curl-command-generator

v2026.09.24
patricio0312rev/skills00

Generates ready-to-run cURL commands from Express, Next.js, Fastify, or other API routes. Creates copy-paste commands with proper headers, authentication, and request bodies. Use when users request "generate curl commands", "curl examples", "api curl", or "command line api testing".

GitHub
Install command
npx skhub add patricio0312rev/curl-command-generator
Markdown
SKILL.md

cURL Command Generator

Generate ready-to-run cURL commands for quick API testing from the command line.

Core Workflow

  1. Scan routes: Find all API route definitions
  2. Extract metadata: Methods, paths, params, bodies
  3. Generate commands: Create cURL commands with flags
  4. Add authentication: Bearer, Basic, API Key headers
  5. Include examples: Request bodies with sample data
  6. Output options: Markdown, shell script, or plain text

Basic cURL Syntax

# GET request
curl -X GET "http://localhost:3000/api/users"

# POST with JSON body
curl -X POST "http://localhost:3000/api/users" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "John", "email": "john@example.com"}'

# With authentication
curl -X GET "http://localhost:3000/api/users" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

# With query parameters
curl -X GET "http://localhost:3000/api/users?page=1&limit=10"

# Show response headers
curl -i -X GET "http://localhost:3000/api/users"

# Verbose output
curl -v -X GET "http://localhost:3000/api/users"

Generator Script

// scripts/generate-curl.ts
import * as fs from "fs";

interface RouteInfo {
  method: string;
  path: string;
  name: string;
  description?: string;
  body?: object;
  queryParams?: { name: string; value: string }[];
  auth?: boolean;
}

interface CurlOptions {
  baseUrl: string;
  authHeader?: string;
  verbose?: boolean;
  showHeaders?: boolean;
  format?: "markdown" | "shell" | "plain";
}

function generateCurlCommand(route: RouteInfo, options: CurlOptions): string {
  const parts: string[] = ["curl"];

  // Add flags
  if (options.verbose) {
    parts.push("-v");
  }
  if (options.showHeaders) {
    parts.push("-i");
  }

  // Method
  parts.push(`-X ${route.method}`);

  // URL with query params
  let url = `${options.baseUrl}${route.path}`;

  // Replace path params with placeholders
  url = url.replace(/:(\w+)/g, "{$1}");

  // Add query params
  if (route.queryParams?.length) {
    const queryString = route.queryParams
      .map((p) => `${p.name}=${p.value}`)
      .join("&");
    url += `?${queryString}`;
  }

  parts.push(`"${url}"`);

  // Headers
  if (["POST", "PUT", "PATCH"].includes(route.method)) {
    parts.push('-H "Content-Type: application/json"');
  }

  if (route.auth && options.authHeader) {
    parts.push(`-H "${options.authHeader}"`);
  }

  // Request body
  if (route.body && ["POST", "PUT", "PATCH"].includes(route.method)) {
    const bodyJson = JSON.stringify(route.body);
    parts.push(`-d '${bodyJson}'`);
  }

  return parts.join(" \\\n  ");
}

function generateCurlCommands(
  routes: RouteInfo[],
  options: CurlOptions
): string {
  const lines: string[] = [];

  if (options.format === "markdown") {
    lines.push("# API cURL Commands");
    lines.push("");
    lines.push(`Base URL: \`${options.baseUrl}\``);
    lines.push("");
  } else if (options.format === "shell") {
    lines.push("#!/bin/bash");
    lines.push("");
    lines.push(`BASE_URL="${options.baseUrl}"`);
    lines.push('AUTH_TOKEN="${AUTH_TOKEN:-your-token-here}"');
    lines.push("");
  }

