python-cURL

Python automation to send HTTP requests using cURL. Despite the various other Python tools such as requests, urllib, and PycURL, I have created this just for learning purposes and to implement features that I would like to have that may not be implemented in the others.

Python Version

• Python 3.10 and above

Create virtual environment using Python (using Python3.10)

Using Python3.10

• Create

$ python3.10 -m venv `path/to/venv`

• Activate

$ path/to/venv/scripts/activate

OR

$ source path/to/venv/bin/activate

Package Installation (from within virtual environment)

• Install neccessary packages from requirements.txt

$ pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

To run the script

Assume using Python3.10

Adding custom url

• Else defaults to http://localhost:4000

$ python3.10 py_curl.py --<method> /api/route -u `custom_url`
$ python3.10 py_curl.py --<method> /api/route --url `custom_url`

GET

$ python3.10 py_curl.py --get /api/route
$ python3.10 py_curl.py --get --url `custom_url`

POST

$ python3.10 py_curl.py --post /api/route
$ python3.10 py_curl.py --post --url `custom_url`

PUT

$ python3.10 py_curl.py --put /api/route
$ python3.10 py_curl.py --put --url `custom_url`

DELETE

$ python3.10 py_curl.py --delete /api/route
$ python3.10 py_curl.py --delete --url `custom_url`

Adding custom path for request body data

• Else defaults to req_body.json (as specified in the default config.json)

$ python3.10 py_curl.py --<method> /api/route -d `custom_json`.json
$ python3.10 py_curl.py --<method> /api/route --data `custom_json`.json

Format the request body data for the POST, PUT or DELETE requests as follows:

{
  "name": "random_name",
  "data": "random_data"
}

Adding request repeat amount for a period of time

• Set the amount of time the request should be sent within a period of time; default 1 time only (as specified in the default config.json)

$ python3.10 py_curl.py --<method> /api/route -r `number_of_times_to_send`
$ python3.10 py_curl.py --<method> /api/route --repeat `number_of_times_to_send`

• The -r or --repeat field could be used together with the -t or --time flag too. This flag is to set the time interval between each request in seconds. (default 1 second - as specified in the default config.json)

$ py curl.py --<method> /api/route -r `number_of_times_to_send` -t `time_period`
$ py curl.py --<method> /api/route --repeat `number_of_times_to_send` --time `time_period`

Adding custom headers

• By default, it would only contain one custom header: "Content-Type: application/json"
• Simply enter the header information in the req_headers.json file similar to the request body json file:

{
  "header_1": "header_1_value",
  "header_2": "header_2_value"
}

config.json

The following config.json values can be updated. These values are overwriten by the input flags if provided.

• url_endpoint: Custom URL (-u, --url flag)
• req_body_json_file_location: Request body data json file location (-d, --d flag)
• req_headers_json_file_location: Request headers data json file location (no flag)
• req_repeat: Set the amount of time the request should be sent within a period of time (-r , --repeat flag)
• time_interval_secs: Set the time interval between each request in seconds (-t, --time flag)

To Note

• Supports any OS that has the cURL executable, that can be ran on a proper bash/terminal/command prompt or any type of command shell. To date, this software has only been tested on Window -- Not tested on other OS yet such as MacOS and Linux. However, it would probably work too as these OS suppports cURL.
• Only works with fields containing one layer string; but not nested items such as object or arrays of any sort

Add-on/improvement ideas

• Use the @ with -d or --data flag instead

$ curl -X POST -d @req_body.json https://...

• Support for array and object to be sent in the request body
• Feature to cache the request route URL within a .txt file
• Sending multiple requests for rate limit testing of server routes