+
+Slumber is a terminal-based HTTP client, built for interacting with REST and other HTTP clients. It has two usage modes: Terminal User Interface (TUI) and Command Line Interface (CLI). The TUI is the most useful, and allows for interactively sending requests and viewing responses. The CLI is useful for sending quick requests and scripting.
+The goal of Slumber is to be easy to use, configurable, and sharable. To that end, configuration is defined in a YAML file called the request collection. Both usage modes share the same basic configuration, which is called the request collection.
+Check out the Getting Started guide to try it out, or move onto Key Concepts to start learning in depth about Slumber.
+
+See installation instructions
+
+
+Once you've installed Slumber, setup is easy.
+
+Create a file called slumber.yml and add the following contents:
+requests:
+ get:
+ method: GET
+ url: https://httpbin.org/get
+
+
+slumber
+
+
+Here's a more complete example:
+# slumber.yml
+profiles:
+ local:
+ data:
+ host: http://localhost:5000
+ production:
+ data:
+ host: https://myfishes.fish
+
+requests:
+ create_fish:
+ method: POST
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes"
+ body: >
+ {"kind": "barracuda", "name": "Jimmy"}
+
+ list_fish:
+ method: GET
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes"
+
+This request collection uses templates and profiles allow you to dynamically change the target host.
+
+There are a handful of key concepts you need to understand how to effectively configure and use Slumber. You can read about each one in detail on its linked API reference page.
+
+The collection is the main form of configuration. It defines a set of request recipes, which enable Slumber to make requests to your API.
+
+A recipe defines which HTTP requests Slumber can make. A recipe generally correponds to one endpoint on an API, although you can create as many recipes per endpoint as you'd like.
+
+Templates are Slumber's most powerful feature. They allow you to dynamically build URLs, query parameters, request bodies, etc. using predefined or dynamic values.
+
+A profile is a set of static template values. A collection can contain a list of profiles, allowing you to quickly switch between different sets of values. This is useful for using different deployment environments, different sets of IDs, etc.
+
+The Terminal User Interface (TUI) is the primary use case for Slumber. It provides a long-lived, interactive interface for sending HTTP requests, akin to Insomnia or Postman. The difference of course is Slumber runs entirely in the terminal.
+To start the TUI, simply run:
+slumber
+
+This will detect your request collection file according to the protocol. If you want to load a different file, you can use the --collection parameter:
+slumber --collection my-slumber.yml
+
+
+Once you start your Slumber, that session is tied to a single collection file. Whenever that file is modified, Slumber will automatically reload it and changes will immediately be reflected in the TUI. If auto-reload isn't working for some reason, you can manually reload the file with the r key.
+
+Slumber supports running multiple sessions at once, even on the same collection. Request history is stored in a thread-safe SQLite, so multiple sessions can safely interact simultaneously.
+If you frequently run multiple sessions together and want to quickly switch between them, consider a configurable terminal manager like tmux or Zellij.
+
+While Slumber is primary intended as a TUI, it also provides a Command Line Interface (CLI). The CLI can be used to send requests, just like the TUI. It also provides some utility commands for functionality not available in the TUI. For a full list of available commands, run:
+slumber help
+
+
+There are many use cases to which the CLI is better suited than the TUI, including:
+
+- Sending a single one-off request
+- Sending many requests in parallel
+- Automating requests in a script
+
+Given this request collection:
+profiles:
+ production:
+ data:
+ host: https://myfishes.fish
+
+requests:
+ list_fish:
+ method: GET
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes"
+
+You can use the request subcommand:
+slumber request --profile production list_fishes
+slumber rq -p production list_fishes # This is equivalent, just shorter
+
+
+By default, the CLI returns exit code 1 if there is a fatal error, e.g. the request failed to build or a network error occurred. If an HTTP response was received and parsed, the process will exit with code 0, regardless of HTTP status.
+If you want to set the exit code based on the HTTP response status, use the flag --exit-code.
+| Code | Reason |
|---|
+| 0 | HTTP response received |
+| 1 | Fatal error |
+| 2 | HTTP response had status >=400 (with --exit-code) |
+
+
Templates enable dynamic string construction. Slumber's template language is relatively simple, compared to complex HTML templating languages like Handlebars or Jinja. The goal is to be intuitive and unsurprising. It doesn't support complex features like loops, conditionals, etc.
