xh

name	xh
description	HTTPie-compatible HTTP client for REST API calls
license	MIT

xh CLI — HTTPie-compatible, cleaner than curl.

Syntax

xh --ignore-stdin --session=agent [METHOD] https://endpoint Key:Value [key=value] [key==value]

• Headers: Key:Value (no space after colon)
• JSON body: key=value (string) or key:=value (raw JSON)
• Query params: key==value
• Method: optional first arg — defaults to GET, inferred POST if body present
• Body-less POST: xh --ignore-stdin --session=agent --json POST https://...

--ignore-stdin

Always use --ignore-stdin in agent/non-TTY contexts. Without it, xh tries to read stdin and conflicts with body arguments.

Sessions

Sessions are pre-configured per host at chezmoi apply time. --session=agent resolves the correct credentials for each host automatically.

Never pass an Authorization: header or a $*_API_KEY value — the session already carries the credentials for the host.

If a request returns 401, the session may be stale — re-run chezmoi apply to refresh.

GraphQL

Pass query as a string field and variables as raw JSON:

xh --ignore-stdin --session=agent POST https://api.example.com/graphql \
  query='{ issues { nodes { id title } } }' \
  variables:='{"id":"ABC-123"}'

Queries are read-only; mutations modify data and may require ask permission.

File input

@/path/to/file.json sends a file as the request body (useful for complex JSON like ES queries):

xh --ignore-stdin --session=agent POST https://api.example.com/search @/tmp/query.json

Cannot mix @file with key=value body items — pick one per request. Alternative for inline complex JSON: key:='{"nested":"json"}' — single-quoted bash avoids escaping inner double quotes.