Hurl is a command line tool that runs HTTP requests defined in a simple plain text format.
It can chain requests, capture values and evaluate queries on headers and body response. Hurl is very versatile: it can be used for both fetching data and testing HTTP sessions.
Hurl makes it easy to work with HTML content, REST / SOAP / GraphQL APIs, or any other XML / JSON based APIs.
Chaining multiple requests is easy:
Hurl can run HTTP requests but can also be used to test HTTP responses. Different types of queries and predicates are supported, from XPath and JSONPath on body response, to assert on status code and response headers.
It is well adapted for REST / JSON APIs
HTML content
GraphQL
and even SOAP APIs
Hurl can also be used to test the performance of HTTP endpoints
And check response bytes
Finally, Hurl is easy to integrate in CI/CD, with text, JUnit, TAP and HTML reports
- Text Format: for both devops and developers
- Fast CLI: a command line for local dev and continuous integration
- Single Binary: easy to install, with no runtime required
Hurl is a lightweight binary written in Rust. Under the hood, Hurl HTTP engine is powered by libcurl, one of the most powerful and reliable file transfer libraries. With its text file format, Hurl adds syntactic sugar to run and test HTTP requests, but it's still the curl that we love: fast, efficient and IPv6 / HTTP/3 ready.
To support its development, star Hurl on GitHub!
Feedback, suggestion, bugs or improvements are welcome.
Documentation (download HTML, PDF, Markdown)
- Samples
- Manual
- Installation
To run a sample, edit a file with the sample content, and run Hurl:
By default, Hurl behaves like curl and outputs the last HTTP response's entry. To have a test oriented output, you can use --test option:
A particular response can be saved with [Options] section:
Finally, Hurl can take files as input, or directories. In the latter case, Hurl will search files with .hurl extension recursively.
You can check Hurl tests suite for more samples.
A simple GET:
Requests can be chained:
A simple GET with headers:
Or:
With [Query] section, params don't need to be URL escaped.
This is equivalent to construct the request with a Authorization header:
Basic authentication section allows per request authentication. If you want to add basic authentication to all the requests of a Hurl file you could use -u/--user option:
--user option can also be set per request:
Captures can be used to pass data from one request to another:
Multipart forms can also be sent with a multiline string body:
In that case, files have to be inlined in the Hurl file.
With an inline JSON:
With a local file:
Variables can be initialized via command line:
Resulting in a PUT request with the following JSON body:
Using templates with XML body is not currently supported in Hurl. You can use templates in XML multiline string body with variables to send a variable XML body:
A simple GraphQL query:
A GraphQL query with variables:
GraphQL queries can also use Hurl templates.
Functions like newUuid and newDate can be used in templates to create dynamic datas:
A file that creates a dynamic email (i.e [email protected]):
A file that creates a dynamic query parameter (i.e 2024-12-02T10:35:44.461731Z):
Responses are optional, everything after HTTP is part of the response asserts.
Use implicit response asserts to test header values:
Or use explicit response asserts with predicates:
Implicit and explicit asserts can be combined:
Asserting JSON body response (node values, collection count etc...) with JSONPath:
Check the SHA-256 response body hash:
Check the properties of a SSL certificate:
Use implicit body to test an exact JSON body match:
Or an explicit assert file:
Implicit asserts supports XML body:
Plain text:
One line:
File:
A structured output of running Hurl files can be obtained with --json option. Each file will produce a JSON export of the run.
Testing HTTP version (HTTP/1.0, HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2 or HTTP/3) can be done using implicit asserts:
Or explicit:
Testing the IP address of the response, as a string. This string may be IPv6 address:
Retry request on any errors (asserts, captures, status code, runtime etc...):
Add delay for every request, or a particular request:
Using command-line for known values:
Using redact for dynamic values:
Generate signed API requests with AWS Signature Version 4, as used by several cloud providers.
