hitt-cli

hitt

hitt is a command line HTTP testing tool focused on speed and simplicity.

hitt 0.0.21
Command line HTTP testing tool focused on speed and simplicity
Mads Hougesen <[e-mail]>

Usage: hitt <COMMAND>

Commands:
  run          Send http requests
  sse          Listen to sse events
  completions  Generate shell completions
  help         Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Options:
  -h, --help     Print help
  -V, --version  Print version

Install

Linux & MacOS

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/hougesen/hitt/releases/latest/download/hitt-installer.sh | sh

Windows

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://github.com/hougesen/hitt/releases/latest/download/hitt-installer.ps1 | iex"

Cargo

hitt can be installed using Cargo.

cargo install hitt --locked

If you do not have Cargo installed, you need to install it first.

npm/npx

You can install hitt using npm:

npm install -g hitt-cli

hitt run hello-world.http

or run it directly using npx:

npx hitt-cli run hello-world.http

Homebrew

brew install hougesen/tap/hitt

Usage

To send a request create a file ending in .http.

The syntax of .http files is pretty straightforward:

GET https://mhouge.dk/

The file can then be run using the following command:

hitt run PATH_TO_FILE

That is all that is need to send a request.

Send http requests

Usage: hitt run [OPTIONS] [PATHS]...

Arguments:
  [PATHS]...  Path to .http files, or directories if supplied with the `--recursive` argument

Options:
      --timeout <TIMEOUT_MS>  Request timeout in milliseconds
      --var <KEY>=<VALUE>     Variables to pass to request
  -r, --recursive             Enable to run directory recursively
      --fail-fast             Exit on error response status code
      --hide-body             Whether or not to show response body
      --hide-headers          Whether or not to show response headers
      --disable-formatting    Disable pretty printing of response body
  -h, --help                  Print help
  -V, --version               Print version

Arguments

Argument	Description
--var <KEY>=<VALUE>	Variables to pass to request
--recursive	Run all files in directory
--fail-fast	Exit on status code 4XX or 5xx
--hide-headers	Hide response headers
--hide-body	Hide response body
--timeout <TIMEOUT_MS>	Request timeout in ms

Request headers

Request headers can be added by writing key value pairs (KEY:VALUE) on a new line after the method and URL:

GET https://mhouge.dk/
key:value

Leading spaces in the header value is ignored, so KEY: VALUE and KEY:VALUE will both have the value VALUE.

Request body

A body can be sent with the request by creating a blank line, followed by the desired body input.

Please note, hitt does not infer content type. That has to be written as a header.

POST https://mhouge.dk/
content-type:application/json

{
    "key": "value"
}

Multiple request in single file

Multiple requests can be written in a single file by adding a line with ### as a separator:

GET https://mhouge.dk/

###

GET https://mhouge.dk/

Variables

hitt has support for request variables.

A variable can be set in a file using the following syntax @name = VALUE. Whitespace is ignored.

Variables are used by wrapping the name in curly brackets ({{ name }}).

@variable_name = localhost

GET {{ variable_name }}/api

In-file variables are not shared between other files.

Variable arguments

Variables can be passed to all requests using the --var <KEY>=<VALUE> argument:

# file.http

GET {{ host }}/api

The file can the be run:

hitt run --var host=localhost:5000 file.http

Server sent events (SSE)

A SSE listener can be started using the hitt sse command.

hitt sse https://sse.dev/test

Listen to sse events

Usage: hitt sse <URL>

Arguments:
  <URL>

Options:
  -h, --help     Print help
  -V, --version  Print version

Shell completions

Shell completions can be generated using hitt completions <SHELL>.

Generate shell completions

Usage: hitt completions <SHELL>

Arguments:
  <SHELL>  [possible values: bash, elvish, fish, nushell, powershell, zsh]

Options:
  -h, --help     Print help
  -V, --version  Print version

Bash

Add the following to your .bashrc.

eval "$(hitt completions bash)"

Zsh

Add the following to your .zshrc.

eval "$(hitt completions zsh)"

Fish

Add the following to ~/.config/fish/config.fish.

hitt completions fish | source

PowerShell

Add the following to your PowerShell configuration (Can be found by running $PROFILE).

Invoke-Expression (&hitt completions powershell)

Elvish

Add the following to ~/.elvish/rc.elv.

eval (hitt completions elvish)

Neovim

hitt can be run directly from Neovim.

[!NOTE] The hitt executable must be available in your path for the plugin to work.

Install

Lazy

local hitt_plugin = {
	"hougesen/hitt",
	opts = {},
}

Usage

The plugin exposes a single command :HittSendRequest, which can be bound to a keymap like this:

-- ~/.config/nvim/after/plugin/hitt.lua

local hitt = require("hitt")

vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>rr", hitt.HittSendRequest, {})

Configuration

Name	Default	Description
window_width	80	Window width in percentage
window_height	80	Window height in percentage
fail_fast	false	Enables the --fail-fast options

HTTP syntax highlighting

Syntax highlighting can be enabled by installing the http treesitter parser (:TSInstall http) and adding a file association for .http files.

vim.filetype.add({
	extension = {
		http = "http",
	},
})

Disclaimer

hitt is most likely not ready for main stream usage. I (Mads Hougesen) am primarily developing it based on features I believe to be useful, or fun to develop.

Changelog

v0.0.21

23 August 2025

• chore: release v0.0.21 #528
• build(deps): bump tempfile from 3.20.0 to 3.21.0 #527
• build(deps): bump reqwest from 0.12.22 to 0.12.23 #525
• build(deps): bump clap from 4.5.44 to 4.5.45 #526
• build(cargo-dist): bump version to v0.29.0 #524
• build(deps): bump clap_complete from 4.5.56 to 4.5.57 #523
• build(deps): bump clap from 4.5.43 to 4.5.44 #522
• build(deps): bump clap_complete from 4.5.55 to 4.5.56 #521
• build(deps): bump clap from 4.5.41 to 4.5.43 #518
• build(deps): bump tokio from 1.46.1 to 1.47.1 #519
• chore: migrate from just to mise #516
• test: validate error cases #515
• build: upgrade cargo dist to v0.28.1 #514
• build(deps): bump clap_complete from 4.5.54 to 4.5.55 #513
• build(deps): bump clap_complete_nushell from 4.5.7 to 4.5.8 #511
• build(deps): bump clap from 4.5.40 to 4.5.41 #512
• build(deps): bump tokio from 1.45.1 to 1.46.1 #510
• build(deps): bump reqwest from 0.12.20 to 0.12.22 #509
• refactor: apply rust 1.88.0 fixes #508