@v0idd0/httpwut

v2.0.3

Published

a month ago

httpwut — HTTP request debugger. Why isn't my request working? Show DNS/TCP/TLS timing, follow redirects, diff endpoints, retry on 5xx, emit curl or JSON. Free forever from vøiddo.

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httpwut

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HTTP request debugger for humans. "Why isn't my request working?" — this tool answers that, loud and specific, in under a second.

Free forever gift from vøiddo.

┌───────────────────────────────────────┐
│  httpwut https://api.example.com      │
│                                       │
│  STATUS   401 Unauthorized ✗          │
│  bruh. unauthorized. missing or bad   │
│  auth credentials.                    │
│                                       │
│  TIMING                               │
│  DNS   ███░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░   14ms     │
│  TCP   █░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░    4ms     │
│  TLS   ████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░   19ms     │
│  TTFB  ██████████████░░░░   78ms     │
│  Total                      124ms     │
└───────────────────────────────────────┘

Why httpwut

You fire a request. Something's off. curl -v dumps a wall of text, Postman hides the timing, Insomnia needs a GUI. You just want to know what actually happened on the wire — DNS, TCP, TLS, TTFB, each phase measured, redirects walked, headers diffed, status explained in plain English (and, ok, a little "bruh").

httpwut is that. One binary. Zero config. Works in SSH sessions, CI logs, and Docker containers without pulling a thousand dependencies.

Install

npm install -g @v0idd0/httpwut

Or run it ad-hoc with npx:

npx -y @v0idd0/httpwut https://api.github.com/users/octocat

Quickstart

# Simple GET with full debug info
httpwut https://api.github.com/users/octocat

# POST with JSON body
httpwut https://api.example.com/orders -X POST -d '{"sku":"abc","qty":1}'

# Bearer token + query params
httpwut https://api.example.com/users --bearer "$TOKEN" --query limit=10 --query page=2

# Basic auth
httpwut https://api.example.com -u admin:hunter2

# Body from file (or '-' for stdin)
httpwut https://api.example.com/ingest -X POST --data-file @./payload.json
cat payload.json | httpwut https://api.example.com/ingest -X POST --data-file -

# Follow redirects and print the chain
httpwut https://voiddo.com -L

# Full phase-timing breakdown
httpwut https://api.example.com --timing

# Retry on transient 5xx
httpwut https://api.example.com --retry 3 --retry-delay 500 --retry-on-status 502,503,504

# Compare two endpoints
httpwut https://api.example.com/v1/users --compare https://api.example.com/v2/users

# Status-only mode (exit code maps to 2xx / non-2xx, no output chrome)
httpwut https://api.example.com --status-only

# Machine-readable JSON envelope for scripts
httpwut https://api.example.com --json | jq .status

# Print the equivalent curl command (no request is made)
httpwut https://api.example.com --bearer "$TOKEN" --curl

Options

Request

| Option | Description | |--------|-------------| | -X, --method <method> | HTTP method (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, HEAD, OPTIONS) | | -H, --header <header> | Add header (can use multiple times) | | -d, --data <data> | Request body (inline) | | --data-file <path> | Read request body from file (use - for stdin) | | --query <k=v> | Append a query param (can use multiple times) | | --bearer <token> | Shortcut for Authorization: Bearer <token> | | -u, --user <user:pass> | Basic auth shortcut |

Output

| Option | Description | |--------|-------------| | -o, --output <file> | Save response body to file | | --json | Emit a single machine-readable JSON envelope | | --curl | Print equivalent curl command (no request made) | | -v, --verbose | Show everything (full headers, full body, timing) | | --headers-only | Show only response headers | | --body-only | Show only response body (raw, no chrome) | | --status-only | Show only status code, exit 0 on 2xx / 1 otherwise | | --timing | DNS / TCP / TLS / Wait / TTFB / Download breakdown |

Behavior

| Option | Description | |--------|-------------| | -e, --expect <codes> | Expected status codes, comma-separated | | -L, --follow | Follow redirects (prints the chain) | | --compare <url> | Diff headers / body / timing against another endpoint | | --insecure | Skip SSL verification | | --timeout <ms> | Request timeout (default 30000) | | --retry <n> | Retry on network errors up to N times | | --retry-delay <ms> | Base delay between retries, linear backoff | | --retry-on-status <codes> | Also retry on these status codes (e.g. 502,503,504) |

Features

Phase-timing breakdown

httpwut measures each phase from the Node socket lifecycle — DNS lookup, TCP connect, TLS handshake, server wait, TTFB, and download — and prints them as stacked bars. No wrapping curl --trace-ascii, no guessing which phase is slow.

Human-readable errors

Every ECONNREFUSED, ENOTFOUND, EAI_AGAIN, CERT_HAS_EXPIRED, ERR_TLS_CERT_ALTNAME_INVALID, SELF_SIGNED_CERT_IN_CHAIN is translated. No more googling cryptic Node error codes.

Status code cheat-sheet built in

Every 4xx and 5xx gets a one-liner in plain English. Includes modern codes most curl wrappers ignore: 418, 422, 425, 426, 429, 451, 511, 507, 508.

Endpoint diff

--compare <url> fires two requests, diffs status + every header + body + timing. Great for A/B testing load balancers, canary deploys, and "is this proxy actually transparent?"

Redirect chain walker

--follow hops up to 10 redirects and prints every step with status, URL, and color coding.

JSON envelope

--json emits a single JSON object with ok / url / status / headers / body / timing / redirectChain / statusHelp — drop it straight into jq, GitHub Actions matrices, or uptime scripts.

`curl` emitter

--curl prints the exact curl command that would produce the same request — method, headers, body, -k, all of it — without actually firing. Perfect for pasting into bug reports.

Retries with backoff

--retry 3 --retry-on-status 502,503,504 retries on network errors and configurable status codes with linear backoff. Reports (after N attempts) in the final status block so you know it wasn't a first-shot win.

Exit codes

| Code | Meaning | |------|---------| | 0 | Response status is 2xx | | 1 | Response status is non-2xx OR the request itself failed | | 2 | Invalid flags (e.g. both --data and --data-file) |

Programmatic use

const { makeRequestWithRetries, getStatusHelp } = require('@v0idd0/httpwut/src/requester');

const res = await makeRequestWithRetries('https://api.example.com/ping', {
  method: 'GET',
  timeout: 5000,
  retries: 2,
  retryDelay: 300,
  retryOnStatus: [502, 503, 504],
});

console.log(res.status, getStatusHelp(res.status), res.timing);

Exports: makeRequest, makeRequestWithRetries, followRedirects, parseHeaders, getErrorHelp, getStatusHelp, isSuccess, formatJson, truncate, compareResponses, toCurl, buildUrl, ERROR_HELP, STATUS_HELP.

From the same studio

vøiddo builds sharp, free-forever CLIs for devs who are tired of paywalls:

@v0idd0/jsonyo — JSON that yells at you when it's broken
@v0idd0/tokcount — token counter for 60+ LLMs (GPT-5.4, Claude Opus 4.7, Gemini 3.1, Llama 4, Grok 4.1)
@v0idd0/ctxstuff — stuff a repo into an LLM context window without the OOM
@v0idd0/promptdiff — diff two prompts, see token impact + word-frequency delta

Full catalog: tools.voiddo.com.