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CHttp CLI Tool Skill

You have access to the CHttp tool, a powerful command-line utility for sending HTTP requests and measuring performance. This skill provides guidance on how to effectively use CHttp for various HTTP operations.

What is CHttp?

CHttp is a .NET-based tool for sending HTTP requests with support for HTTP/1.0, HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, and HTTP/3. It can perform:

  • Single HTTP requests
  • Performance measurements and load testing
  • Performance data comparison
  • Cookie persistence across requests
  • Kerberos authentication
  • Request throttling

Basic Command Syntax

chttp [command] [options]

Common HTTP Request Options

Required Options

  • --uri <URL> (or -u): The target URL (REQUIRED)

HTTP Configuration

  • --http-version <1.0|1.1|2|3> (or -v): HTTP version to use [default: 3]
  • --method <GET|POST|PUT|DELETE|HEAD|OPTIONS|CONNECT|TRACE> (or -m): HTTP method [default: GET]
  • --header (or -h): Add headers as key:value pairs (can be used multiple times)
    • Example: --header="Content-Type:application/json"

Request Body & Content

  • --body (or -b): Request body or path to file containing the request body
    • Note: JSON strings must be saved to a file, not passed directly
  • --upload-throttle: Throttle upload speed in KB/s

Response & Behavior

  • --timeout (or -t): Timeout in seconds [default: 30]
  • --no-redirects: Disable automatic redirect following
  • --no-cert-validation or --no-certificate-validation: Skip certificate validation (useful for testing)
  • --log <Normal|Quiet|Silent|Verbose> (or -l): Logging level [default: Verbose]
    • Quiet: Only summary
    • Normal: Headers and summary
    • Verbose: Headers, content, and summary
  • --output (or -o): Save response to file

Advanced Options

  • --cookie-container: Path to file for sharing cookies across requests
  • --kerberos-auth (or -k): Enable Kerberos authentication

Examples

Basic GET Request

chttp --http-version 2 --method GET --uri https://api.example.com/data

POST Request with Headers and Body

chttp --http-version 2 --method POST --uri https://api.example.com/data --header="Content-Type:application/json" --body request.json

Using HTTP/2 (Default for this Skill)

chttp --http-version 2 --method GET --uri https://api.example.com

Quiet Output

chttp --http-version 2 --log Quiet --uri https://api.example.com

Performance Measurement Command

Measure performance by sending multiple requests with multiple concurrent clients.

chttp perf [options]

Performance-Specific Options

  • --clients (or -c): Number of parallel clients [default: 20]
  • --requestCount (or -n): Total number of requests [default: 100]
  • --output (or -o): Save results to JSON file
  • --shared-sockethandler: Use socket pooling for multiple connections
  • --metrics: Publish metrics to gRPC OpenTelemetry endpoint

Performance Example

chttp perf --http-version 2 --uri https://api.example.com --clients 10 --requestCount 1000 --output results.json

Performance Output Includes

  • Mean, Standard Deviation, Median, Min, Max latencies
  • 95th percentile latency
  • Throughput (B/s)
  • Requests per second
  • Distribution histogram
  • HTTP status code breakdown

Performance Comparison Command

Compare two performance measurement files.

chttp diff --files session1.json --files session2.json

This shows session1 as baseline and differences in session2, using:

  • = for similar results in both sessions
  • # for more results in baseline
  • + for more results in comparison session

CHttpExec - Batch Testing

For CI/CD pipelines, use CHttpExec with .chttp files:

chttpexec tests/test.chttp

.chttp File Format with Assertions

# @name validation
# @clientsCount 10
# @requestCount 100
# @assert mean < 1s stddev < 0.5s requestSec >= 0 throughput > 0 successStatus == 100
GET https://{{baseUrl}}/echo HTTP/2

{{nextRequest}}

Assertion Parameters

  • mean: Average latency
  • stddev: Standard deviation
  • error: Error margin
  • median: Median latency
  • min/max: Min/max latencies
  • throughput: Data throughput
  • requestsec: Requests per second
  • percentile95th: 95th percentile latency
  • successStatus: Count of successful responses

Time Units

  • s: Seconds
  • ms: Milliseconds
  • us: Microseconds
  • ns: Nanoseconds

When to Use CHttp

Use this skill when the user wants to:

  • Send HTTP requests from the command line
  • Test API endpoints
  • Measure HTTP performance and latency
  • Compare performance across different scenarios
  • Load test a server with configurable concurrency
  • Debug HTTP interactions with custom headers and timeouts
  • Validate HTTP status codes and responses
  • Test different HTTP versions (1.0, 1.1, 2, 3)
  • Authenticate using Kerberos
  • Manage cookies across multiple requests
  • Analyze performance distributions and throughput

Integration with Development

CHttp can be installed as:

  1. A .NET global tool: dotnet tool install -g LaDeak.CHttp --prerelease and dotnet tool install -g LaDeak.CHttpExec --prerelease
  2. A standalone executable (from releases)
  3. A Visual Studio Code extension

For C# projects, use the MeasurementsSession API directly to embed performance measurement logic.

Common Use Cases

  1. Quick API Testing: Verify endpoint responses with different methods and headers
  2. Performance Baseline: Establish baseline performance metrics for an API
  3. Regression Testing: Compare current performance against baseline measurements
  4. Load Testing: Stress test endpoints with configurable concurrency
  5. HTTP Version Testing: Compare performance across different HTTP versions
  6. CI/CD Integration: Use CHttpExec for automated performance validation