Flash HTTP Client ⚡

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

Flash is a 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 and 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

POST Method Selection

Quick Start

Download Pre-built Binary (Recommended)

# 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

Compile and Run

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

make

./bin/flash

Termux

pkg update && pkg upgrade
pkg install clang curl

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

clang Flash-cli.c -o Flash -lcurl

./Flash

Note: You may see warnings about getchar() return values or empty-body while loops during compilation. These 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 — 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 — JSON

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

Examples

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

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

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

URL Encoding

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

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

JSON Formatting

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

Theme

Flash uses the Gruvbox Dark color scheme:

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

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before submitting a PR. It covers code standards, version management, commit formatting, and the submission process.

Quick start:

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. Update the version in lib/version.h
5. Push the branch: git push origin feature/amazing-feature
6. Open a Pull Request

Important: Always update lib/version.h with your changes. See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

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 the open issues or 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 — @aadityansha06

Acknowledgments

• libcurl — The HTTP library powering Flash
• Gruvbox — The color scheme
• Inspired by Postman

Community

Join the discussions to help improve the project!