Generate curl commands directly from your HttpClient or HttpRequestMessage in .NET — perfect for debugging, logging, and sharing HTTP requests.
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HttpClientToCurl is a lightweight and powerful .NET extension library that turns your HTTP requests into curl commands.
It works with both HttpClient and HttpRequestMessage, giving you two simple ways to generate curl commands:
🧰 1. Manual Mode
Generate curl commands on demand using extension methods on either HttpClient or HttpRequestMessage.
Best for:
Debugging individual requests, creating reproducible Postman calls, or sharing API examples.
🧩 2. Automatic Mode
Automatically generates curl output whenever your app sends a request.
You can configure it through dependency injection:
Global Registration — enable for all HttpClient instances created via IHttpClientFactory
Per-Client Registration — enable only for selected clients
Best for:
Logging, monitoring, or tracing outgoing requests across the application.
💡 Why Use HttpClientToCurl?
🧪 Instantly visualise and debug request payloads or headers
🤝 Share exact API calls with teammates or QA engineers
⚙️ Simplify Postman and CLI reproduction
🧩 Lightweight, dependency-free, and easy to integrate
using System.Text;
using HttpClientToCurl;
class Program
{
static async Task Main()
{
var baseAddress = new Uri("http://localhost:1213/v1/");
var requestUri = "api/test";
using var httpClientInstance = new HttpClient { BaseAddress = baseAddress };
string requestBody = @"{""name"":""sara"",""requestId"":10001001,""amount"":20000}";
var httpRequestMessageInstance = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, requestUri)
{
Content = new StringContent(requestBody, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json")
};
httpRequestMessageInstance.Headers.Add("Authorization", "Bearer YourAccessToken");
// Option 1: Generate curl from HttpClient
httpClientInstance.GenerateCurlInConsole(httpRequestMessageInstance);
// Option 2: Generate curl from HttpRequestMessage
httpRequestMessageInstance.GenerateCurlInConsole(baseAddress);
await httpClientInstance.SendAsync(httpRequestMessageInstance);
}
}
Enable curl logging for specific named clients only.
Program.cs / Startup.cs
using HttpClientToCurl;
// Register the curl generator once
builder.Services.AddHttpClientToCurl(builder.Configuration);
// Enable curl logging for selected clients
builder.Services.AddHttpClient("my-client1", showCurl: true);
appsettings.json
"HttpClientToCurl": {
"Enable": true, // Master switch: enable or disable the entire HttpClientToCURL logging system
"ShowOnConsole": {
"TurnOn": true, // Enable console output for generated curl commands
"NeedAddDefaultHeaders": true, // Include default headers (like User-Agent, Accept, etc.) in the curl output
"EnableCompression": false, // Compress the console log output (not recommended for debugging readability)
"EnableCodeBeautification": true // Beautify and format the curl command for better readability
},
"SaveToFile": {
"TurnOn": true, // Enable saving the generated curl commands into a file
"NeedAddDefaultHeaders": true, // Include default headers (like User-Agent, Accept, etc.) in the curl output
"EnableCompression": false, // Compress the saved file (useful if logging a large number of requests)
"Filename": "curl_commands", // Name of the output file without extension (e.g., will produce curl_commands.log)
"Path": "C:\\Users\\Public" // Directory path where the log file will be created
},
"SendToLogger": {
"TurnOn": true, // Enable sending curl commands to ILogger (integrates with Application Insights, Seq, Serilog, etc.)
"NeedAddDefaultHeaders": true, // Include default headers (like User-Agent, Accept, etc.) in the curl output
"EnableCompression": false, // Compress the logged output
"LogLevel": "Debug" // Log level: Trace, Debug, Information, Warning, Error, Critical
}
}
2️⃣ Global Registration
Enable curl generation globally — every HttpClient created through IHttpClientFactory will automatically log curl commands.
Program.cs / Startup.cs
using HttpClientToCurl;
// Register global curl generation
builder.Services.AddAllHttpClientToCurl(builder.Configuration);
// Register default HttpClient (now curl-enabled)
builder.Services.AddHttpClient();
appsettings.json
(same configuration options as above)
🧩 Features
Feature
Description
🔁 Methods
Supports GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE
🧠 Content Types
JSON, XML, FormUrlEncodedContent
💾 Output
Console • File • String • ILogger
🎨 Beautified Output
Optional pretty printing
📊 Logging Integration
Works with Application Insights, Seq, Serilog, and other ILogger providers