The Access Key is given per --user, either with command line option or within the [Options] section:
curl options (for instance --resolve or --connect-to) can be used as CLI argument. In this case, they're applicable to each request of an Hurl file.
Use [Options] section to configure a specific request:
hurl - run and test HTTP requests.
hurl [options] [FILE...]
Hurl is a command line tool that runs HTTP requests defined in a simple plain text format.
It can chain requests, capture values and evaluate queries on headers and body response. Hurl is very versatile, it can be used for fetching data and testing HTTP sessions: HTML content, REST / SOAP / GraphQL APIs, or any other XML / JSON based APIs.
If no input files are specified, input is read from stdin.
Hurl can take files as input, or directories. In the latter case, Hurl will search files with .hurl extension recursively.
Output goes to stdout by default. To have output go to a file, use the -o, --output option:
By default, Hurl executes all HTTP requests and outputs the response body of the last HTTP call.
To have a test oriented output, you can use --test option:
The Hurl file format is fully documented in https://hurl.dev/docs/hurl-file.html
It consists of one or several HTTP requests
A value from an HTTP response can be-reused for successive HTTP requests.
A typical example occurs with CSRF tokens.
More information on captures can be found here https://hurl.dev/docs/capturing-response.html
The HTTP response defined in the Hurl file are used to make asserts. Responses are optional.
At the minimum, response includes assert on the HTTP status code.
It can also include asserts on the response headers
Explicit asserts can be included by combining a query and a predicate
With the addition of asserts, Hurl can be used as a testing tool to run scenarios.
More information on asserts can be found here https://hurl.dev/docs/asserting-response.html
Options that exist in curl have exactly the same semantics.
Options specified on the command line are defined for every Hurl file's entry, except if they are tagged as cli-only (can not be defined in the Hurl request [Options] entry)
For instance:
will follow redirection for each entry in foo.hurl. You can also define an option only for a particular entry with an [Options] section. For instance, this Hurl file:
will follow a redirection only for the second entry.
| --aws-sigv4 <PROVIDER1[:PROVIDER2[:REGION[:SERVICE]]]> | Generate an Authorization header with an AWS SigV4 signature. Use -u, --user to specify Access Key Id (username) and Secret Key (password). To use temporary session credentials (e.g. for an AWS IAM Role), add the X-Amz-Security-Token header containing the session token. |
| --cacert <FILE> | Specifies the certificate file for peer verification. The file may contain multiple CA certificates and must be in PEM format. Normally Hurl is built to use a default file for this, so this option is typically used to alter that default file. |
| -E, --cert <CERTIFICATE[:PASSWORD]> | Client certificate file and password. See also --key. |
| --color | Colorize debug output (the HTTP response output is not colorized). This is a cli-only option. |
| --compressed | Request a compressed response using one of the algorithms br, gzip, deflate and automatically decompress the content. |
| --connect-timeout <SECONDS> | Maximum time in seconds that you allow Hurl's connection to take. You can specify time units in the connect timeout expression. Set Hurl to use a connect timeout of 20 seconds with --connect-timeout 20s or set it to 35,000 milliseconds with --connect-timeout 35000ms. No spaces allowed. See also -m, --max-time. |
| --connect-to <HOST1:PORT1:HOST2:PORT2> | For a request to the given HOST1:PORT1 pair, connect to HOST2:PORT2 instead. This option can be used several times in a command line. See also --resolve. |
| --continue-on-error | Continue executing requests to the end of the Hurl file even when an assert error occurs. By default, Hurl exits after an assert error in the HTTP response. Note that this option does not affect the behavior with multiple input Hurl files. All the input files are executed independently. The result of one file does not affect the execution of the other Hurl files. This is a cli-only option. |
