httpwut

HTTP request debugger for humans. "Why isn't my request working?" — this tool answers that, loud and specific, in under a second.

Free forever gift from vøiddo.

┌───────────────────────────────────────┐
│  httpwut https://api.example.com      │
│                                       │
│  STATUS   401 Unauthorized ✗          │
│  bruh. unauthorized. missing or bad   │
│  auth credentials.                    │
│                                       │
│  TIMING                               │
│  DNS   ███░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░   14ms     │
│  TCP   █░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░    4ms     │
│  TLS   ████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░   19ms     │
│  TTFB  ██████████████░░░░   78ms     │
│  Total                      124ms     │
└───────────────────────────────────────┘

Why httpwut

You fire a request. Something's off. curl -v dumps a wall of text, Postman hides the timing, Insomnia needs a GUI. You just want to know what actually happened on the wire — DNS, TCP, TLS, TTFB, each phase measured, redirects walked, headers diffed, status explained in plain English (and, ok, a little "bruh").

httpwut is that. One binary. Zero config. Works in SSH sessions, CI logs, and Docker containers without pulling a thousand dependencies.

Install

npm install -g @v0idd0/httpwut

Or run it ad-hoc with npx:

npx -y @v0idd0/httpwut https://api.github.com/users/octocat

Quickstart

# Simple GET with full debug info
httpwut https://api.github.com/users/octocat

# POST with JSON body
httpwut https://api.example.com/orders -X POST -d '{"sku":"abc","qty":1}'

# Bearer token + query params
httpwut https://api.example.com/users --bearer "$TOKEN" --query limit=10 --query page=2

# Basic auth
httpwut https://api.example.com -u admin:hunter2

# Body from file (or '-' for stdin)
httpwut https://api.example.com/ingest -X POST --data-file @./payload.json
cat payload.json | httpwut https://api.example.com/ingest -X POST --data-file -

# Follow redirects and print the chain
httpwut https://voiddo.com -L

# Full phase-timing breakdown
httpwut https://api.example.com --timing

# Retry on transient 5xx
httpwut https://api.example.com --retry 3 --retry-delay 500 --retry-on-status 502,503,504

# Compare two endpoints
httpwut https://api.example.com/v1/users --compare https://api.example.com/v2/users

# Status-only mode (exit code maps to 2xx / non-2xx, no output chrome)
httpwut https://api.example.com --status-only

# Machine-readable JSON envelope for scripts
httpwut https://api.example.com --json | jq .status

# Print the equivalent curl command (no request is made)
httpwut https://api.example.com --bearer "$TOKEN" --curl

Options

Request

Option	Description
-X, --method <method>	HTTP method (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, HEAD, OPTIONS)
-H, --header <header>	Add header (can use multiple times)
-d, --data <data>	Request body (inline)
--data-file <path>	Read request body from file (use - for stdin)
--query <k=v>	Append a query param (can use multiple times)
--bearer <token>	Shortcut for Authorization: Bearer <token>
-u, --user <user:pass>	Basic auth shortcut

Output

Option	Description
-o, --output <file>	Save response body to file
--json	Emit a single machine-readable JSON envelope
--curl	Print equivalent curl command (no request made)
-v, --verbose	Show everything (full headers, full body, timing)
--headers-only	Show only response headers
--body-only	Show only response body (raw, no chrome)
--status-only	Show only status code, exit 0 on 2xx / 1 otherwise
--timing	DNS / TCP / TLS / Wait / TTFB / Download breakdown

Behavior

Option	Description
-e, --expect <codes>	Expected status codes, comma-separated
-L, --follow	Follow redirects (prints the chain)
--compare <url>	Diff headers / body / timing against another endpoint
--insecure	Skip SSL verification
--timeout <ms>	Request timeout (default 30000)
--retry <n>	Retry on network errors up to N times
--retry-delay <ms>	Base delay between retries, linear backoff
--retry-on-status <codes>	Also retry on these status codes (e.g. 502,503,504)

Features

Phase-timing breakdown

httpwut measures each phase from the Node socket lifecycle — DNS lookup, TCP connect, TLS handshake, server wait, TTFB, and download — and prints them as stacked bars. No wrapping curl --trace-ascii, no guessing which phase is slow.

Human-readable errors

Every ECONNREFUSED, ENOTFOUND, EAI_AGAIN, CERT_HAS_EXPIRED, ERR_TLS_CERT_ALTNAME_INVALID, SELF_SIGNED_CERT_IN_CHAIN is translated. No more googling cryptic Node error codes.

Status code cheat-sheet built in

Every 4xx and 5xx gets a one-liner in plain English. Includes modern codes most curl wrappers ignore: 418, 422, 425, 426, 429, 451, 511, 507, 508.

Endpoint diff

--compare <url> fires two requests, diffs status + every header + body + timing. Great for A/B testing load balancers, canary deploys, and "is this proxy actually transparent?"

Redirect chain walker

--follow hops up to 10 redirects and prints every step with status, URL, and color coding.

JSON envelope

--json emits a single JSON object with ok / url / status / headers / body / timing / redirectChain / statusHelp — drop it straight into jq, GitHub Actions matrices, or uptime scripts.

curl emitter

--curl prints the exact curl command that would produce the same request — method, headers, body, -k, all of it — without actually firing. Perfect for pasting into bug reports.

Retries with backoff

--retry 3 --retry-on-status 502,503,504 retries on network errors and configurable status codes with linear backoff. Reports (after N attempts) in the final status block so you know it wasn't a first-shot win.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Response status is 2xx
1	Response status is non-2xx OR the request itself failed
2	Invalid flags (e.g. both --data and --data-file)

Programmatic use

const { makeRequestWithRetries, getStatusHelp } = require('@v0idd0/httpwut/src/requester');

const res = await makeRequestWithRetries('https://api.example.com/ping', {
  method: 'GET',
  timeout: 5000,
  retries: 2,
  retryDelay: 300,
  retryOnStatus: [502, 503, 504],
});

console.log(res.status, getStatusHelp(res.status), res.timing);

Exports: makeRequest, makeRequestWithRetries, followRedirects, parseHeaders, getErrorHelp, getStatusHelp, isSuccess, formatJson, truncate, compareResponses, toCurl, buildUrl, ERROR_HELP, STATUS_HELP.

From the same studio

vøiddo builds sharp, free-forever CLIs for devs who are tired of paywalls:

• @v0idd0/jsonyo — JSON that yells at you when it's broken
• @v0idd0/tokcount — token counter for 60+ LLMs (GPT-5.4, Claude Opus 4.7, Gemini 3.1, Llama 4, Grok 4.1)
• @v0idd0/ctxstuff — stuff a repo into an LLM context window without the OOM
• @v0idd0/promptdiff — diff two prompts, see token impact + word-frequency delta

Full catalog: voiddo.com/tools.

License

MIT © vøiddo — free forever, no asterisks.

Links

• Docs: https://voiddo.com/tools/httpwut/
• Source: https://github.com/voidd0/httpwut
• npm: https://npmjs.com/package/@v0idd0/httpwut
• Studio: https://voiddo.com
• Issues: https://github.com/voidd0/httpwut/issues
• Support: support@voiddo.com