HTTP Client CLI Tool 🚀

A command-line interface tool for testing and comparing different HTTP client libraries in Python. Compare the behavior of http.client, requests, and httpx side-by-side.

📋 Features

• Multiple HTTP Clients: Test with http.client (standard library), requests, and httpx
• All HTTP Methods: Support for GET, POST, PUT, and PATCH
• Batch Testing: Test all clients at once with a single command
• Individual Testing: Test specific clients with specific HTTP methods
• Verbose Mode: Detailed logging for debugging
• Configurable Delays: Prevent rate limiting with adjustable delays between requests
• Clean Architecture: Object-oriented design with abstract base classes
• Type Hints: Full type annotation support for better IDE integration

🛠️ Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• Dependencies:
  • requests
  • httpx

📦 Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/renanclemonini/http_client_cli_tool.git
cd http_client_cli_tool

2. Create and activate virtual environment:

Windows:

python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate

Linux/Mac:

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

3. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requiments.txt

Note: After create virtual environment you can navigate to folder and execute file directly without environment activate

🚀 Usage

Test All Clients

POST Request (all clients):

py main.py test-all-post \
  --location 'https://api.example.com/endpoint' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer token' \
  --data '{"key": "value"}'

GET Request (all clients):

py main.py test-all-get \
  --location 'https://api.github.com/users/github' \
  --header 'Accept: application/json'

PUT Request (all clients):

py main.py test-all-put \
  --location 'https://api.example.com/users/123' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{"name": "Updated Name"}'

Test Specific Client

Using http.client:

py main.py http \
  --request POST \
  --location 'https://api.example.com/endpoint' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{"key": "value"}'

Using requests:

py main.py requests \
  --request GET \
  --location 'https://api.example.com/endpoint'

Using httpx:

py main.py httpx \
  --request PUT \
  --location 'https://api.example.com/endpoint' \
  --data '{"key": "value"}'

Using httpx without SSL verification:

py main.py httpx2 \
  --request POST \
  --location 'https://self-signed-cert.example.com/endpoint' \
  --data '{"key": "value"}'

Options

Option	Alias	Description	Default
--location	-L	Request URL (required)	-
--request	-X	HTTP method (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH)	-
--header	-H	Header in format "Key: Value" (repeatable)	-
--data	-d	JSON data to send	-
--verbose	-v	Show detailed request information	false
--delay	-	Delay in seconds between requests	2.0

Examples

Basic POST request to validate CNPJ:

py main.py test-all-post \
  --location 'https://doc-validation.fashiongirl.com.br/validar_cnpj_cpf' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'X-API-KEY: your-api-key' \
  --data '{"documento": "52781445000150"}'

GET request with verbose output:

py main.py test-all-get \
  --verbose \
  --location 'https://api.github.com/repos/python/cpython'

Test single client with custom delay:

py main.py requests \
  --request GET \
  --location 'https://api.example.com/endpoint' \
  --delay 5.0

📁 Project Structure

http-client-cli/
├── http_clients.py      # HTTP client implementations
│   ├── HTTPClient       # Abstract base class
│   ├── HttpClientLib    # http.client implementation
│   ├── RequestsClient   # requests implementation
│   ├── HttpxClient      # httpx implementation
│   └── HTTPTester       # Testing orchestrator
├── main.py              # CLI entry point
├── README.md            # This file
└── .venv/               # Virtual environment

🏗️ Architecture

Class Hierarchy

HTTPClient (ABC)
├── HttpClientLib
├── RequestsClient
└── HttpxClient

HTTPTester
├── test_single_client()
├── test_all_clients()
├── test_all_post()
├── test_all_get()
├── test_all_put()
└── print_summary()

Key Components

• HTTPClient: Abstract base class defining the interface for all HTTP clients
• HttpClientLib: Implementation using Python's standard library http.client
• RequestsClient: Implementation using the popular requests library
• HttpxClient: Implementation using the modern httpx library
• HTTPTester: Orchestrates testing across multiple clients with timing and reporting

📊 Output Example

🧪 Testing all clients with POST method...

======================================================================

======================================================================
🔍 Client: http.client
======================================================================
✅ Success with http.client!

{
  "status": "success",
  "message": "Request completed successfully"
}

⏳ Waiting 2.0 seconds before next request...

======================================================================
🔍 Client: requests
======================================================================
❌ Failed with requests
Error: Connection aborted

======================================================================
🔍 Client: httpx
======================================================================
✅ Success with httpx!

{
  "status": "success",
  "message": "Request completed successfully"
}

======================================================================
📊 TEST SUMMARY
======================================================================
✅ Success   - http.client
❌ Failed    - requests
✅ Success   - httpx

📈 Success rate: 2/3

🐛 Troubleshooting

SSL/TLS Errors

If you encounter SSL errors with requests or httpx but http.client works:

1. The server may have a self-signed certificate
2. The server may use an old TLS version
3. Try using httpx2 (no SSL verification):

py main.py httpx2 --request POST --location 'https://...' --data '{...}'

Connection Reset Errors (WinError 10054)

This intermittent error can occur due to:

• Rate limiting on the server
• Keep-alive connection issues
• Server load

Solutions:

• Increase delay between requests: --delay 5.0
• Use http.client which has simpler connection handling
• Test individual clients instead of all at once

Rate Limiting

If testing all clients triggers rate limits:

# Increase delay to 5 seconds
py main.py test-all-post --delay 5.0 --location '...' --data '{...}'

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

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

📝 License

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

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Built to debug and compare SSL/TLS behavior across different HTTP client libraries
• Inspired by real-world API integration challenges
• Special thanks to the maintainers of requests and httpx

📧 Contact

Renan Clemonini - +55 71 996 333 313

Project Link: https://github.com/renanclemonini/http_client_cli_tool

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