  // Group by resource
  const groupedRoutes = groupRoutesByResource(routes);

  for (const [resource, resourceRoutes] of Object.entries(groupedRoutes)) {
    if (options.format === "markdown") {
      lines.push(`## ${capitalize(resource)}`);
      lines.push("");
    } else if (options.format === "shell") {
      lines.push(`# ${capitalize(resource)}`);
      lines.push("");
    }

    for (const route of resourceRoutes) {
      if (options.format === "markdown") {
        lines.push(`### ${route.name}`);
        if (route.description) {
          lines.push(route.description);
        }
        lines.push("");
        lines.push("```bash");
      } else {
        lines.push(`# ${route.name}`);
      }

      lines.push(generateCurlCommand(route, options));

      if (options.format === "markdown") {
        lines.push("```");
      }
      lines.push("");
    }
  }

  return lines.join("\n");
}

function groupRoutesByResource(
  routes: RouteInfo[]
): Record<string, RouteInfo[]> {
  const groups: Record<string, RouteInfo[]> = {};

  for (const route of routes) {
    const parts = route.path.split("/").filter(Boolean);
    const resource = parts[0] || "api";

    if (!groups[resource]) {
      groups[resource] = [];
    }
    groups[resource].push(route);
  }

  return groups;
}

function capitalize(str: string): string {
  return str.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + str.slice(1);
}

Complete Example Output (Markdown)

# API cURL Commands

Base URL: `http://localhost:3000/api`

## Authentication

### Login

```bash
curl -X POST "http://localhost:3000/api/auth/login" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email": "user@example.com", "password": "password123"}'

Register

curl -X POST "http://localhost:3000/api/auth/register" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "New User", "email": "new@example.com", "password": "securepass123"}'

Users

List Users

curl -X GET "http://localhost:3000/api/users?page=1&limit=10" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Get User by ID

curl -X GET "http://localhost:3000/api/users/{id}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Create User

curl -X POST "http://localhost:3000/api/users" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"name": "John Doe", "email": "john@example.com", "role": "user"}'

Update User

curl -X PUT "http://localhost:3000/api/users/{id}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"name": "John Updated", "email": "john.updated@example.com"}'

Delete User

curl -X DELETE "http://localhost:3000/api/users/{id}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"


## Shell Script Output

```bash
#!/bin/bash
# api-commands.sh

BASE_URL="${BASE_URL:-http://localhost:3000/api}"
AUTH_TOKEN="${AUTH_TOKEN:-your-token-here}"

# Authentication

# Login
login() {
  curl -X POST "${BASE_URL}/auth/login" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d "{\"email\": \"$1\", \"password\": \"$2\"}"
}

# Users

# List Users
list_users() {
  local page="${1:-1}"
  local limit="${2:-10}"
  curl -X GET "${BASE_URL}/users?page=${page}&limit=${limit}" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AUTH_TOKEN}"
}

# Get User by ID
get_user() {
  curl -X GET "${BASE_URL}/users/$1" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AUTH_TOKEN}"
}

# Create User
create_user() {
  curl -X POST "${BASE_URL}/users" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AUTH_TOKEN}" \
    -d "$1"
}

# Update User
update_user() {
  curl -X PUT "${BASE_URL}/users/$1" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AUTH_TOKEN}" \
    -d "$2"
}

# Delete User
delete_user() {
  curl -X DELETE "${BASE_URL}/users/$1" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AUTH_TOKEN}"
}

# Usage examples:
# ./api-commands.sh
# login user@example.com password123
# list_users 1 10
# get_user abc123
# create_user '{"name": "John", "email": "john@example.com"}'
# update_user abc123 '{"name": "John Updated"}'
# delete_user abc123

# Execute command if provided
if [ -n "$1" ]; then
  "$@"
fi

Advanced cURL Flags

# Common useful flags
curl -X GET "http://localhost:3000/api/users" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" \
  -i                              # Include response headers
  -v                              # Verbose output
  -s                              # Silent mode (no progress)
  -S                              # Show errors in silent mode
  -o response.json                # Save response to file
  -w "\n%{http_code}\n"           # Print status code
  --connect-timeout 5             # Connection timeout
  --max-time 30                   # Max request time
  -L                              # Follow redirects
  -k                              # Skip SSL verification (dev only)

# Pretty print JSON response
curl -s "http://localhost:3000/api/users" | jq .

# Save cookies and use them
curl -c cookies.txt -b cookies.txt "http://localhost:3000/api/auth/login"

# Upload file
curl -X POST "http://localhost:3000/api/upload" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" \
  -F "file=@./document.pdf"

# Form data
curl -X POST "http://localhost:3000/api/form" \
  -d "name=John&email=john@example.com"

# With timing info
curl -X GET "http://localhost:3000/api/users" \
  -w "\nDNS: %{time_namelookup}s\nConnect: %{time_connect}s\nTotal: %{time_total}s\n"

