api2cli

A lightweight server that accepts any HTTP request and forwards it to a CLI application or shell pipe. Useful for bridging HTTP-based tooling (webhooks, scripts, other services) into local command-line programs without writing glue code.

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Install

Requirements: Rust 1.75+ (rustup.rs)

git clone https://github.com/youruser/api2cli
cd api2cli
cargo install --path .

This places the api2cli binary in ~/.cargo/bin/. Make sure that directory is on your $PATH.

To build without installing:

cargo build --release
# binary at: ./target/release/api2cli

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Usage

api2cli [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -p, --port <PORT>          Port to listen on [default: 1337]
  -c, --command <CMD>        Command to spawn and pipe requests into
  -P, --persistent           Keep the server running after the first request
      --passthrough <MODE>   What to forward: body (default) or full
      --log-level <LEVEL>    Log level: error, warn, info, debug, trace [default: info]
  -h, --help                 Print help

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How it works

Each incoming HTTP request is forwarded to either:

• Pipe mode (default, no --command): the request is written to api2cli's stdout. Chain it with | to feed another program.
• Subprocess mode (--command <CMD>): api2cli spawns the command via sh -c and writes each request to its stdin.

All requests receive an immediate 200 OK. The server does not wait for the downstream program to process before responding.

Passthrough formats

--passthrough	What is written
body (default)	Raw request body, followed by a newline
full	JSON envelope: {"method","path","headers","body"}, followed by a newline

Persistence

Without --persistent, the server exits after handling one request. With --persistent, the server runs indefinitely (and in subprocess mode, a single process is kept alive across all requests).

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Examples

One-shot pipe — capture a single webhook body:

api2cli | jq .
# In another terminal:
curl -s -X POST localhost:1337/hook -d '{"event":"push"}'

Persistent pipe — stream all requests into a processor:

api2cli --persistent --passthrough full | while read line; do echo "$line" | jq .method; done

Subprocess — persistent, send each request body to a script:

api2cli --persistent --command 'python3 handler.py'

Full request envelope to a command:

api2cli --persistent --passthrough full --command 'node process.js'

Custom port:

api2cli --port 8080 --persistent | cat

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Configuration file

Default options can be set in ~/.config/api2cli/config.toml. The file is created by the user; any missing field falls back to the hardcoded default. CLI flags always override config file values.

port       = 1337
persistent = false
passthrough = "body"
log_level  = "info"

# command = "myapp --flag"

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Logging

Logs are written to both stderr and a daily-rotating file in:

~/.local/state/api2cli/api2cli.log.YYYY-MM-DD

The directory is created automatically on first run. If $XDG_STATE_HOME is set it is used instead of ~/.local/state. Log level is controlled with --log-level or the log_level config key.

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Development

cargo build          # debug build
cargo test           # run test suite
cargo clippy         # lint
cargo fmt            # format