+Most string values (i.e. not keys) in a request collection are templates, meaning they support templating. The syntax for templating a value into a string is double curly braces {{...}}. The contents inside the braces tell Slumber how to retrieve the dynamic value.
+This guide serves as a functional example of how to use templates. For detailed information on options available, see the API reference.
+
+Let's start with a simple example. Let's say you're working on a fish-themed website, and you want to make requests both to your local stack and the deployed site. Templates, combined with profiles, allow you to easily switch between hosts:
+
+Note: for the purposes of these examples, I've made up some theoretical endpoints and responses, following standard REST practice. This isn't a real API but it should get the point across.
+Additionally, these examples will use the CLI because it's easy to demonstrate in text. All these concepts apply equally to the TUI.
+
+profiles:
+ local:
+ data:
+ host: http://localhost:5000
+ production:
+ data:
+ host: https://myfishes.fish
+
+requests:
+ list_fish:
+ method: GET
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes"
+
+Now you can easily select which host to hit. In the TUI, this is done via the Profile list. In the CLI, use the --profile option:
+> slumber request --profile local list_fish
+# http://localhost:5000/fishes
+# Only one fish :(
+[{"id": 1, "kind": "tuna", "name": "Bart"}]
+> slumber request --profile production list_fish
+# https://myfishes.fish/fishes
+# More fish!
+[
+ {"id": 1, "kind": "marlin", "name": "Kim"},
+ {"id": 2, "kind": "salmon", "name": "Francis"}
+]
+
+
+Profile values are helpful when you want to switch between statically known values, but what if you need a value from a different response? Let's say you want to create a fish, then use its ID in a subsequent request. Then you want chains.
+profiles:
+ local:
+ data:
+ host: http://localhost:5000
+
+chains:
+ fish_id:
+ source: !request create_fish
+ # This uses JSONPath to get a single value from the response body
+ # https://jsonpath.com/
+ selector: $.id
+
+requests:
+ create_fish:
+ method: POST
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes"
+ body: >
+ {"kind": "barracuda", "name": "Jimmy"}
+
+ get_fish:
+ method: GET
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes/{{chains.fish_id}}"
+
+Now we can make our requests back-to-back:
+> slumber request -p local create_fish
+# http://localhost:5000/fishes
+{"id": 2, "kind": "barracuda", "name": "Jimmy"}
+# http://localhost:5000/fishes/2
+> slumber request -p local get_fish
+{"id": 2, "kind": "barracuda", "name": "Jimmy"}
+
+This demonstrates how to use chains to link responses to requests. Chains can link to other value sources though, including user-provided values (via a prompt) and shell commands. For a full list of chain types, see the Chain API reference.
+
+What if you need a more complex chained value? Let's say the endpoint to get a fish requires the fish ID to be in the format fish_{id}. Why? Don't worry about it. Fish are particular. Profile values support recursively templating via the !template tag. You can use this to compose template values into more complex strings.
+profiles:
+ local:
+ data:
+ host: http://localhost:5000
+ fish_id: !template "fish_{{chains.fish_id}}"
+
+chains:
+ fish_id:
+ source: !request create_fish
+ selector: $.id
+
+requests:
+ create_fish:
+ method: POST
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes"
+ body: >
+ {"kind": "barracuda", "name": "Jimmy"}
+
+ get_fish:
+ method: GET
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes/{{fish_id}}"
+
+And let's see it in action:
+> slumber request -p local create_fish
+# http://localhost:5000/fishes
+{"id": 2, "kind": "barracuda", "name": "Jimmy"}
+> slumber request -p local get_fish
+# http://localhost:5000/fishes/fish_2
+{"id": "fish_2", "kind": "barracuda", "name": "Jimmy"}
+
+
+
+Let's start with an example of something that sucks. Let's say you're making requests to a fish-themed JSON API, and it requires authentication. Gotta protect your fish! Your request collection might look like so:
+profiles:
+ production:
+ data:
+ host: https://myfishes.fish
+ fish_id: 6
+
+chains:
+ token:
+ source: !file ./api_token.txt
+
+requests:
+ list_fish:
+ method: GET
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes"
+ headers:
+ Accept: application/json
+ authentication: !bearer "{{chains.token}}"
+
+ get_fish:
+ method: GET
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes/{{fish_id}}"
+ headers:
+ Accept: application/json
+ authentication: !bearer "{{chains.token}}"
+
+
+You've heard of DRY, so you know this is bad. Every new request recipe requires re-specifying the headers, and if anything about the authorization changes, you have to change it in multiple places.
