Your first curl

Send a real HTTP request from the terminal

⏱ Est. ~5 min

01 · Read

curl is your walkie-talkie for talking to the network.

You speak (send a request), the server replies (sends a response). No browser, no app, no abstractions — just you and the raw conversation.

Every engineer uses curl to test APIs, debug requests, and check whether a server is still alive. It's one of the most useful tools you'll ever learn.

Key points

curl <url> sends a GET request and prints the response body
curl -i <url> prints the response headers above the body
curl -s <url> is silent mode — hides the progress bar
For API endpoints, the response body is usually JSON

02 · Terminal exercise

Let's send your first HTTP request. You're about to talk to a server directly — no browser needed.

(This section is interactive — please enable JavaScript.)

03 · Quiz

What does curl do?

Compiles code
Creates files
Sends HTTP requests from the command line
Manages packages

04 · Fill in the blank

To send a GET request with curl, type curl _____.

05 · Terminal exercise

Now let's see the full response — including headers. Add the -i flag (i = include headers).

(This section is interactive — please enable JavaScript.)

06 · Quiz

You run curl https://api.example.com/users and get JSON data back. What kind of HTTP request did curl send?

POST
PUT
DELETE
GET

07 · Fill in the blank

To include response headers in curl's output, add the _____ flag.

Other lessons in this chapter

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