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xh

A friendly and fast tool for sending HTTP requests

Homepage Repository
Network Development linuxmacoswindows Rust MIT

Description

xh is a Rust reimplementation of HTTPie with a focus on speed. It provides the same intuitive syntax for making HTTP requests with colorized output, but with significantly faster startup time.

When to use this tool

✓ Good fit when
  • Making HTTP requests with readable, colorized output
  • Want HTTPie syntax but faster execution
  • Testing REST APIs interactively
✕ Avoid when
  • Need HTTPie plugins (xh doesn't support them)
  • Scripting where curl is expected

Install

homebrewbrew install xh
cargocargo install xh
pacmansudo pacman -S xh

AI Summary

A fast HTTPie-compatible HTTP client written in Rust. Provides intuitive syntax for API requests with colorized output and significantly faster startup than HTTPie.

Capabilities

  • + HTTPie-compatible command syntax
  • + Colorized and formatted HTTP responses
  • + Faster startup than HTTPie (Rust vs Python)
  • + Sessions, authentication, and download support

Use When

  • → Making HTTP requests with readable, colorized output
  • → Want HTTPie syntax but faster execution
  • → Testing REST APIs interactively

Avoid When

  • x Need HTTPie plugins (xh doesn't support them)
  • x Scripting where curl is expected

Usage Patterns

GET request

xh https://api.example.com/users

Fetches and displays the response with syntax highlighting

POST JSON data

xh POST https://api.example.com/users name=John age:=30

Sends JSON with string and numeric values

Input / Output

stdout: Formatted and colorized HTTP response
Exit codes:
0 Success

Related Tools

httpie alternative

xh is a Rust reimplementation of HTTPie; HTTPie is the original
curlie alternative

curlie wraps curl; xh has its own HTTP implementation
View AGENTS.md for xh