| -b, --cookie <FILE> | Read cookies from FILE (using the Netscape cookie file format). Combined with -c, --cookie-jar, you can simulate a cookie storage between successive Hurl runs. This is a cli-only option. |
| -c, --cookie-jar <FILE> | Write cookies to FILE after running the session. The file will be written using the Netscape cookie file format. Combined with -b, --cookie, you can simulate a cookie storage between successive Hurl runs. This is a cli-only option. |
| --curl <FILE> | Export each request to a list of curl commands. This is a cli-only option. |
| --delay <MILLISECONDS> | Sets delay before each request (aka sleep). The delay is not applied to requests that have been retried because of --retry. See --retry-interval to space retried requests. You can specify time units in the delay expression. Set Hurl to use a delay of 2 seconds with --delay 2s or set it to 500 milliseconds with --delay 500ms. No spaces allowed. |
| --error-format <FORMAT> | Control the format of error message (short by default or long) This is a cli-only option. |
| --file-root <DIR> | Set root directory to import files in Hurl. This is used for files in multipart form data, request body and response output. When it is not explicitly defined, files are relative to the Hurl file's directory. This is a cli-only option. |
| --from-entry <ENTRY_NUMBER> | Execute Hurl file from ENTRY_NUMBER (starting at 1). This is a cli-only option. |
| --glob <GLOB> | Specify input files that match the given glob pattern. Multiple glob flags may be used. This flag supports common Unix glob patterns like *, ? and []. This is a cli-only option. |
| -H, --header <HEADER> | Add an extra header to include in information sent. Can be used several times in a command Do not add newlines or carriage returns |
| -0, --http1.0 | Tells Hurl to use HTTP version 1.0 instead of using its internally preferred HTTP version. |
| --http1.1 | Tells Hurl to use HTTP version 1.1. |
| --http2 | Tells Hurl to use HTTP version 2. For HTTPS, this means Hurl negotiates HTTP/2 in the TLS handshake. Hurl does this by default. For HTTP, this means Hurl attempts to upgrade the request to HTTP/2 using the Upgrade: request header. |
| --http3 | Tells Hurl to try HTTP/3 to the host in the URL, but fallback to earlier HTTP versions if the HTTP/3 connection establishment fails. HTTP/3 is only available for HTTPS and not for HTTP URLs. |
| --ignore-asserts | Ignore all asserts defined in the Hurl file. This is a cli-only option. |
| -i, --include | Include the HTTP headers in the output This is a cli-only option. |
| -k, --insecure | This option explicitly allows Hurl to perform "insecure" SSL connections and transfers. |
| --interactive | Stop between requests. This is similar to a break point, You can then continue (Press C) or quit (Press Q). This is a cli-only option. |
| -4, --ipv4 | This option tells Hurl to use IPv4 addresses only when resolving host names, and not for example try IPv6. |
| -6, --ipv6 | This option tells Hurl to use IPv6 addresses only when resolving host names, and not for example try IPv4. |
| --jobs <NUM> | Maximum number of parallel jobs in parallel mode. Default value corresponds (in most cases) to the current amount of CPUs. See also --parallel. This is a cli-only option. |
| --json | Output each Hurl file result to JSON. The format is very closed to HAR format. This is a cli-only option. |
| --key <KEY> | Private key file name. |
| --limit-rate <SPEED> | Specify the maximum transfer rate you want Hurl to use, for both downloads and uploads. This feature is useful if you have a limited pipe and you would like your transfer not to use your entire bandwidth. To make it slower than it otherwise would be. The given speed is measured in bytes/second. |
| -L, --location | Follow redirect. To limit the amount of redirects to follow use the --max-redirs option |
| --location-trusted | Like -L, --location, but allows sending the name + password to all hosts that the site may redirect to. This may or may not introduce a security breach if the site redirects you to a site to which you send your authentication info (which is plaintext in the case of HTTP Basic authentication). |
