cURL
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
cURL is the granddaddy of 'talk to the internet from the command line.' It's been around since 1998 and is installed on basically every computer ever made. The syntax is cryptic, the flags are endless, but it works everywhere. Stack Overflow's most copied command. Every developer curls, even when they don't admit it.
Real Talk
A command-line tool and library (libcurl) for transferring data with URLs, supporting dozens of protocols including HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and SCP. It provides comprehensive control over requests with options for headers, authentication, proxies, certificates, and cookies. Available on virtually every operating system.
When You'll Hear This
"Just curl it — 'curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"key":"val"}' url'." / "When in doubt, Chrome DevTools can copy any request as a cURL command."
Related Terms
HTTPie
curl is powerful but its syntax reads like a crossword puzzle. HTTPie is curl for people who like readable commands: 'http GET api.example.
Postman
Postman is the GUI way to talk to APIs. Instead of crafting curl commands, you have a nice interface where you set the URL, headers, body, and hit Send.