Generate curl Commands from OpenAPI

About this tool

OpenAPI specs are great for machines, but during debugging you often just need a pasteable curl command for every endpoint. This tool reads an OpenAPI 3.x or Swagger 2.0 document, walks every path and operation, fills in sample path/query /header/body values, and emits deterministic curl examples without sending any network requests.

It prefers examples from the spec, then defaults, enum values and schema formats. Local $refs are resolved so shared schemas still produce useful bodies; remote references are not fetched, so the tool stays offline and predictable.

A worked example

Paste this tiny spec:

openapi: 3.0.3
servers:
  - url: https://petstore.example.com/v1
paths:
  /pets/{petId}:
    get:
      summary: Get a pet
      parameters:
        - name: petId
          in: path
          required: true
          schema: { type: integer, example: 42 }
        - name: verbose
          in: query
          schema: { type: boolean, default: true }
      responses:
        '200': { description: OK }

With the default shell output, the generated command includes the server URL, path parameter and query parameter:

BASE_URL="https://petstore.example.com/v1"

# GET /pets/{petId} — Get a pet
curl -X GET \
  "$BASE_URL/pets/42?verbose=true"

Useful controls

• Base URL override swaps the server URL without editing the spec.
• Authentication can follow the spec or force bearer/basic/API-key placeholders.
• Method, tag and path filters narrow a large spec to the endpoints you care about.
• Include optional params and fields turns minimal examples into fuller examples.
• Output format switches between a shell script, bare commands, Markdown, and JSON records.
• Schema expansion depth prevents recursive or very large schemas from exploding.

Limits and edge cases

• Remote $ref targets are not fetched; unresolved values collapse to null.
• The generated samples are examples, not contract tests. They may need real IDs, tokens or environment-specific hostnames before you run them.
• JSON and YAML OpenAPI 3.x and Swagger 2.0 documents are supported. A document without paths is rejected.
• Multipart and form request bodies are represented with curl -F / --data-urlencode style flags when the content type calls for it.

FAQ