| --max-filesize <BYTES> | Specify the maximum size in bytes of a file to download. If the file requested is larger than this value, the transfer does not start. This is a cli-only option. |
| --max-redirs <NUM> | Set maximum number of redirection-followings allowed By default, the limit is set to 50 redirections. Set this option to -1 to make it unlimited. |
| -m, --max-time <SECONDS> | Maximum time in seconds that you allow a request/response to take. This is the standard timeout. You can specify time units in the maximum time expression. Set Hurl to use a maximum time of 20 seconds with --max-time 20s or set it to 35,000 milliseconds with --max-time 35000ms. No spaces allowed. See also --connect-timeout. |
| -n, --netrc | Scan the .netrc file in the user's home directory for the username and password. See also --netrc-file and --netrc-optional. |
| --netrc-file <FILE> | Like --netrc, but provide the path to the netrc file. See also --netrc-optional. |
| --netrc-optional | Similar to --netrc, but make the .netrc usage optional. See also --netrc-file. |
| --no-color | Do not colorize output. This is a cli-only option. |
| --no-output | Suppress output. By default, Hurl outputs the body of the last response. This is a cli-only option. |
| --noproxy <HOST(S)> | Comma-separated list of hosts which do not use a proxy. Override value from Environment variable no_proxy. |
| -o, --output <FILE> | Write output to FILE instead of stdout. |
| --parallel | Run files in parallel. Each Hurl file is executed in its own worker thread, without sharing anything with the other workers. The default run mode is sequential. Parallel execution is by default in --test mode. See also --jobs. This is a cli-only option. |
| --path-as-is | Tell Hurl to not handle sequences of /../ or /./ in the given URL path. Normally Hurl will squash or merge them according to standards but with this option set you tell it not to do that. |
| --pinnedpubkey <HASHES> | When negotiating a TLS or SSL connection, the server sends a certificate indicating its identity. A public key is extracted from this certificate and if it does not exactly match the public key provided to this option, Hurl aborts the connection before sending or receiving any data. |
| --progress-bar | Display a progress bar in test mode. The progress bar is displayed only in interactive TTYs. This option forces the progress bar to be displayed even in non-interactive TTYs. This is a cli-only option. |
| -x, --proxy <[PROTOCOL://]HOST[:PORT]> | Use the specified proxy. |
| --repeat <NUM> | Repeat the input files sequence NUM times, -1 for infinite loop. Given a.hurl, b.hurl, c.hurl as input, repeat two times will run a.hurl, b.hurl, c.hurl, a.hurl, b.hurl, c.hurl. This is a cli-only option. |
| --report-html <DIR> | Generate HTML report in DIR. If the HTML report already exists, it will be updated with the new test results. This is a cli-only option. |
| --report-json <DIR> | Generate JSON report in DIR. If the JSON report already exists, it will be updated with the new test results. This is a cli-only option. |
| --report-junit <FILE> | Generate JUnit File. If the FILE report already exists, it will be updated with the new test results. This is a cli-only option. |
| --report-tap <FILE> | Generate TAP report. If the FILE report already exists, it will be updated with the new test results. This is a cli-only option. |
| --resolve <HOST:PORT:ADDR> | Provide a custom address for a specific host and port pair. Using this, you can make the Hurl requests(s) use a specified address and prevent the otherwise normally resolved address to be used. Consider it a sort of /etc/hosts alternative provided on the command line. |
| --retry <NUM> | Maximum number of retries, 0 for no retries, -1 for unlimited retries. Retry happens if any error occurs (asserts, captures, runtimes etc...). |
| --retry-interval <MILLISECONDS> | Duration in milliseconds between each retry. Default is 1000 ms. You can specify time units in the retry interval expression. Set Hurl to use a retry interval of 2 seconds with --retry-interval 2s or set it to 500 milliseconds with --retry-interval 500ms. No spaces allowed. |
| --secret <NAME=VALUE> | Define secret value to be redacted from logs and report. When defined, secrets can be used as variable everywhere variables are used. |
