HTTPie Desktop docs

HTTPie Web

HTTPie’s Web app is equivalent to the desktop app, except for certain limitations.

• Go to httpie.io/app
• Or use the short & sweet alias req.new

HTTPie Desktop

HTTPie's desktop app lets you work locally and has a distraction-free interface.

Request method

You need a method to indicate the desired action of your request. You can choose a variety of conventional methods (GET, POST, HEAD, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, OPTIONS).

Default methods

When starting a new request, HTTPie defaults GET and auto-switches to POST as soon as you add a body.

Custom methods

When testing APIs that use unconventional HTTP methods, you can supplement the default list with a method of your choosing.

Select the last option in the method drop-down and type away.

Request URL

You need a URL to indicate the address your request will go to. HTTPie highlights its path granularly for readability.

You can also use the URL for inserting query parameters directly.

Query parameters

If you find yourself manually constructing URLs with querystring parameters on the app, you may appreciate the parameters form for appending them to the URL.

Check the preview to debug the final results.

Path parameters

HTTPie supports path parameters, allowing you to parametrize URL path segments. To introduce a path parameter, use the /:param syntax inside the URL. The “Params” request tab then splits into two sections, one for query params and the other for path params, which is already showing the newly added one.

Rename params directly from the URL or in the “Path params” table. Remove it from the URL to get rid of it. As with variables, you can escape path params with a backslash.

Default headers

There are a couple of default headers that HTTPie sets.

• Content-Length
• Content-Type
• Host: pie.dev
• User-Agent: HTTPie

These can be overwritten when you manually insert another header with the same name.

Headers auto-complete

HTTPie auto-completes the header names you start typing. Choose the right one from the suggestions, and you're set.

Same-name headers

If you define multiple headers with the same name, HTTPie will merge their values into a single comma-separated header.

Basic auth

Bearer auth

Use the Bearer token auth for OAuth 2.0 and other token-based authentication schemes via the request header Authorization: Bearer my-token

If you need a different prefix than Bearer, you can achieve that by using the generic API key auth instead.

API key auth

For when you need to authenticate requests using API key as a custom header or a URL parameter.

Text body type

The text request body has these subtypes:

• Raw: Any textual content with text/plain as the default content type.
• JSON: JSON-specific text editor and application/json as the default content type.
• XML: XML-specific text editor and application/xml as the default content type.
• YAML: YAML-specific editor and text/yaml as the default content type.

Check also the ability to search & replace. It might come in handy.

Form body type

HTTPie takes two form types:

• URL-encoded - for text or text-files only
• Multipart - accepts any file

You can easily switch from one to the other while keeping its content.

File upload body type

GraphQL body type

HTTPie has built-in support for crafting GraphQL requests.

Multi-body

You can specify multiple body types and quickly toggle between them. This feature is useful when a specific API endpoint accepts both JSON and form data, for example.

There's an indicator in the switcher for each body type that has some data specified.

Prettify

To ensure the body of your request is humanly readable and navigable, use the prettify feature. It will automatically format your code so that your brain’s free to do other things.

Look for the wand icon at the bottom of the code editor. Currently available for JSON and GraphQL requests.

GraphQL requests

Under the hood, GraphQL requests are regular POST requests. But HTTPie has built-in support for crafting GraphQL requests to improve your experience when talking to GraphQL APIs.

Choose “GraphQL” as the body type, then specify your GraphQL query and JSON variables separately. You get syntax highlighting and other features specific to each language.

GraphQL schema

HTTPie auto-fetches the schema from the server. That means the app is aware of all the available queries, mutations, and the hierarchy of types, which allows us to boost your productivity with auto-complete and validation.

See auto-complete suggestions as you type, and to invoke the menu manually, press ⌃Space.

Schema auto-fetch

HTTPie auto-fetches the schema using the current request’s URL and authentication. To refresh the schema, select “Update from server” from the new “Schema” menu. And to turn off schema for a particular tab, uncheck “Auto-apply schema.”