HTTP File Generator

HTTP File Generator

HTTP File Generator

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

Installation

HTTP File Generator now ships as a Rust CLI plus thin IDE hosts.

crates.io: cargo install httpgenerator
- Best when you already have Rust and Cargo (Rust 1.95+) on your machine and want the canonical Rust ecosystem install path for published releases.
- The public crates.io surface is the end-user CLI crate httpgenerator plus the reusable library crate httpgenerator-core.
One-line installer (macOS/Linux): curl -fsSL https://christianhelle.com/httpgenerator/install | bash
- Best when you want the prebuilt CLI without installing the Rust toolchain.
- Use curl -fsSL https://christianhelle.com/httpgenerator/install | INSTALL_DIR=$HOME/.local/bin bash to install into a user-writable directory, or pass --version <tag> to pin a specific release.
One-line installer (Windows PowerShell): irm https://christianhelle.com/httpgenerator/install.ps1 | iex
- Use -InstallDir <path> to choose a custom directory or -Version <tag> to pin a specific release.
Standalone CLI archives: download the platform-specific archive from GitHub Releases and place httpgenerator / httpgenerator.exe on PATH.
- httpgenerator-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz
- httpgenerator-<version>-darwin-x64.tar.gz
- httpgenerator-<version>-darwin-arm64.tar.gz
- httpgenerator-<version>-win-x64.zip
Build locally: cargo build --release -p httpgenerator
Workspace testing: cargo test --workspace
VS Code: install the platform-specific .vsix for your OS and architecture. Each package bundles the native Rust CLI, and you can override it with http-file-generator.executablePath.
Visual Studio 2022: install the Visual Studio .vsix, which bundles httpgenerator.exe.

The legacy .NET CLI remains in the repository as the migration oracle and compatibility host, but it is no longer the primary release path.

crates.io complements rather than replaces the existing release channels. Use crates.io for Rust-native installation and library consumption, use the install scripts or GitHub Releases for prebuilt standalone CLI binaries, and use the VS Code / Visual Studio Marketplace packages when you want the editor hosts with their bundled binaries.

The standalone release matrix currently covers Linux x64, macOS x64, macOS ARM64, and Windows x64. Windows on ARM currently uses the x64 standalone install path.

Repository layout

src\rust contains the two Rust workspace projects: src/rust/cli for the httpgenerator CLI package and src/rust/core for the httpgenerator-core library package.
src\dotnet contains the legacy .NET CLI, core library, test suite, and Visual Studio VSIX host.
src\vscode contains the VS Code extension.
Root-level entrypoints are preserved: run Cargo commands from the repository root via Cargo.toml, target the moved .NET solutions with src/dotnet/*.slnx, and invoke VS Code packaging with src\vscode\build.ps1.
Plain cargo publish --dry-run --allow-dirty from the repo root attempts both Rust packages: httpgenerator-core and httpgenerator. CI still checks publish readiness in dependency order with cargo publish --dry-run -p httpgenerator-core plus cargo check -p httpgenerator.

Public vs private Rust crates

httpgenerator is the public CLI crate and the package normal users install with cargo install httpgenerator.
httpgenerator-core is the public library crate for the normalized model, .http rendering pipeline, and the httpgenerator_core::openapi::* loading/inspection/normalization API.
Differential compatibility coverage remains in the repository as test-only support under src/rust/cli/tests.

Usage

USAGE:
    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 eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9c
    httpgenerator ./openapi.json --azure-scope [Some Application ID URI]/.default
    httpgenerator ./openapi.json --generate-intellij-tests
    httpgenerator ./openapi.json --custom-header X-Custom-Header: Value --custom-header X-Another-Header: AnotherValue

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. OneFilePerTag generates one .http file per
                                                                                     first tag associated with each request
        --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
        --timeout <SECONDS>                                     120                  Timeout (in seconds) for writing files to disk
        --generate-intellij-tests                                                    Generate IntelliJ tests that assert whether the response status code is 200
        --custom-header                                                              Add custom HTTP headers to the generated request
        --skip-headers                                                               Don't generate header parameters in the files

Running the following:

httpgenerator https://petstore.swagger.io/v2/swagger.json

Outputs the following:

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.http

In 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}}

with the --generate-intellij-tests option, the output 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 = 1

GET https://petstore3.swagger.io/api/v3/pet/{{petId}}
Content-Type: {{contentType}}

> {%
    client.test("Request executed successfully", function() {
        client.assert(
            response.status === 200,
            "Response status is not 200");
    });
%}

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 --azure-scope and --azure-tenant-id to let the Rust CLI acquire an access token during generation. The CLI currently checks Azure CLI and Azure Developer CLI logins and keeps generation running even if token acquisition fails.

httpgenerator `
  https://api.example.com/swagger/v1/swagger.json `
  --azure-scope [Some Application ID URI]/.default `
  --base-url https://api.example.com `
  --output ./HttpFiles

Error Logging, Telemetry, and Privacy

The Rust CLI keeps a sink-agnostic telemetry recorder that can capture feature usage and redacted error context.

By default, logging is enabled, but --no-logging disables feature and error event recording entirely.

User tracking is anonymous and derived from the Support key shown when running the tool while logging is enabled.

HTTP File Generator v0.1.5
Support key: mbmbqvd

The support key is just the first 7 characters of the generated anonymous identity. Authorization headers are recorded as [REDACTED], and personal machine details are normalized before telemetry is emitted.

No support key is generated when you opt out with --no-logging.

VS Code Extension

The VS Code extension is now packaged per platform because it bundles the native Rust CLI.

When http-file-generator.executablePath is empty, the extension looks for a bundled binary, repo-root workspace target\debug / target\release outputs, and finally httpgenerator on PATH. That means a Cargo-installed httpgenerator binary can also satisfy the extension if you prefer to manage the CLI yourself.

Visual Studio 2022 Extension

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 and now shells out to the Rust httpgenerator executable.

The Visual Studio extension resolves httpgenerator.exe from HTTPGENERATOR_PATH, the bundled VSIX payload, repo-root workspace target\debug / target\release outputs during development, or PATH. A Cargo-installed CLI can therefore be reused here as long as the binary is discoverable on PATH or via HTTPGENERATOR_PATH.

You can supply Azure Entra ID tenant and scope settings by clicking on the ... button beside the Authorization Headers input field. The Rust CLI acquires the access token during generation.

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 ☕

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 1,182 Commits
.copilot/skills		.copilot/skills
.devcontainer		.devcontainer
.github		.github
.squad		.squad
docs		docs
images		images
src		src
test		test
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
Cargo.lock		Cargo.lock
Cargo.toml		Cargo.toml
LICENSE		LICENSE
Makefile		Makefile
README.md		README.md
renovate.json		renovate.json
snapcraft.yaml		snapcraft.yaml

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