cURL HTTP and API Workflows

curl -H 'Accept: application/json' https://api.example.com/v1/items

# Fetch JSON and ask for a JSON response.

curl -X POST https://api.example.com/v1/items -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"name":"demo"}'

# Create a resource by sending JSON payload.

curl -X PUT https://api.example.com/v1/items/123 -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"name":"updated"}'

# Replace a resource with a JSON request body.

curl -X PATCH https://api.example.com/v1/items/123 -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"status":"archived"}'

# Partially update a resource with JSON.

curl -X DELETE https://api.example.com/v1/items/123

# Delete a resource by ID.

curl -X OPTIONS -i https://api.example.com/v1/items

# Send an OPTIONS request to inspect server capabilities.

curl -X TRACE -i https://example.com

# Use TRACE for debugging if the server allows it.

curl -X POST https://api.example.com/import -H 'Content-Type: application/xml' --data-binary @payload.xml

# Post XML or another custom media type.

curl -u 'user:password' https://example.com/protected

# Authenticate with username and password.

curl -H 'Authorization: Bearer TOKEN' https://api.example.com/me

# Send a Bearer token for OAuth-style APIs.

curl -H 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY' https://api.example.com/data

# Send an API key header.

curl 'https://api.example.com/data?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY'

# Pass an API key in the URL.

curl --cert client.crt --key client.key https://mtls.example.com

# Authenticate using a client certificate and key.

curl --cacert ca.pem https://internal.example.com

# Trust a specific CA certificate file.

curl -k https://selfsigned.example.com

# Disable certificate verification for testing only.

curl --aws-sigv4 'aws:amz:us-east-1:execute-api' --user 'AKIA...:SECRET' https://abc123.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/prod/items

# Sign an AWS-compatible HTTP request using SigV4.

curl --compressed https://example.com

# Ask the server for a compressed response body.

curl --etag-save etag.txt -O https://example.com/data.json

# Store ETag metadata for conditional requests.

curl --etag-compare etag.txt -O https://example.com/data.json

# Use a saved ETag to avoid downloading unchanged content.

curl -z local-copy.txt -O https://example.com/local-copy.txt

# Only fetch if the remote file is newer than a local file.

curl -D headers.txt -o body.html https://example.com

# Store response headers separately from the body.

curl -v https://example.com

# Show detailed request and response conversation.

curl --trace-ascii trace.txt https://example.com

# Capture a detailed ASCII trace of the transfer.

curl https://example.com --next -I https://api.example.com

# Separate different request groups with `--next`.