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davecheney/httpstat

7,203GoAudience · developerComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

TLDR

httpstat is a small command-line tool that makes an HTTP request and shows a color-coded breakdown of exactly where time was spent, DNS lookup, TCP connection, TLS negotiation, server wait, and content download.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      HTTP request timing
      Color-coded stages
    Timing stages shown
      DNS lookup
      TCP connection
      TLS negotiation
      Server wait time
      Content download
    Supported options
      Custom headers
      POST and other methods
      Save response to file
    Setup
      Requires Go toolchain
      Single install command
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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Debug why a website or API feels slow by seeing exactly how long DNS, connection, and TLS each take.

USE CASE 2

Profile an API endpoint's response time breakdown from the command line during development or testing.

USE CASE 3

Test whether a CDN or SSL layer is adding latency to your web requests with a single command.

Tech stack

Go

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Requires the Go programming language toolchain to be installed before you can install httpstat.

No license information was mentioned in the explanation.

In plain English

httpstat is a small command-line tool that shows you how long each stage of an HTTP request takes. When you load a web page or call an API, several things happen in sequence: your computer looks up the server's address, establishes a connection, negotiates security if the site uses HTTPS, sends your request, waits for a response, and then downloads the content. httpstat breaks that timeline into labeled segments and displays them with color coding so you can see at a glance where time is being spent. It works like the standard curl command-line tool that developers use to make web requests, but adds the timing breakdown and color display on top. You run it by typing the tool name followed by a web address, and it handles the request while printing the timing summary. The tool supports common request options: following redirects, changing the HTTP method (such as switching from GET to POST), adding custom request headers, sending a request body from text or a file, and saving the response to a file. It works on Windows, Linux, and BSD-based systems. For sites with self-signed certificates, you can skip certificate verification with a flag. Installation requires the Go programming language toolchain. Once you have that, a single install command fetches and builds the tool. The project is largely feature-complete and not actively accepting new features, though bug reports are welcome.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Show me how to install httpstat using Go and run it against my API endpoint to see the timing breakdown.
Prompt 2
How do I use httpstat to send a POST request with a JSON body and see timing for each connection stage?
Prompt 3
Walk me through using httpstat to check HTTPS timing on a server with a self-signed certificate.
Prompt 4
How do I save the response body to a file while still seeing the httpstat timing output?
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