http-client

name	http-client
description	Make HTTP requests, test REST APIs, handle auth, inspect responses. Use when the user wants to call an API, test an endpoint, or fetch web data.
metadata	{"ccbot":{"emoji":"🌐","requires":{"bins":["curl"]}}}

HTTP Client Skill

Use curl via the Bash tool for all HTTP operations.

GET Request

curl -s "https://api.example.com/users" | python3 -m json.tool

POST with JSON Body

curl -s -X POST "https://api.example.com/items" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -d '{"name": "test", "value": 42}' \
  | python3 -m json.tool

Upload File (multipart)

curl -s -X POST "https://api.example.com/upload" \
  -F "file=@/path/to/file.pdf" \
  -F "name=my-document" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Download File

curl -sL "https://example.com/file.zip" -o output/file.zip
echo "Downloaded: $(du -sh output/file.zip | cut -f1)"

Inspect Response Headers

curl -sI "https://example.com"          # headers only
curl -sv "https://example.com" 2>&1     # verbose (headers + body)

Handle Pagination

uv run --with requests python3 - <<'EOF'
import requests, os

BASE = "https://api.example.com"
TOKEN = os.environ.get("API_TOKEN", "")
headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {TOKEN}"}

results = []
page = 1
while True:
    resp = requests.get(f"{BASE}/items", params={"page": page, "per_page": 100}, headers=headers)
    data = resp.json()
    items = data.get("items", [])
    results.extend(items)
    if not data.get("has_next"):
        break
    page += 1

print(f"Total fetched: {len(results)}")
import json
print(json.dumps(results[:3], indent=2, ensure_ascii=False))
EOF

Test API Endpoint (health check)

STATUS=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "https://api.example.com/health")
if [ "$STATUS" = "200" ]; then
    echo "✅ API healthy"
else
    echo "❌ API returned $STATUS"
fi

GraphQL

curl -s -X POST "https://api.example.com/graphql" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -d '{
    "query": "{ user(id: \"123\") { name email } }"
  }' | python3 -m json.tool

Common Headers Reference

Header	Example
Auth Bearer	-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
Auth Basic	-u "user:pass"
Content-Type JSON	-H "Content-Type: application/json"
Custom Header	-H "X-API-Key: $KEY"
Accept JSON	-H "Accept: application/json"

Tips

• Use -s (silent) to suppress progress bars.
• Use -L to follow redirects.
• Use -w "%{http_code}" to capture status code.
• For complex sessions, use Python requests with uv run --with requests.
• Secrets go in environment variables, never hardcoded.