Generate .http files from OpenAPI specifications
.http files were made popular by the Visual Studio Code extension REST Client, which then was adopted by JetBrains IDE's, and later on Visual Studio 2022
This is tool is distrubuted as a .NET Tool on NuGet.org
To install, simply use the following command
dotnet tool install --global httpgeneratorUSAGE:
httpgenerator [URL or input file] [OPTIONS]
EXAMPLES:
httpgenerator ./openapi.json
httpgenerator ./openapi.json --output ./
httpgenerator ./openapi.json --output-type onefile
httpgenerator https://petstore.swagger.io/v2/swagger.json
httpgenerator https://petstore3.swagger.io/api/v3/openapi.json --base-url https://petstore3.swagger.io
httpgenerator ./openapi.json --authorization-header Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzdWIiOiIxMjM0NTY3ODkwIiwibmFtZSI6IkpvaG4gRG9lIiwiaWF0IjoxNTE2MjM5MDIyfQ.SflKxwRJSMeKKF2QT4fwpMeJf36POk6yJV_adQssw5c
httpgenerator ./openapi.json --azure-scope [Some Application ID URI]/.default
ARGUMENTS:
[URL or input file] URL or file path to OpenAPI Specification file
OPTIONS:
DEFAULT
-h, --help Prints help information
-v, --version Prints version information
-o, --output <OUTPUT> ./ Output directory
--no-logging Don't log errors or collect telemetry
--skip-validation Skip validation of OpenAPI Specification file
--authorization-header <HEADER> Authorization header to use for all requests
--load-authorization-header-from-environment Load the authorization header from an environment variable or define it in the .http file. You can use --authorization-header-variable-name to specify the environment
variable name
--authorization-header-variable-name <VARIABLE-NAME> authorization Name of the environment variable to load the authorization header from
--content-type <CONTENT-TYPE> application/json Default Content-Type header to use for all requests
--base-url <BASE-URL> Default Base URL to use for all requests. Use this if the OpenAPI spec doesn't explicitly specify a server URL
--output-type <OUTPUT-TYPE> OneRequestPerFile OneRequestPerFile generates one .http file per request. OneFile generates a single .http file for all requests
--azure-scope <SCOPE> Azure Entra ID Scope to use for retrieving Access Token for Authorization header
--azure-tenant-id <TENANT-ID> Azure Entra ID Tenant ID to use for retrieving Access Token for Authorization header
Running the following:
httpgenerator https://petstore.swagger.io/v2/swagger.jsonOutputs the following:
HTTP File Generator v0.1.5
Support key: mbmbqvd
OpenAPI statistics:
- Path Items: 14
- Operations: 20
- Parameters: 14
- Request Bodies: 9
- Responses: 20
- Links: 0
- Callbacks: 0
- Schemas: 67
Files: 20
Duration: 00:00:02.3089450
Which will produce the following files:
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 593 Dec 10 10:44 DeleteOrder.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 231 Dec 10 10:44 DeletePet.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 358 Dec 10 10:44 DeleteUser.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 432 Dec 10 10:44 GetFindPetsByStatus.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 504 Dec 10 10:44 GetFindPetsByTags.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 371 Dec 10 10:44 GetInventory.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 247 Dec 10 10:44 GetLoginUser.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 291 Dec 10 10:44 GetLogoutUser.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 540 Dec 10 10:44 GetOrderById.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 275 Dec 10 10:44 GetPetById.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 245 Dec 10 10:44 GetUserByName.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 513 Dec 10 10:44 PostAddPet.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 521 Dec 10 10:44 PostCreateUser.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 610 Dec 10 10:44 PostCreateUsersWithListInput.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 464 Dec 10 10:44 PostPlaceOrder.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 299 Dec 10 10:44 PostUpdatePetWithForm.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 274 Dec 10 10:44 PostUploadFile.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 513 Dec 10 10:44 PutUpdatePet.http
-rw-r--r-- 1 christian 197121 541 Dec 10 10:44 PutUpdateUser.httpIn this example, the contents of PostAddPet.http looks like this:
@contentType = application/json
#############################################
### Request: POST /pet
### Summary: Add a new pet to the store
### Description: Add a new pet to the store
#############################################
POST https://petstore3.swagger.io/api/v3/pet
Content-Type: {{contentType}}
{
"id": 0,
"name": "name",
"category": {
"id": 0,
"name": "name"
},
"photoUrls": [
""
],
"tags": [
{
"id": 0,
"name": "name"
}
],
"status": "available"
}and the contents of GetPetById.http looks like this:
@contentType = application/json
#######################################
### Request: GET /pet/{petId}
### Summary: Find pet by ID
### Description: Returns a single pet
#######################################
### Path Parameter: ID of pet to return
@petId = 0
GET https://petstore3.swagger.io/api/v3/pet/{{petId}}
Content-Type: {{contentType}}Here's an advanced example of generating .http files for a REST API hosted on Microsoft Azure that uses the Microsoft Entra ID service as an STS. For this example, I use PowerShell and Azure CLI to retrieve an access token for the user I'm currently logged in with.
az account get-access-token --scope [Some Application ID URI]/.default `
| ConvertFrom-Json `
| %{
httpgenerator `
https://api.example.com/swagger/v1/swagger.json `
--authorization-header ("Bearer " + $_.accessToken) `
--base-url https://api.example.com `
--output ./HttpFiles
}You can also use the --azure-scope and azure-tenant-id arguments internally use DefaultAzureCredentials from the Microsoft.Extensions.Azure NuGet package to retrieve an access token for the specified scope.
httpgenerator `
https://api.example.com/swagger/v1/swagger.json `
--azure-scope [Some Application ID URI]/.default `
--base-url https://api.example.com `
--output ./HttpFiles This tool collects errors and tracks features usages to service called Exceptionless
By default, error logging and telemetry collection is enabled but it is possible to opt-out by using the --no-logging CLI argument.
User tracking is done anonymously using the Support key shown when running the tool and a generated anonymous identity based on a secure hash algorithm of username@host.
HTTP File Generator v0.1.5
Support key: mbmbqvdThe support key is just the first 7 characters of the generated anonymous identity
The --authorization-header value is [REDACTED] and the same goes for all personal identifiable information like the IP address, machine name, and file system folders
It's important to know that no support key will be generated if you opt-out from telemetry collection and that the Exceptionless SDK will be completely disabled.
This tool is also available as a Visual Studio 2022 extension
From the Tools menu select Generate .http files
This opens the main dialog which has similar input fields as the CLI tool
You can acquire an Azure Entra ID access token by clicking on the ... button beside the Authorization Headers input field
By default, the Output folder is pre-filled with the path of the currently active C# Project in the Solution Explorer, suffixed with \HttpFiles
Once the .http files are generated you can easily open and inspect them
For tips and tricks on software development, check out my blog
If you find this useful and feel a bit generous then feel free to buy me a coffee ☕