| --ssl-no-revoke | (Windows) This option tells Hurl to disable certificate revocation checks. WARNING: this option loosens the SSL security, and by using this flag you ask for exactly that. This is a cli-only option. |
| --test | Activate test mode: with this, the HTTP response is not outputted anymore, progress is reported for each Hurl file tested, and a text summary is displayed when all files have been run. In test mode, files are executed in parallel. To run test in a sequential way use --job 1. See also --jobs. This is a cli-only option. |
| --to-entry <ENTRY_NUMBER> | Execute Hurl file to ENTRY_NUMBER (starting at 1). Ignore the remaining of the file. It is useful for debugging a session. This is a cli-only option. |
| --unix-socket <PATH> | (HTTP) Connect through this Unix domain socket, instead of using the network. |
| -u, --user <USER:PASSWORD> | Add basic Authentication header to each request. |
| -A, --user-agent <NAME> | Specify the User-Agent string to send to the HTTP server. This is a cli-only option. |
| --variable <NAME=VALUE> | Define variable (name/value) to be used in Hurl templates. |
| --variables-file <FILE> | Set properties file in which your define your variables. Each variable is defined as name=value exactly as with --variable option. Note that defining a variable twice produces an error. This is a cli-only option. |
| -v, --verbose | Turn on verbose output on standard error stream. Useful for debugging. A line starting with '>' means data sent by Hurl. If you only want HTTP headers in the output, -i, --include might be the option you're looking for. |
| --very-verbose | Turn on more verbose output on standard error stream. In contrast to --verbose option, this option outputs the full HTTP body request and response on standard error. In addition, lines starting with '**' are libcurl debug logs. |
| -h, --help | Usage help. This lists all current command line options with a short description. |
| -V, --version | Prints version information |
Environment variables can only be specified in lowercase.
Using an environment variable to set the proxy has the same effect as using the -x, --proxy option.
| http_proxy [PROTOCOL://]<HOST>[:PORT] | Sets the proxy server to use for HTTP. |
| https_proxy [PROTOCOL://]<HOST>[:PORT] | Sets the proxy server to use for HTTPS. |
| all_proxy [PROTOCOL://]<HOST>[:PORT] | Sets the proxy server to use if no protocol-specific proxy is set. |
| no_proxy <comma-separated list of hosts> | List of host names that shouldn't go through any proxy. |
| HURL_name value | Define variable (name/value) to be used in Hurl templates. This is similar than --variable and --variables-file options. |
| NO_COLOR | When set to a non-empty string, do not colorize output (see --no-color option). |
| 0 | Success. |
| 1 | Failed to parse command-line options. |
| 2 | Input File Parsing Error. |
| 3 | Runtime error (such as failure to connect to host). |
| 4 | Assert Error. |
curl(1) hurlfmt(1)
Precompiled binary (depending on libc >=2.35) is available at Hurl latest GitHub release:
For Debian >=12 / Ubuntu >=22.04, Hurl can be installed using a binary .deb file provided in each Hurl release.
For Ubuntu >=18.04, Hurl can be installed from ppa:lepapareil/hurl
Hurl is available on testing channel.
Hurl is available on extra channel.
NixOS / Nix package is available on stable channel.
Precompiled binaries for Intel and ARM CPUs are available at Hurl latest GitHub release.
Windows requires the Visual C++ Redistributable Package to be installed manually, as this is not included in the installer.
Hurl can be installed from a standalone zip file at Hurl latest GitHub release. You will need to update your PATH variable.
An executable installer is also available at Hurl latest GitHub release.
If you're a Rust programmer, Hurl can be installed with cargo.
Hurl can also be installed with conda-forge powered package manager like pixi.
Hurl sources are available in GitHub.
Hurl depends on libssl, libcurl and libxml2 native libraries. You will need their development files in your platform.
Hurl is written in Rust. You should install the latest stable release.
Then build hurl:
Please follow the contrib on Windows section.
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