+You can easily re-use components of your collection using YAML's merge feature.
+profiles:
+ production:
+ data:
+ host: https://myfishes.fish
+
+chains:
+ token:
+ source: !file ./api_token.txt
+
+# The name here is arbitrary, pick any name you like
+request_base: &request_base
+ headers:
+ Accept: application/json
+ authentication: !bearer "{{chains.token}}"
+
+requests:
+ list_fish:
+ <<: *request_base
+ method: GET
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes"
+
+ get_fish:
+ <<: *request_base
+ method: GET
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes/{{chains.fish_id}}"
+
+Great! That's so much cleaner. Now each recipe can inherit whatever base properties you want just by including <<: *request_base. This is still a bit repetitive, but it has the advantage of being explicit. You may have some requests that don't want to include those values.
+
+But wait! What if you have a new request that needs an additional header? Unfortunately, YAML's merge feature does not support recursive merging. If you need to extend the headers map from the base request, you'll need to pull that map in manually:
+profiles:
+ production:
+ data:
+ host: https://myfishes.fish
+
+chains:
+ token:
+ source: !file ./api_token.txt
+
+# The name here is arbitrary, pick any name you like
+request_base: &request_base
+ headers: &headers_base # This will let us pull in the header map to extend it
+ Accept: application/json
+ authentication: !bearer "{{chains.token}}"
+
+requests:
+ list_fish:
+ <<: *request_base
+ method: GET
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes"
+
+ get_fish:
+ <<: *request_base
+ method: GET
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes/{{chains.fish_id}}"
+
+ create_fish:
+ <<: *request_base
+ method: POST
+ url: "{{host}}/fishes"
+ headers:
+ <<: *headers_base
+ Content-Type: application/json
+ body: >
+ {"kind": "barracuda", "name": "Jimmy"}
+
+
+Slumber supports querying data structures to transform or reduce response data.
+There are two main use cases for querying:
+
+- In chained template values, to extract data
+
+- Provided via chain's
selector argument
+
+
+- In the TUI response body browser, to limit the response data shown
+
+Regardless of data format, querying is done via JSONPath. For non-JSON formats, the data will be converted to JSON, queried, and converted back. This keeps querying simple and uniform across data types.
+
+Here's some examples of using queries to extract data from a chained value. Let's say you have two chained value sources. The first is a JSON file, called creds.json. It has the following contents:
+{ "user": "fishman", "pw": "hunter2" }
+
+We'll use these credentials to log in and get an API token, so the second data source is the login response, which looks like so:
+{ "token": "abcdef123" }
+
+chains:
+ username:
+ source: !file ./creds.json
+ selector: $.user
+ password:
+ source: !file ./creds.json
+ selector: $.pw
+ auth_token:
+ source: !request login
+ selector: $.token
+
+# Use YAML anchors for de-duplication
+base: &base
+ headers:
+ Accept: application/json
+ Content-Type: application/json
+
+requests:
+ login:
+ <<: *base
+ method: POST
+ url: "https://myfishes.fish/anything/login"
+ body: |
+ {
+ "username": "{{chains.username}}",
+ "password": "{{chains.password}}"
+ }
+
+ get_user:
+ <<: *base
+ method: GET
+ url: "https://myfishes.fish/anything/current-user"
+ query:
+ auth: "{{chains.auth_token}}"
+
+While this example simple extracts inner fields, JSONPath can be used for much more powerful transformations. See the JSONPath docs or this JSONPath editor for more examples.
+
+You can visually query a response body using the filter box at the bottom. Here is a full response, with no query applied:
+
+And here it is with the query $.data applied:
+
+
+Configuration provides application-level settings, as opposed to collection-level settings.
+
+Configuration is stored in the Slumber root directory, under the file config.yml. To find the root directory, you can run:
+slumber show dir
+
+To quickly create and edit the file:
+# Replace vim with your favorite text editor
+vim $(slumber show dir)/config.yml
+
+If the root directory doesn't exist yet, you can create it yourself or have Slumber create it by simply starting the TUI.