Environment-Specific Commands

# .env.curl
# Development
DEV_URL="http://localhost:3000/api"
DEV_TOKEN=""

# Staging
STAGING_URL="https://staging-api.example.com"
STAGING_TOKEN=""

# Production
PROD_URL="https://api.example.com"
PROD_TOKEN=""

#!/bin/bash
# curl-env.sh

set -a
source .env.curl
set +a

ENV="${1:-dev}"

case $ENV in
  dev)
    BASE_URL="$DEV_URL"
    AUTH_TOKEN="$DEV_TOKEN"
    ;;
  staging)
    BASE_URL="$STAGING_URL"
    AUTH_TOKEN="$STAGING_TOKEN"
    ;;
  prod)
    BASE_URL="$PROD_URL"
    AUTH_TOKEN="$PROD_TOKEN"
    ;;
esac

export BASE_URL AUTH_TOKEN
echo "Using $ENV environment: $BASE_URL"

CLI Script

#!/usr/bin/env node
// scripts/curl-gen.ts
import * as fs from "fs";
import { program } from "commander";

program
  .name("curl-gen")
  .description("Generate cURL commands from API routes")
  .option("-f, --framework <type>", "Framework type", "express")
  .option("-s, --source <path>", "Source directory", "./src")
  .option("-o, --output <path>", "Output file", "./docs/api-curl.md")
  .option("-b, --base-url <url>", "Base URL", "http://localhost:3000/api")
  .option("--format <type>", "Output format (markdown|shell|plain)", "markdown")
  .option("-v, --verbose", "Include verbose flag")
  .parse();

const options = program.opts();

async function main() {
  const routes = await scanRoutes(options.framework, options.source);

  const content = generateCurlCommands(routes, {
    baseUrl: options.baseUrl,
    authHeader: "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN",
    verbose: options.verbose,
    format: options.format,
  });

  fs.writeFileSync(options.output, content);
  console.log(`Generated ${options.output} with ${routes.length} commands`);
}

main();

Makefile Integration

# Makefile
BASE_URL ?= http://localhost:3000/api
AUTH_TOKEN ?= your-token-here

.PHONY: api-login api-users api-user api-create-user

api-login:
	@curl -X POST "$(BASE_URL)/auth/login" \
		-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
		-d '{"email": "$(EMAIL)", "password": "$(PASSWORD)"}'

api-users:
	@curl -X GET "$(BASE_URL)/users" \
		-H "Authorization: Bearer $(AUTH_TOKEN)"

api-user:
	@curl -X GET "$(BASE_URL)/users/$(ID)" \
		-H "Authorization: Bearer $(AUTH_TOKEN)"

api-create-user:
	@curl -X POST "$(BASE_URL)/users" \
		-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
		-H "Authorization: Bearer $(AUTH_TOKEN)" \
		-d '$(DATA)'

# Usage:
# make api-login EMAIL=user@example.com PASSWORD=pass123
# make api-users AUTH_TOKEN=xxx
# make api-user ID=123 AUTH_TOKEN=xxx
# make api-create-user DATA='{"name":"John"}' AUTH_TOKEN=xxx

Best Practices

  1. Use variables: Replace tokens and IDs with placeholders
  2. Pretty print: Pipe to jq for readable JSON output
  3. Save responses: Use -o to save responses for analysis
  4. Check status: Use -w "%{http_code}" to see status codes
  5. Silent mode: Use -sS for scripts to hide progress
  6. Document examples: Include realistic sample data
  7. Version control: Commit curl docs to repository
  8. Environment files: Use env files for different environments

Output Checklist

  • All routes converted to cURL commands
  • Path parameters use {param} placeholder syntax
  • Query parameters included in URL
  • Request bodies with sample JSON data
  • Content-Type header for POST/PUT/PATCH
  • Authorization header with placeholder token
  • Commands grouped by resource
  • Output in requested format (markdown/shell/plain)
  • Proper escaping for shell special characters
Discovery
Tags

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Version
Latest version metadata

Version

v2026.09.24

Published

Sep 24, 2026

Category

Uncategorized

License

MIT

Source path

testing/curl-command-generator

Default branch

main

Latest commit

79ea6af

Tree SHA

d2efd68