cURL to Code Converter
Paste any curl command and convert it to Python (requests), JavaScript (fetch & axios), Go (net/http), PHP (Guzzle), Ruby (Net::HTTP) and more — with full support for headers, auth, request body and query parameters.
What is a cURL to Code Converter?
A cURL to code converter transforms cURL command-line HTTP requests into equivalent code in programming languages like Python, JavaScript, Go, PHP, and Ruby. For DevOps and backend engineers, this bridges the gap between quickly testing an API endpoint from the terminal and writing the production client code that calls it — saving the tedious work of manually translating flags and headers into the correct library syntax.
cURL is the universal language of HTTP on the command line: documentation examples, AWS CLI debug output, and Chrome DevTools all export requests in cURL format. But development teams work in many different languages, and translating a complex cURL command with custom headers, a JSON body, mutual TLS flags, and query parameters into correct library calls is error-prone and time-consuming. This converter automates that translation so engineers can focus on integration logic rather than HTTP boilerplate.
When to Use This Tool
- API integration kickoff: Grab a cURL example from a third-party API's documentation and instantly get a working Python or JavaScript snippet to drop into your codebase.
- Debugging production issues: Export a failing request from Chrome DevTools as cURL, convert it to Python, and run it in a Jupyter notebook or CI environment for closer inspection.
- Cross-team collaboration: Share a working API call with a developer who uses a different language stack — hand them generated code rather than explaining cURL flag semantics.
- CI/CD script authoring: Convert a manually tested cURL command into Go or Python to embed in an automation script or GitHub Actions workflow step.
How It Works
The converter lexes the input cURL command into its component flags: the URL, HTTP method (-X), headers (-H), request body (-d or --data-raw), basic auth (-u), and other options like --insecure or --compressed. Each flag is then mapped to the idiomatic equivalent in the target language — for example, -H "Content-Type: application/json" becomes a headers dictionary in Python requests or an entry in the Headers struct in Go's net/http package. The generator produces a complete, runnable code snippet including library imports.
cURL Conversion vs Alternatives
Hand-translating cURL flags into a target language's HTTP library is the alternative most engineers reach for by default, and it works fine for a one-off two-header GET request — but it gets error-prone fast once a command includes multipart form data, client certificates, or chained -H flags with embedded quotes. Manual translation also tends to silently drop flags like --compressed or -L (follow redirects) that don't have an obvious one-line equivalent in every library.
Postman and Insomnia both support "import from cURL" as a GUI alternative, which is well suited when you want a persistent, clickable request you'll reuse and modify interactively. The tradeoff is that those imports live inside a GUI tool's project file rather than as plain source code you can commit, diff, and run unattended in a script or CI job — which is where a direct cURL-to-code conversion is the better fit. For one-off debugging where you just need to confirm an endpoint behaves as expected, running the original cURL command directly in the terminal remains faster than converting it to any language at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
What programming languages are supported?
The converter generates code for Python (using the requests library), JavaScript (both the native fetch API and axios), Go (net/http), PHP (curl extension), and Ruby (Net::HTTP). Each output includes proper header handling, authentication, and request body formatting. The generated snippets follow idiomatic conventions for each language — for example, Python output uses a with context manager style and Go output handles the response body with defer resp.Body.Close().
How do I copy a curl command from Chrome DevTools?
In Chrome DevTools, open the Network tab and trigger the HTTP request you want to capture. Right-click the request entry in the network panel and select Copy > Copy as cURL (bash). This produces a complete cURL command including all request headers, cookies, and the request body exactly as your browser sent them. Paste the result directly into this converter to get equivalent code in your chosen language — this technique is especially useful for replicating authenticated API calls that would be difficult to reconstruct manually.
How does the converter handle authentication headers and bearer tokens?
The converter parses all -H flags from the cURL command, including Authorization headers containing Basic credentials or Bearer tokens, and maps them to the appropriate header-setting mechanism in the target language. In Python requests this becomes a headers dict entry; in JavaScript fetch it appears in the headers object of the options argument. Sensitive token values are preserved verbatim so the generated code runs immediately, but you should replace any hardcoded tokens with environment variable references (e.g., os.environ["API_TOKEN"] in Python) before committing the code to source control to avoid accidental credential exposure.