# HTTPie

> BSD-3-Clause human-friendly HTTP client for the terminal

**Category:** Python  
**Pricing:** open-source  
**URL:** https://httpie.io  
**GitHub:** https://github.com/httpie/cli  
**Added:** 2026-09-09

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## The Hook

HTTPie is `http` and `https` commands when you want curl with sane syntax and colored JSON output.

## What's Good

BSD-3-Clause. Intuitive syntax: `http POST api.example.com name=value` instead of `-X POST -H -d` flags. Automatic JSON serialization, syntax highlighting, and formatted output. Sessions for persistent headers/auth. Works for quick API testing where curl flag soup is overkill.

## The Catch

SOFT: Last significant push late 2024 — stable but not rapidly evolving. Vs curl (ubiquitous) and HTTPX (Python library): HTTPie is the *CLI UX layer*, not a scripting library and not installed everywhere by default. Python dependency means pip install or brew, not a static binary. curl still wins for one-liners in CI scripts expecting it.

## Verdict

BSD-3-Clause HTTP CLI. Free forever; use when you want readable API calls, not curl flag gymnastics.