers, Body, Query, Auth
All HTTP methods — GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, HEAD, OPTIONS
Body types — JSON, raw, form-data, multipart, URL-encoded
File upload support — toggle any form-data field between text and file mode
Auth — Bearer token, Basic auth, API Key
Vim-style navigation — j/k/g/G/ctrl+d/ctrl+u throughout every panel
Import requests from cURL — supports cookies, multiline, all common flags
Export request as cURL — copy the current request as a ready-to-run curl command
Import Postman collections — load a Postman v2.1 JSON export
Export Postman collections — save all requests as a Postman-compatible file
Open response in external editor — view the response body in your configured editor
Open any cell in external editor — edit large values (headers, body) outside the TUI
Persistent storage — requests saved automatically in SQLite
All keybindings come from configs/config.json — no hardcoded keys in source
All colors come from configs/config.json — fully themeable
Contextual hints bar — footer shows only the shortcuts relevant to the active panel

Installation

Download binary

Go to the Releases page and download the binary for your platform, or use the commands below.

Linux (amd64):

curl -L https://github.com/GabrielAlmeidaFlores/HTTP-CLI/releases/latest/download/http-cli_linux_amd64 \
  -o http-cli
chmod +x http-cli
sudo mv http-cli /usr/local/bin/http-cli

Linux (arm64):

curl -L https://github.com/GabrielAlmeidaFlores/HTTP-CLI/releases/latest/download/http-cli_linux_arm64 \
  -o http-cli
chmod +x http-cli
sudo mv http-cli /usr/local/bin/http-cli

macOS Apple Silicon (arm64):

curl -L https://github.com/GabrielAlmeidaFlores/HTTP-CLI/releases/latest/download/http-cli_darwin_arm64 \
  -o http-cli
chmod +x http-cli
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine http-cli 2>/dev/null || true
sudo mv http-cli /usr/local/bin/http-cli

macOS Intel (amd64):

curl -L https://github.com/GabrielAlmeidaFlores/HTTP-CLI/releases/latest/download/http-cli_darwin_amd64 \
  -o http-cli
chmod +x http-cli
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine http-cli 2>/dev/null || true
sudo mv http-cli /usr/local/bin/http-cli

Windows (amd64):

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://github.com/GabrielAlmeidaFlores/HTTP-CLI/releases/latest/download/http-cli_windows_amd64.exe `
  -OutFile http-cli.exe

After installation, run from anywhere:

http-cli

Build from source

Requires Go 1.21+.

git clone https://github.com/GabrielAlmeidaFlores/HTTP-CLI.git
cd HTTP-CLI
go build -o http-cli ./cmd/http-cli
./http-cli

Or run without building:

go run ./cmd/http-cli

Updating

Binary

Re-run the same install command for your platform — it overwrites the existing binary.

Linux (amd64):

curl -L https://github.com/GabrielAlmeidaFlores/HTTP-CLI/releases/latest/download/http-cli_linux_amd64 \
  -o http-cli && chmod +x http-cli && sudo mv http-cli /usr/local/bin/http-cli

Linux (arm64):

curl -L https://github.com/GabrielAlmeidaFlores/HTTP-CLI/releases/latest/download/http-cli_linux_arm64 \
  -o http-cli && chmod +x http-cli && sudo mv http-cli /usr/local/bin/http-cli

macOS Apple Silicon (arm64):

curl -L https://github.com/GabrielAlmeidaFlores/HTTP-CLI/releases/latest/download/http-cli_darwin_arm64 \
  -o http-cli && chmod +x http-cli && sudo mv http-cli /usr/local/bin/http-cli

macOS Intel (amd64):

curl -L https://github.com/GabrielAlmeidaFlores/HTTP-CLI/releases/latest/download/http-cli_darwin_amd64 \
  -o http-cli && chmod +x http-cli && sudo mv http-cli /usr/local/bin/http-cli

Windows (amd64):

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://github.com/GabrielAlmeidaFlores/HTTP-CLI/releases/latest/download/http-cli_windows_amd64.exe `
  -OutFile http-cli.exe

From source

cd HTTP-CLI
git pull
go build -o http-cli ./cmd/http-cli
sudo mv http-cli /usr/local/bin/http-cli

Usage

Run ./http-cli to open the TUI. No arguments required.

Panel Navigation

Key	Action
`Tab`	Focus next panel
`Shift+Tab`	Focus previous panel
`q` / `ctrl+c`	Quit

Requests Panel

Key	Action
`j` / `↓`	Move down (loads request in editor)
`k` / `↑`	Move up (loads request in editor)
`Enter`	Open request and focus editor
`ctrl+e`	Execute selected request
`n`	New request
`r`	Rename request
`y`	Duplicate request
`d`	Delete request
`/`	Search / filter requests
`I`	Import from cURL
`E`	Export current request as cURL
`P`	Import a Postman collection
`X`	Export all requests as Postman collection

Editor Panel

The editor has five tabs: URL, Headers, Body, Query, Auth. Navigate with arrow keys.

