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jnunemaker/httparty

Analysis updated 2026-07-03

5,890RubyAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · easy

TLDR

HTTParty is a Ruby library that makes it easy to call web APIs with a single line of code. It automatically parses JSON and XML responses into Ruby data so you can use them right away without writing any parsing code.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      HTTP requests
      Auto-parse JSON
      Auto-parse XML
    Usage styles
      Module-level calls
      Class mixin
    Features
      Base URL setting
      Default headers
      CLI tool
    Tech stack
      Ruby
    Use cases
      API integration
      Service wrappers
      Quick API checks
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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Call a third-party REST API from a Ruby app and get the response as a usable Ruby hash without writing parsing code.

USE CASE 2

Build a Ruby class that wraps all calls to one API, setting the base URL and authentication once and reusing them across every method.

USE CASE 3

Quickly check what a web API returns from the terminal using the httparty command-line tool, without writing any code.

USE CASE 4

Send a POST request with a JSON body to a web service and read the status code and response body in one call.

What is it built with?

Ruby

How does it compare?

jnunemaker/httpartyhartator/wayback-machine-downloaderactiverecord-hackery/ransack
Stars5,8905,8755,853
LanguageRubyRubyRuby
Setup difficultyeasyeasyeasy
Complexity2/51/52/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Install with gem install httparty, requires Ruby 2.7 or newer.

In plain English

HTTParty is a Ruby library that makes it straightforward to send HTTP requests from your code and work with the responses. HTTP requests are what your program sends when it needs to talk to a web service or API: fetching data from a URL, submitting a form, or calling a third-party service. Ruby has built-in tools for this, but they can be verbose. HTTParty wraps them in a simpler interface so you can get, post, put, or delete with a single line of code. The library works in two ways. You can call methods directly on the HTTParty module itself for quick one-off requests, passing a URL and getting back a response object that gives you the status code, headers, and body. You can also mix it into your own Ruby class, set a base URL once, and then define methods for specific endpoints. This second approach keeps API-related code organized in one place and makes it easier to reuse options like authentication credentials or default query parameters across multiple requests. The gem automatically parses response bodies based on the content type. If the server returns JSON or XML, HTTParty converts it to a Ruby data structure so you can access fields directly without writing parsing code yourself. A command-line tool is included alongside the library. You can run httparty from the terminal with a URL and it prints the response in a readable format, which is useful for quickly checking what an API returns without writing any code. Installation is through RubyGems with gem install httparty, and the library requires Ruby 2.7 or newer.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Using HTTParty in Ruby, write a class that wraps the GitHub API to fetch a user's public repos. Include a bearer token in the Authorization header.
Prompt 2
Show me how to make a POST request with HTTParty that sends a JSON body and reads the HTTP status code from the response.
Prompt 3
How do I create an HTTParty class that sets a base URL and default headers once so every method in the class reuses them automatically?
Prompt 4
Write a Ruby script using HTTParty that calls a weather API with a query parameter for city name and prints the current temperature from the JSON response.
Prompt 5
How do I use the httparty command-line tool to test what a public API endpoint returns, without writing any Ruby code?

Frequently asked questions

What is httparty?

HTTParty is a Ruby library that makes it easy to call web APIs with a single line of code. It automatically parses JSON and XML responses into Ruby data so you can use them right away without writing any parsing code.

What language is httparty written in?

Mainly Ruby. The stack also includes Ruby.

How hard is httparty to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is httparty for?

Mainly developer.

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