restclient

restclient is a command-line HTTP client inspired by the VS Code REST Client extension. It lets you send requests directly from .http and .rest files, manage session-scoped environments, run scripts, and replay request history from the terminal.

Features

• Parse and execute requests from .http and .rest files
• Interactive fuzzy-search selector for multi-request files and history replay
• JavaScript scripting for pre-request setup, post-response tests, and chaining requests
• Postman Collection v2.1.0 import/export
• Session-scoped environments, cookies, and script variables
• File variables, .env support, system variables, and user input variables
• Streaming multipart/form-data uploads and file uploads
• GraphQL support (queries, mutations, subscriptions)
• Basic, Digest, and AWS Signature v4 authentication
• PEM client certificates for mutual TLS (mTLS)
• TLS and proxy configuration per session
• Request history with replay
• Colored output with JSON/XML formatting and configurable default preview mode
• Shell completion for bash, zsh, fish, and PowerShell

Documentation

• Commands - Usage of send, env, history, session, completion, postman
• HTTP File Format - Syntax guide, request metadata, query params, form data, GraphQL
• Variables - File, environment, system, and user input variables
• Scripting - Pre-request/post-response scripts, API reference, utility functions
• Authentication - Basic, Digest, AWS Signature v4
• Configuration - Global config, session config, TLS, proxy, client certificates
• Troubleshooting - Common errors and solutions

Installation

Using Homebrew

brew tap ideaspaper/tap
brew install --cask restclient

Using go install

go install github.com/ideaspaper/restclient@latest

From Source

git clone https://github.com/ideaspaper/restclient.git
cd restclient
go build -o restclient .

Quick Start

1. Create a request file (api.http):

   @baseUrl = https://api.example.com
   
   ### Get users
   # @name getUsers
   GET {{baseUrl}}/users
   Authorization: Bearer {{token}}
   
   ### Create user
   # @name createUser
   POST {{baseUrl}}/users
   Content-Type: application/json
   
   {
     "name": "John Doe"
   }

2. Send a request:

   # Interactive selection
   restclient send api.http
   
   # Send by name
   restclient send api.http --name getUsers
   
   # Show only headers for this run
   restclient send api.http --headers

Configuration Model

restclient separates configuration into two layers:

• Global config: ~/.restclient/config.json
  • CLI display preferences such as previewOption and showColors
• Session config: ~/.restclient/session/<kind>/<id>/config.json
  • HTTP behavior such as timeouts, TLS, proxy, default headers, environments, and client certificates

Session state is stored alongside the session config, including:

• environments.json
• cookies.json
• variables.json

Persisted local state under ~/.restclient/ is stored with owner-only permissions.

For full details and examples, see docs/configuration.md.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.