Key	Action
`↑` / `↓`	Move between rows
`←` / `→`	Move between columns (or cycle method/type values)
`e` / `Enter`	Edit selected cell
`ctrl+o`	Open selected cell in external editor
`Space`	Toggle row enabled / disabled
`d`	Delete current row
`t`	Toggle text / FILE mode (form-data only)
`1` – `5`	Switch tabs (URL / Headers / Body / Query / Auth)
`]` / `[`	Next / previous tab
`ctrl+e`	Execute request
`ctrl+s`	Save request
`Tab`	Focus next panel
`Shift+Tab`	Focus previous panel

Cell edit modal

Opens when you press e on a text cell. Full text editing with clipboard paste support.

Key	Action
`Enter`	Save and close
`ctrl+d`	Save without closing
`ctrl+j`	Insert newline
`ctrl+o`	Open in external editor
`ctrl+shift+v`	Paste from clipboard
`Esc`	Cancel

Response Panel

Three tabs: Body, Headers, Info.

Key	Action
`j` / `↓`	Scroll down
`k` / `↑`	Scroll up
`g`	Jump to top
`G`	Jump to bottom
`ctrl+d`	Half page down
`ctrl+u`	Half page up
`l`	Next tab
`h`	Previous tab
`1`	Body tab
`2`	Headers tab
`3`	Info tab
`y`	Copy response body to clipboard
`v`	Open response body in external editor
`Tab`	Focus next panel
`Shift+Tab`	Focus previous panel

The Info tab shows timing with fast/moderate/slow label, server IP, protocol, content type, response size, and timestamp.

Importing from cURL

Press I in the Requests panel. Paste any curl command, including multi-line commands with \ continuation. Supported flags: -X, -H, -d, --data-raw, --data-binary, -b/--cookie, -u, -A/--user-agent, -L, and more.

Example:

curl -X POST https://api.example.com/login \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"username":"admin","password":"secret"}'

Exporting cURL

Press E in the Requests panel to see the current request as a curl command. Press y to copy it to the clipboard.

Postman Collections

Import (P) — provide a path to a Postman v2.1 JSON export file. All requests are added to your collection.
Export (X) — provide a filename. All requests are written as a Postman-compatible JSON file you can import into Postman or share.

External Editor

The external editor is used in two places:

Cell edit — press ctrl+o inside the cell edit modal to open the cell value in your editor
Response body — press v in the response panel to open the full response body in your editor

The editor is configured in configs/config.json:

"external_editor": "vi"

Set it to any editor command: "nano", "nvim", "code --wait", "$EDITOR", etc. The content is written to a temporary file which is deleted after the editor closes.

Configuration

Everything is in configs/config.json. There are no hardcoded keys or colors in the source code.

Changing a keybinding

Find the action in the relevant panel section and change "keys":

"request_list": {
  "new_request": {
    "keys": ["a"],
    "description": "New request",
    "category": "Requests",
    "visible": true
  }
}

Multiple keys are supported: "keys": ["n", "ctrl+n"]

Set "visible": false to hide a shortcut from the hints bar without disabling it.

Theme colors

All colors are under "ui" → "theme". Values are hex colors:

"theme": {
  "primary": "#00d7ff",
  "success": "#00d700",
  "error": "#d70000",
  "method_get": "#00d700",
  "method_post": "#d7d700",
  "method_delete": "#d70000"
}

See configs/config.json for the full list of theme fields and all available panels and actions.

Project Structure

http-cli/
├── cmd/http-cli/         Entry point
├── configs/config.json   All keybindings, colors, layout settings
└── internal/
    ├── config/           Config loading and types
    ├── models/           Request, Response, Collection types
    ├── storage/          SQLite persistence
    ├── transport/        HTTP client and cURL parser
    ├── parser/           Postman collection parser
    ├── exporter/         cURL and Postman exporters
    └── ui/               TUI — panels, editor, response, modals

License

MIT

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
cmd/http-cli		cmd/http-cli
configs		configs
internal		internal
.gitignore		.gitignore
AGENTS.md		AGENTS.md
Makefile		Makefile
README.md		README.md
go.mod		go.mod
go.sum		go.sum

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HTTP CLI

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HTTP CLI

Features

Installation

Download binary

Build from source

Updating

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Usage

Panel Navigation

Requests Panel

Editor Panel

Cell edit modal

Response Panel

Importing from cURL

Exporting cURL

Postman Collections

External Editor

Configuration

Changing a keybinding

Theme colors

Project Structure

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