HTTPal
The gist: write a CLI that makes HTTP network requests and responds with the output.
curl and wget are common programs used to transfer data to or from a server, like downloading a file over HTTP. This project is writing something similar to them. Start with just GET requests and then go from there.
I always call this idea httpal because it's kinda fun. It's your buddy for making requests!
Spec
This could look something like:
httpal https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7353617M.json
That would make a GET request to that API endpoint for Fantastic Mr. Fox and return the JSON, which could then be output to a file like:
httpal https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7353617M.json > fmf.json
Concepts
- Making network requests, often times available within the standard library of a language
- Outputting the response body
- Basic CLI interactions
Extra Credit
- Follow redirects
- Support different forms of authentication and request headers
- Support other HTTP methods like PUT, POST, and DELETE
- Support specifying a request body file, like a JSON file, to include in the request body
- Support other protocols! Maybe a better name would be
reqbud. 😬 - What if program specifically catered to those interacting with GraphQL APIs? That means it would always POST to the same endpoint but allow for configurable requests and variables.
gqlpal??? - What if there was a way to load requests for a project from a variety of spec files and easily make those requests? Like a CLI version of Postman or Paw.