Quest

An HTTP client CLI for all your fetch (re)quests. Quest combines the simplicity of direct terminal commands with the power of reusable, templated request configurations.

Features

• Direct HTTP requests from the command line
• Reusable request templates in YAML quest files
• Environment variable support with default values
• Composable URLs with base_url and path
• YAML anchors and merge keys for DRY configurations

Installation

cargo install quest-cli

Or from source:

cargo install --git https://github.com/theelderbeever/quest-cli

Quick Start

Direct Requests

Make HTTP requests directly from the command line:

# Simple GET request
quest get https://api.example.com/users

# POST with JSON body
quest post https://api.example.com/users --json '{"name": "John"}'

# With authentication
quest get https://api.example.com/protected --bearer YOUR_TOKEN

# With query parameters
quest get https://api.example.com/users --param status=active --param role=admin

# Multiple options
quest post https://api.example.com/users \
  --bearer TOKEN \
  --header "X-Custom: value" \
  --json '{"name": "Jane"}' \
  --timeout 30s

Quest Files

Define reusable requests in a .quests.yaml file:

# Define reusable defaults with YAML anchors
x-api-defaults: &api-defaults
  base_url: https://api.example.com
  bearer: "${API_TOKEN}"
  accept: application/json
  timeout: 30s

quests:
  get-user:
    <<: *api-defaults
    method: get
    path: /users/1

  list-users:
    <<: *api-defaults
    method: get
    path: /users
    params:
      - status=active
      - limit=10

  create-user:
    <<: *api-defaults
    method: post
    path: /users
    json: '{"name": "John Doe", "email": "[email protected]"}'

Execute named quests:

# List all available quests
quest list

# Run a quest from the file
quest go get-user

# Override quest file settings from CLI
quest go get-user --bearer DIFFERENT_TOKEN

# Use a different quest file
quest list -f my-quests.yaml
quest go -f my-quests.yaml create-user

Usage

HTTP Methods

Quest supports all standard HTTP methods:

quest get <URL>
quest post <URL>
quest put <URL>
quest patch <URL>
quest delete <URL>

Authentication

Bearer Token:

quest get https://api.example.com/data --bearer YOUR_TOKEN

Basic Auth:

quest get https://api.example.com/data --auth username:password
quest get https://api.example.com/data --basic username:password

Custom Headers:

quest get https://api.example.com/data -H "Authorization: Custom token"

Query Parameters

Add query parameters to your requests:

# Single parameter
quest get https://api.example.com/users --param name=John

# Multiple parameters (short form)
quest get https://api.example.com/users -p status=active -p page=1 -p limit=20

In quest files:

quests:
  search:
    method: get
    url: https://api.example.com/search
    param:  # or use "params" as alias
      - q=rust
      - type=repository
      - sort=stars

Request Body

JSON Body:

# Inline JSON
quest post https://api.example.com/users --json '{"name": "John", "age": 30}'

# From file
quest post https://api.example.com/users --json @data.json

Form Data:

quest post https://api.example.com/upload \
  --form "name=John" \
  --form "[email protected]" \
  --form "[email protected]"

Raw/Binary Data:

quest post https://api.example.com/data --raw "plain text data"
quest post https://api.example.com/upload --binary @file.bin

Headers

Custom Headers:

quest get https://api.example.com/data \
  -H "X-Custom-Header: value" \
  -H "X-Another: another-value"

Common Headers:

quest get https://api.example.com/data \
  --user-agent "MyApp/1.0" \
  --accept "application/json" \
  --content-type "application/json" \
  --referer "https://example.com"

Composable URLs

Instead of repeating full URLs, use base_url with path:

x-defaults: &defaults
  base_url: https://api.example.com
  bearer: "${API_TOKEN}"

quests:
  get-users:
    <<: *defaults
    method: get
    path: /users  # Results in: https://api.example.com/users

  get-user:
    <<: *defaults
    method: get
    path: /users/1  # Results in: https://api.example.com/users/1

You can also use a direct url field if preferred:

quests:
  get-user:
    method: get
    url: https://api.example.com/users/1

Environment Variables

Quest supports shell-style environment variable expansion with default values:

quests:
  api-call:
    method: get
    url: ${API_URL:-https://api.example.com}/users
    bearer: "${API_TOKEN}"
    timeout: ${TIMEOUT:-30s}

Load environment variables from a file:

# Default: .env
quest go api-call

# Custom env file
quest -e .env.production go api-call

Timeouts

Request Timeout:

quest get https://api.example.com/data --timeout 30s
quest get https://api.example.com/data -t 5m