+
+| Field | Type | Description | Default |
|---|
+preview_templates | boolean | Render template values in the TUI? If false, the raw template will be shown. | true |
+ignore_certificate_hosts | string[] | Hostnames whose TLS certificate errors will be ignored. More info. | [] |
+
+
The request collection is the primary configuration for Slumber. It defines which requests can be made, and how to make them. When running a slumber instance, a single collection file is loaded. If you want to work with multiple collections at once, you'll have to run multiple instances of Slumber.
+Collection files are designed to be sharable, meaning you can commit them to your Git repo. The most common pattern is to create one collection per API repo, and check it into the repo so other developers of the API can use the same collection. This makes it easy for any new developer or user to learn how to use an API.
+
+A collection is defined as a YAML file. When you run slumber, it will search the current directory for the following default collection files, in order:
+
+slumber.ymlslumber.yaml.slumber.yml.slumber.yaml
+Whichever of those files is found first will be used. If you want to use a different file for your collection (e.g. if you want to store multiple collections in the same directory), you can override the auto-search with the --collection (or -c) command line argument. E.g.:
+slumber -c my-collection.yml
+
+
+Each collection needs a unique ID generated when the collection is first loaded by Slumber. This ID is used to persist request history and other data related to the collection. If you move a collection file, a new ID will be generated and it will be unlinked from its previous history. If you want to retain that history, you can migrate data from the old ID to the new one like so:
+slumber collections migrate /slumber/old.yml /slumber/new.yml
+
+If you don't remember the path of the old file, you can list all known collections with:
+slumber collections list
+
+
+A request collection supports the following top-level fields:
+
+
+profiles:
+ local:
+ name: Local
+ data:
+ host: http://localhost:5000
+ user_guid: abc123
+ prd:
+ name: Production
+ data:
+ host: https://httpbin.org
+ user_guid: abc123
+
+chains:
+ username:
+ source: !file ./username.txt
+ password:
+ source: !prompt Password
+ sensitive: true
+ auth_token:
+ source: !request login
+ selector: $.token
+
+# Use YAML anchors for de-duplication
+base: &base
+ headers:
+ Accept: application/json
+ Content-Type: application/json
+
+requests:
+ login:
+ <<: *base
+ method: POST
+ url: "{{host}}/anything/login"
+ body: |
+ {
+ "username": "{{chains.username}}",
+ "password": "{{chains.password}}"
+ }
+
+ get_user:
+ <<: *base
+ method: GET
+ url: "{{host}}/anything/current-user"
+ query:
+ auth: "{{chains.auth_token}}"
+
+
+A profile is a collection of static template values. It's useful for configuring and switching between multiple different environments/settings/etc.
+Profiles also support nested templates, via the !template tag.
+
+| Field | Type | Description | Default |
|---|
+name | string | Descriptive name to use in the UI | Value of key in parent |
+data | mapping[string, ProfileValue] | Fields, mapped to their values | {} |
+
+
local:
+ name: Local
+ data:
+ host: localhost:5000
+ url: !template "https://{{host}}"
+ user_guid: abc123
+
+
+A profile value is the value associated with a particular key in a profile. Typically profile values are just simple strings, but they can also be other variants.
+In the case of a nested template, the inner template will be rendered into its own value, then injected into the outer string.
+
+| Variant | Type | Description |
|---|
+raw | string | Static string (key can optionally be omitted) |
+template | Template | Nested template, to be rendered inline |
+
+
# The !raw key is the default, and can be omitted
+http://localhost:5000
+---
+!raw http://localhost:5000
+---
+!template http://{{hostname}}
+
+
+A request recipe defines how to make a particular request. For a REST API, you'll typically create one request recipe per endpoint.
+
+
+
+login:
+ name: Login
+ method: POST
+ url: "{{host}}/anything/login"
+ headers:
+ accept: application/json
+ content-type: application/json
+ query:
+ root_access: yes_please
+ body: |
+ {
+ "username": "{{chains.username}}",
+ "password": "{{chains.password}}"
+ }
+
+
+Authentication provides shortcuts for common HTTP authentication schemes. It populates the authentication field of a recipe. There are multiple source types, and the type is specified using YAML's tag syntax.
+
+
+
+Basic authentication contains a username and optional password.
