apifetch-cli

v1.0.0

Published

11 days ago

A fast, zero-dependency CLI tool for testing REST APIs from the terminal. Pretty-prints JSON, shows status codes, response times, and headers.

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tatelyman

api rest http fetch cli curl httpie rest-client api-testing json request terminal developer-tools

apifetch

A fast, zero-dependency CLI tool for testing REST APIs from the terminal. Like a simpler curl with pretty-printed output, colored JSON, status codes, and response times.

Install

npm install -g apifetch-cli

Usage

apifetch [METHOD] <url> [options]

The method defaults to GET, or POST if a body is provided with -d.

Examples

Simple GET

apifetch https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1

Output:

  200 OK  42ms  281 B

  GET https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1

  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

  {
    "userId": 1,
    "id": 1,
    "title": "sunt aut facere ...",
    "body": "quia et suscipit ..."
  }

POST with JSON Body

apifetch POST https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts \
  -d '{"title":"Hello","body":"World","userId":1}'

PUT / PATCH / DELETE

apifetch PUT https://api.example.com/users/1 -d '{"name":"Jane"}'
apifetch PATCH https://api.example.com/users/1 -d '{"name":"Jane"}'
apifetch DELETE https://api.example.com/users/1

Custom Headers

apifetch GET https://api.example.com/me \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer mytoken" \
  -H "Accept: application/json"

Query Parameters

apifetch https://api.example.com/users -q "page=1&limit=10"

Save Response to File

apifetch https://api.example.com/data -o response.json

Verbose Mode (Show Response Headers)

apifetch GET https://api.example.com/status -V

Options

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | -d, --data <body> | Request body (JSON string) | | -H, --header <header> | Add header ("Key: Value"), repeatable | | -q, --query <params> | Query parameters ("key=val&key2=val2") | | -o, --output <file> | Save response body to file | | -t, --timeout <secs> | Request timeout in seconds (default: 30) | | -V, --verbose | Show response headers | | --raw | Print raw response without JSON formatting | | --no-follow | Don't follow redirects | | -h, --help | Show help | | -v, --version | Show version |

Features

Zero dependencies — pure Node.js, nothing to install beyond Node itself
Pretty JSON — responses are syntax-highlighted with colors
Status at a glance — color-coded status badges (green 2xx, blue 3xx, yellow 4xx, red 5xx)
Response time — see how long the request took
Auto-detect content type — JSON bodies get application/json automatically
Follow redirects — follows up to 5 redirects by default
Pipe-friendly — colors are automatically disabled when output is piped
Helpful errors — friendly messages for DNS failures, connection refused, SSL issues

Supported Methods

GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS

Exit Codes

| Code | Meaning | |------|---------| | 0 | Success (1xx, 2xx, 3xx, 4xx) | | 1 | Error (network failure, invalid URL, timeout) | | 2 | Server error (5xx response) |

License

MIT