http-console

Speak HTTP like a local

Talking to an HTTP server with curl can be fun, but most of the time it's a PITA.

http-console is a simple and intuitive interface for speaking the HTTP protocol.

PS: HTTP has never been this much fun.

synopsis

installation

http-console was written for node, so make sure you have that installed first. Then you need npm, node's package manager.

Once you're all set, run:

$ npm install http-console

It'll download the dependencies, and install the command-line tool in /usr/local/bin.

introduction

Let's assume we have a CouchDB instance running locally.

connecting

To connect, we run http-console, passing it the server host and port as such:

$ http-console 127.0.0.1:5984 

To have line-editing and command history, we can run it through rlwrap:

$ rlwrap http-console 127.0.0.1:5984

navigating

Once connected, we should see the http prompt:

http://127.0.0.1:5984/>

server navigation is similar to directory navigation, except a little simpler:

http://127.0.0.1:5984/> /logs
http://127.0.0.1:5984/logs> /46
http://127.0.0.1:5984/logs/46> ..
http://127.0.0.1:5984/logs> ..
http://127.0.0.1:5984/>

requesting

HTTP requests are issued with the HTTP verbs GET, PUT, POST, HEAD and DELETE, and a relative path:

http://127.0.0.1:5984/> GET /
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Mon, 31 May 2010 04:43:39 GMT
Content-Length: 41

{
    couchdb: "Welcome",
    version: "0.11.0"
}

http://127.0.0.1:5984/> GET /bob
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
Date: Mon, 31 May 2010 04:45:32 GMT
Content-Length: 44

{
    error: "not_found",
    reason: "no_db_file"
}

When issuing POST and PUT commands, we have the opportunity to send data too:

http://127.0.0.1:5984/> /rabbits
http://127.0.0.1:5984/rabbits> POST
... {"name":"Roger"}

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Location: http://127.0.0.1/rabbits/2fd9db055885e6982462a10e54003127
Date: Mon, 31 May 2010 05:09:15 GMT
Content-Length: 95

{
    ok: true,
    id: "2fd9db055885e6982462a10e54003127",
    rev: "1-0c3db91854f26486d1c3922f1a651d86"
}

setting headers

Sometimes, it's useful to set HTTP headers:

http://127.0.0.1:5984/> Accept: application/json
http://127.0.0.1:5984/> X-Lodge: black

These headers are sent with all requests in this session. To see all active headers, run the \headers command:

http://127.0.0.1:5984/> \headers
Accept: application/json
X-Lodge: black

Removing headers is just as easy:

http://127.0.0.1:5984/> Accept:
http://127.0.0.1:5984/> \headers
X-Lodge: black

cookies

You can enable cookie tracking with the --cookies option flag. To see what cookies are stored, use the \cookies command.

SSL

To enable SSL, pass the --ssl flag.

quitting

Ctrl-D

nuff' said.