A tool for Python developers to easily debug the HTTP(S) client requests in a Python program.
httpdbg
httpdbg is a tool for Python developers to easily debug the HTTP(S) client requests in a Python program.
To use it, execute your program using the pyhttpdbg command instead of python and that’s it. Open a browser to http://localhost:4909 to view the requests:
Full documentation => https://httpdbg.readthedocs.io/
installation
pip install httpdbg
usage
interactive console
Open an interactive console using the command pyhttpdbg.
(venv) dev@host:~/dir$ pyhttpdbg
.... - - .--. -.. -... --. .... - - .--. -.. -... --. .... - - .--. -.. -... --.
httpdbg - HTTP(S) requests available at http://localhost:4909/
.... - - .--. -.. -... --. .... - - .--. -.. -... --. .... - - .--. -.. -... --.
Python 3.10.6 (main, Aug 10 2022, 11:40:04) [GCC 11.3.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
(InteractiveConsole)
>>>
Perform HTTP requests.
You can inspect the HTTP requests directly in your web browser at http://localhost:4909.
script
You can trace all the HTTP requests performed by a script
pyhttpdbg --script filename.py [arg1 --arg2 ...]
module
You can trace all the HTTP requests performed by a library module run as a script using the -m command line argument.
For example, you can view which HTTP requests are performed by pip when you install a package.
pyhttpdbg -m pip install hookdns --upgrade
test frameworks
You can trace all HTTP requests made during your tests (pytest, unittest).
pyhttpdbg -m pytest [arg1 --arg2 ...]
In that case, the requests will be grouped by test, and any requests made within a fixture or the setup/teardown methods will be identified by a tag.
Initiators
An initiator is the function/method that is at the origin of the HTTP requests. By default, we already support some packages but you can add your own initiators.
To add a new package in the list of initiators, you can use the -i command line argument:
pyhttpdbg -i api_client_pck --script my_script.py
You can use any package as an initiator, this is not limited to HTTP requests.
Already supported packages
| packages | status |
|---|---|
| requests | supported |
| urllib3 | supported |
| httpx | supported |
| aiohttp | supported |
| pytest | supported |
| unittest | supported |
| your_package | yes, with the arg -i your_package |
configuration
No configuration is necessary to start but some few settings are available for particular use.
command line
usage: pyhttpdbg [-h] [--host HOST] [--port PORT] [--version] [--initiator INITIATOR] [--keep-up | --force-quit]
[--console | --module MODULE | --script SCRIPT]
httdbg - a very simple tool to debug HTTP(S) client requests
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--host HOST the web interface host IP address
--port PORT, -p PORT the web interface port
--version, -v print the httpdbg version
--initiator INITIATOR, -i INITIATOR
add a new initiator (package)
--keep-up, -k keep the server up even if the requests have been read
--force-quit, -q stop the server even if the requests have not been read
--console run a python console (default)
--module MODULE, -m MODULE
run library module as a script (the next args are passed to pytest as is)
--script SCRIPT run a script (the next args are passed to the script as is)
web interace
Some options are available to customize the UI:
- Change the strategy to group the requests.
- Hide the scheme and the network location in the url.
- Hide the group rows.
- Hide the tags.
- …
You can also pin a request or delete all unpinned requests.
To keep your configuration, bookmark the page with the full search query.
Fox example, if you want to hide the group rows by default, the url will be:
http://localhost:4909/?hi=on
web interface
All the requests recorded are available on the web interface.
The requests:
- are still available in the web page even if the python process stopped (except if you force quit before the requests have been loaded by the web page).
- are automatically cleaned if a new execution is detected.