Connection Timeout:

quest get https://api.example.com/data --connect-timeout 10s

Supported time units: s (seconds), m (minutes), h (hours), ms (milliseconds)

Redirects

Follow Redirects:

quest get https://example.com/redirect -L
quest get https://example.com/redirect --location --max-redirects 5

TLS/SSL

Skip Certificate Verification:

quest get https://self-signed.example.com -k
quest get https://self-signed.example.com --insecure

Client Certificates:

quest get https://api.example.com/data \
  --cert client.crt \
  --key client.key

Custom CA Certificate:

quest get https://api.example.com/data --cacert ca.crt

Proxy

HTTP/HTTPS Proxy:

quest get https://api.example.com/data --proxy http://proxy.example.com:8080
quest get https://api.example.com/data -x http://user:[email protected]:8080

Proxy Authentication:

quest get https://api.example.com/data \
  --proxy http://proxy.example.com:8080 \
  --proxy-auth username:password

Output Options

Save to File:

quest get https://api.example.com/data -o response.json
quest get https://api.example.com/data --output response.json

Request Compressed Response:

quest get https://api.example.com/data --compressed

Simple Output (no color):

quest get https://api.example.com/data --simple

Verbose Output:

quest get https://api.example.com/data -v
quest get https://api.example.com/data --verbose

Quest File Reference

Complete Example

# Define reusable configurations with YAML anchors
x-api-defaults: &api-defaults
  base_url: https://api.example.com
  bearer: "${API_TOKEN}"
  accept: application/json
  timeout: 30s

x-test-defaults: &test-defaults
  base_url: https://httpbin.org
  timeout: 10s

quests:
  # Simple GET request
  get-user:
    <<: *api-defaults
    method: get
    path: /users/1

  # GET with query parameters
  search-users:
    <<: *api-defaults
    method: get
    path: /users
    params:
      - status=active
      - role=admin
      - limit=50

  # POST with JSON body
  create-user:
    <<: *api-defaults
    method: post
    path: /users
    json: |
      {
        "name": "John Doe",
        "email": "[email protected]",
        "role": "user"
      }

  # POST with form data
  upload-file:
    <<: *api-defaults
    method: post
    path: /upload
    form:
      - name=document
      - [email protected]
      - description=Important file

  # Request with custom headers
  custom-request:
    <<: *api-defaults
    method: get
    path: /data
    header:
      - "X-Custom-Header: custom-value"
      - "X-Request-ID: ${REQUEST_ID}"

  # Using httpbin for testing
  test-post:
    <<: *test-defaults
    method: post
    path: /post
    json: '{"test": "data"}'
    param:
      - foo=bar

Field Reference

URL Configuration:

• url: Full URL (mutually exclusive with base_url/path)
• base_url: Base URL to combine with path
• path: Path to append to base_url

Request Configuration:

• method: HTTP method (get, post, put, patch, delete)
• bearer: Bearer token authentication
• basic: Basic authentication (user:pass format)
• auth: Alias for basic authentication

Query Parameters:

• param: List of query parameters (key=value format)
• params: Alias for param

Headers:

• header: List of custom headers (key:value format)
• user_agent: User-Agent header
• accept: Accept header
• content_type: Content-Type header
• referer: Referer header

Body:

• json: JSON body (string or @file)
• form: Form data (list of key=value)
• raw: Raw body data
• binary: Binary body data

Timeouts:

• timeout: Overall request timeout (e.g., "30s", "1m")
• connect_timeout: Connection timeout

Redirects:

• location: Follow redirects (boolean)
• max_redirects: Maximum redirects to follow

TLS:

• insecure: Skip TLS verification (boolean)
• cert: Client certificate file
• key: Client certificate key file
• cacert: CA certificate file

Proxy:

• proxy: Proxy server URL
• proxy_auth: Proxy authentication (user:pass format)

Output:

• output: Output file path
• compressed: Request compressed response (boolean)
• simple: Simple output without color (boolean)
• verbose: Verbose output (boolean)

Examples

See the .quests.yaml file for comprehensive examples of all features.

Environment Variables

Quest loads environment variables from .env by default, or from a file specified with -e:

# Use default .env
quest go my-quest

# Use custom env file
quest -e .env.production go my-quest

# Use .env.local
quest -e .env.local go my-quest

Environment variables can include default values using shell syntax:

${VAR:-default_value}

Contributing

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

License

MIT