What is curlie used for?

curlie is a command-line frontend for curl that gives it httpie-style syntax and colored output without losing any of curl's options or performance. It is a good fit for everyday API testing from the terminal and debugging streaming HTTP responses.

Is curlie open source?

Yes. curlie is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at rs/curlie and is written mainly in Go.

Yes. curlie is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

What are some alternatives to curlie?

Similar open-source tools in the API Tools category include ATAC, API Dash and Resterm. SaaS products in the same category include Apidog, APXY and Testfully.

Is curlie actively maintained?

The most recent commit to curlie was on 7 December 2025, and the latest release is v1.8.2, published on 7 March 2025. The project has 3.7k stars on GitHub.

curlie: open-source API tools

About curlie

curlie, by rs, is a frontend to curl that adds the ease of use of httpie without compromising on features and performance. If you like HTTPie's interface but miss curl's capabilities, it exposes all curl options with syntax sugar and output formatting inspired by httpie.

Usage covers simple GET requests as well as custom methods, headers and JSON data, and when running interactively it pretty-prints JSON, which can be forced with a flag. It differs from httpie in a few ways: like curl, headers are written to stderr rather than stdout, output is not buffered so formatting happens on the fly and streamed data can be debugged easily, and an option prints the exact curl command that was executed.

curlie is written in Go and distributed as a single binary, installable with Homebrew, webi, eget, MacPorts, pkg, Go, Scoop or mise, or downloaded directly. It is licensed under MIT, and builds across platforms are tested with GoReleaser.

Key features

httpie-style syntax on top of curl
All curl options exposed
Pretty-printed JSON output
Unbuffered streaming output
Option to print the curl command
Many installation methods

Good fit for

→Everyday API testing from the terminal
→Debugging streaming HTTP responses

Built with: Go
Tags: curl; httpie; http-client; cli; golang; api-client; developer-tools; terminal

curlie: questions and answers

What is curlie used for?: curlie is a command-line frontend for curl that gives it httpie-style syntax and colored output without losing any of curl's options or performance. It is a good fit for everyday API testing from the terminal and debugging streaming HTTP responses.
Is curlie open source?: Yes. curlie is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at rs/curlie and is written mainly in Go.
Is curlie free?: Yes. curlie is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
What are some alternatives to curlie?: Similar open-source tools in the API Tools category include ATAC, API Dash and Resterm. SaaS products in the same category include Apidog, APXY and Testfully.
Is curlie actively maintained?: The most recent commit to curlie was on 7 December 2025, and the latest release is v1.8.2, published on 7 March 2025. The project has 3.7k stars on GitHub.