+| Field | Type | Description | Default |
|---|
+username | string | Username | Required |
+password | string | Password | "" |
+
+
!basic
+username: user
+password: pass
+---
+!bearer 4J2e0TYqKA3gFllfTu17OF7n8g1CeAxZyi/MK5g40/o=
+
+
+A chain is a intermediate data type to enable complex template values. Chains also provide additional customization, such as marking values as sensitive.
+To use a chain in a template, reference it as {{chains.<id>}}.
+
+| Field | Type | Description | Default |
|---|
+source | ChainSource | Source of the chained value | Required |
+sensitive | boolean | Should the value be hidden in the UI? | false |
+selector | JSONPath | Selector to transform/narrow down results in a chained value. See Filtering & Querying | null |
+content_type | ContentType | Force content type. Not required for request and file chains, as long as the Content-Type header/file extension matches the data | |
+
+
See the ChainSource docs for more detail.
+
+# Load chained value from a file
+username:
+ source: !file ./username.txt
+---
+# Prompt the user for a value whenever the request is made
+password:
+ source: !prompt Enter Password
+ sensitive: true
+---
+# Use a value from another response
+# Assume the request recipe with ID `login` returns a body like `{"token": "foo"}`
+auth_token:
+ source: !request login
+ selector: $.token
+
+
+A chain source defines how a Chain gets its value. It populates the source field of a chain. There are multiple source types, and the type is specified using YAML's tag syntax.
+
+| Variant | Type | Value | Chained Value |
|---|
+request | string | Request Recipe ID | Body of the most recent response for a specific request recipe. |
+command | string[] | [program, ...arguments] | Stdout of the executed command |
+file | string | Path (relative to current directory) | Contents of the file |
+prompt | string | Descriptive prompt for the user | Value entered by the user |
+
+
See the Chain docs for more holistic examples.
+!request login
+---
+!command ["echo", "-n", "hello"]
+---
+!file ./username.txt
+---
+!prompt Enter Password
+
+
+A template is represented in YAML as a normal string, and thus supports all of YAML's string syntaxes. Templates receive post-processing that injects dynamic values into the string. A templated value is represented with {{...}}.
+Templates can generally be used in any value in a request recipe (not in keys). They cannot be used in profiles or chains, to avoid the potential for recursive templating. If this feature would be useful to you, le tme know.
+
+There are several ways of sourcing templating values:
+| Source | Syntax | Description |
|---|
+| Profile Field | {{field_name}} | Static value from a profile |
+| Environment Variable | {{env.VARIABLE}} | Environment variable from parent shell/process |
+| Chain | {{chains.chain_id}} | Complex chained value |
+
+
# Profile value
+"hello, {{location}}"
+---
+# Multiple dynamic values
+"{{greeting}}, {{location}}"
+---
+# Environment variable
+"hello, {{env.LOCATION}}"
+---
+# Chained value
+"hello, {{chains.where_am_i}}"
+---
+# No dynamic values
+"hello, world!"
+
+
+Content type defines the various data formats that Slumber recognizes and can manipulate. Slumber is capable of displaying any text-based data format, but only specific formats support additional features such as querying and formatting.
+For chained requests, Slumber uses the HTTP Content-Type header to detect the content type. For chained files, it uses the file extension. For other chain sources, or if the Content-Type header/file extension is missing or incorrect, you'll have to manually provide the content type via the chain content_type field.
+
+| Content Type | HTTP Header | File Extension(s) |
|---|
+| JSON | application/json | json |
+
+
If you're receiving certificate errors such as this one:
+invalid peer certificate: UnknownIssuer
+
+This is probably because the TLS certificate of the server you're hitting is expired, invalid, or self-signed. The best solution is to fix the error on the server, either by renewing the certificate or creating a signed one. In most cases this is the best solution. If not possible, you should just disable TLS on your server because it's not doing anything for you anyway.
+If you can't or don't want to fix the certificate, and you need to keep TLS enabled for some reason, it's possible to configure Slumber to ignore TLS certificate errors on certain hosts.
+
+WARNING: This is dangerous. You will be susceptible to MITM attacks on these hosts. Only do this if you control the server you're hitting, and are confident your network is not compromised.
+
+
+- Open your Slumber configuration
+- Add the field
ignore_certificate_hosts: ["<hostname>"]
+
+<hostname> is the domain or IP of the server you're requesting from
+
+
+
+ 
+
