⚡ Flash HTTP CLI

A fast, simple, and powerful HTTP client for your terminal - like Postman, but in CLI

Flash is a beautiful, terminal-based HTTP client that brings the power of API testing to your command line. Built with C and libcurl, it offers a clean Gruvbox-themed interface that's easy on the eyes and powerful in functionality.

✨ Features

• 🌐 GET Requests - Fetch data from any REST API
• 📤 POST Requests - Send form data and JSON payloads
• 🎨 Beautiful UI - Gruvbox dark theme with intuitive navigation
• ⚡ Fast & Lightweight - Built in C for maximum performance
• 🛡️ Memory Safe - Proper memory management and error handling
• 📱 Cross-Platform - Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows (with proper setup)

📸 Screenshots

Main Menu

Clean and intuitive main interface

POST Method Selection

Easy content-type selection for POST requests

🚀 Quick Start

Download Pre-built Binary (Recommended)

Download the latest release for Linux:

# Download the latest release
wget https://github.com/aadityansha06/Flash-Http-cli/releases/download/1.1.0/flash-linux-x64

# Make it executable
chmod +x flash-linux-x64

# Run Flash
./flash-linux-x64

Build from Source

Prerequisites

• GCC compiler
• libcurl development libraries
• Make (optional)

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential libcurl4-openssl-dev

CentOS/RHEL/Fedora

# CentOS/RHEL
sudo yum install gcc libcurl-devel

# Fedora
sudo dnf install gcc libcurl-devel

macOS

# Using Homebrew
brew install curl

# Using MacPorts
sudo port install curl

Compilation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/aadityansha06/Flash-Http-cli.git
cd Flash-Http-cli

# build
make

# Run
./bin/flash

Termux installation

# Install dependencies
pkg update && pkg upgrade
pkg install clang curl

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/aadityansha06/Flash-Http-cli.git
cd Flash-Http-cli

# Compile
clang Flash-cli.c -o Flash -lcurl

# Run
./Flash


Note: You may see warnings about getchar() return values or empty-body while loops during compilation.
These warnings are safe to ignore — the program will still run fine.

🔧 Usage

GET Requests

1. Select option 1 from the main menu
2. Enter the URL (e.g., https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1)
3. View the formatted response

POST Requests - Form Data

1. Select option 2 from the main menu
2. Choose 1 for Form Data
3. Enter data in format: name=John+Doe&email=john%40gmail.com&age=25
4. Enter the target URL
5. Send the request

POST Requests - JSON

1. Select option 2 from the main menu
2. Choose 2 for JSON Data
3. Enter JSON data: {"name":"John","email":"john@gmail.com","age":25}
4. Enter the target URL
5. Send the request

📚 Examples

Testing a REST API

# GET request to fetch user data
URL: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users/1

# POST form data to create a user
Data: name=Flash+User&email=flash%40example.com&phone=1234567890
URL: https://httpbin.org/post

# POST JSON data
Data: {"title":"Flash HTTP CLI","body":"A powerful terminal HTTP client","userId":1}
URL: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts

Working with APIs

Flash handles various HTTP scenarios:

• ✅ REST APIs
• ✅ Form submissions
• ✅ JSON APIs
• ✅ Authentication headers (manual setup)
• ✅ URL encoding
• ✅ Error handling

🎨 Theme

Flash uses the Gruvbox Dark color scheme for a comfortable terminal experience:

• 🟤 Background: Dark, easy on the eyes
• 🟨 Highlights: Warm yellows and oranges
• 🟩 Success: Bright green indicators
• 🟥 Errors: Clear red error messages
• 🔵 Info: Cool blue accents

🔧 Advanced Usage

URL Encoding

Flash automatically handles basic URL encoding, but for complex data:

# Spaces become +
name=John Doe → name=John+Doe

# Special characters use % encoding  
email=user@domain.com → email=user%40domain.com

JSON Formatting

Ensure your JSON is properly formatted:

{
  "name": "Flash User",
  "data": {
    "email": "user@example.com", 
    "active": true,
    "id": 123
  }
}

Development Setup

git clone https://github.com/aadityansha06/Flash-Http-cli.git
cd Flash-Http-cli

# Install development dependencies
sudo apt install build-essential libcurl4-openssl-dev

# Build and test
gcc -g -o flash-dev main.c -lcurl
./flash-dev

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how you can help:

1. 🍴 Fork the repository
2. 🌿 Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. 💾 Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. 🚀 Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. 🎯 Open a Pull Request

Contributors

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to Flash HTTP CLI! 🙏

Core Team

• @aadityansha06 - Creator & Maintainer

Contributors

• @dexter-xD - Enhanced JSON input with multi-line support and improved UI alignment (#6)

• @sakshamg567 - Improved form-data input handling (#2)

---

Want to contribute? Check out my new issues or Just raise a PR 😊!

🐛 Known Issues

• Windows support requires additional setup for libcurl
• Very large responses (>1GB) may cause memory issues
• Binary releases are currently Linux-only

📋 TODO

• Custom headers support
• Authentication methods (Bearer, Basic Auth)
• Request/Response history
• Configuration file support
• Windows binary releases
• Response syntax highlighting

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

👨‍💻 Author

Aadityansh

• GitHub: @aadityansha06

🙏 Acknowledgments

• libcurl - The fantastic HTTP library
• Gruvbox - The beautiful color scheme
• Inspired by Postman - The API development platform