Webshell: A console-based, JavaScripty HTTP client utility
by Evan Haas and Sean Coates
Includes tab completion, history, context persistence, cookies and other tasty morsels.
Requirements
Installation
To install, use npm:
npm install webshell
This will install Hashlib as well, if necessary.
Simple HTTP requests
Webshell supports all of the HTTP verbs in a simple to use syntax. The
response's status code (and the requested URL) are printed. Headers are
expanded to local variables, and they can be inspected. Additionally,
if the response suggests a redirect to another URL, the $_.follow() function
can be called for easy location following.
http://localhost > GET http://google.com/
HTTP 301 http://google.com/
http://google.com > $_.headers
{ location: 'http://www.google.com/'
, 'content-type': 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
, date: 'Sat, 06 Nov 2010 17:38:56 GMT'
, expires: 'Mon, 06 Dec 2010 17:38:56 GMT'
, 'cache-control': 'public, max-age=2592000'
, server: 'gws'
, 'content-length': '219'
, 'x-xss-protection': '1; mode=block'
, connection: 'close'
}
http://google.com > $_.headers.location
'http://www.google.com/'
http://google.com > $_.follow()
HTTP 302 http://www.google.com/
http://www.google.com > $_.headers.location
'http://www.google.ca/'
http://www.google.com > $_.follow()
HTTP 200 http://www.google.ca/
http://www.google.ca > $_.raw.substring(0, 50)
'<!doctype html><html><head><meta http-equiv="conte'
Relative URLs
URLs can be retrieved relatively by simply omitting the scheme (e.g. http://)
and the hostname. The previous scheme and hostname (and auth credentials if
applicable) are displayed in the prompt.
http://localhost > GET http://files.seancoates.com/testjson.php
HTTP 404 http://files.seancoates.com/testjson.php
http://files.seancoates.com > // oops
http://files.seancoates.com > GET /test_json.php
HTTP 200 http://files.seancoates.com/test_json.php
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.json
{ one: 1, two: 2, three: 3 }
JSON processing
If the server returns a JSON content-type, the response is automatically
processed, and the result is stored in $_.json.
http://localhost > GET http://twitter.com/users/coates.json
HTTP 200 http://twitter.com/users/coates.json
http://twitter.com > $_.json.name
'Sean Coates'
Print response
The JSON response can optionally be automatically printed by setting
$_.printResponse. If $_.printResponse is a function, it will be called with
a single argument: the response object. It should return true or false,
depending on whether the response should be printed. If $_.printResponse is
not a function, its truth value will determine whether responses are printed.
By default $_.printResponse is a function which returns true for JSON
content-type responses and false for others.
http://localhost > GET http://files.seancoates.com/test_json.php
HTTP 200 http://files.seancoates.com/test_json.php
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.json
{ one: 1, two: 2, three: 3 }
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.json.three
3
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.printResponse = true
true
http://files.seancoates.com > GET http://files.seancoates.com/test_json.php
HTTP 200 http://files.seancoates.com/test_json.php
{ one: 1, two: 2, three: 3 }
Save and load contexts
Contexts (including the previous request, arbitrary variables, and even
toolbox functions) can be arbitrarily stored and loaded. Contexts persist
between sessions; the _previous context is automatically loaded at the
start of a session and stored when a session is closed.
sarcasm:~/src/webshell (master)$ node shell.js
Loaded context: _previous
http://localhost > GET http://twitter.com/users/coates.json
HTTP 200 http://twitter.com/users/coates.json
http://twitter.com > $_.saveContext("twitter-coates")
Saved context: twitter-coates
http://twitter.com > ^D
Saved context: _previous
sarcasm:~/src/webshell (master)$ node shell.js
Loaded context: _previous
http://twitter.com > GET http://localhost
HTTP 200 http://localhost/
http://localhost > $_.json //empty
http://localhost > $_.loadContext("twitter-coates")
Loaded context: twitter-coates
http://twitter.com > $_.json.name
'Sean Coates'
HTTP auth
Webshell understands the user:pass@ syntax in URLs for Basic authentication.
Auth will even persist between requests if the hostname doesn't change.
http://twitter.com > GET http://coates:[email protected]/users/coates.json
HTTP 401 http://coates:***@twitter.com/users/coates.json
http://coates:***@twitter.com > GET http://coates:[email protected]/users/coates.json
HTTP 200 http://coates:***@twitter.com/users/coates.json
http://coates:***@twitter.com > GET http://twitter.com/statuses/replies.json
HTTP 200 http://coates:***@twitter.com/statuses/replies.json
http://coates:***@twitter.com > $_.json[0].in_reply_to_screen_name
'coates'
Cookies
Webshell will keep track of cookies for you (unless $_.useCookies is set to
false).
http://localhost > GET http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
HTTP 200 http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.raw
'You have visited this page 1 times.'
http://files.seancoates.com > GET http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
HTTP 200 http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.raw
'You have visited this page 2 times.'
http://files.seancoates.com > GET http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
HTTP 200 http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
http://files.seancoates.com > GET http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
HTTP 200 http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
http://files.seancoates.com > GET http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
HTTP 200 http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.raw
'You have visited this page 5 times.'
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.saveContext('cookie-demo')
Saved context: cookie-demo
http://files.seancoates.com > GET http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
HTTP 200 http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.raw
'You have visited this page 6 times.'
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.loadContext('cookie-demo')
Loaded context: cookie-demo
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.raw
'You have visited this page 5 times.'
http://files.seancoates.com > GET http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
HTTP 200 http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.raw
'You have visited this page 6 times.'
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.cookies.get("files.seancoates.com")
{ cookiecounter:
{ http_only: false
, key: 'cookiecounter'
, value: '6'
, expires: Sat, 13 Nov 2010 20:56:04 GMT
, path: '/'
, domain: 'files.seancoates.com'
}
}
http://files.seancoates.com >
http://localhost > $_.loadContext("cookie-demo")
Loaded context: cookie-demo
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.cookies.get("files.seancoates.com").cookiecounter.value
'5'
http://files.seancoates.com > GET http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
HTTP 200 http://files.seancoates.com/cookiecounter.php
http://files.seancoates.com > $_.cookies.get("files.seancoates.com").cookiecounter.value
'6'
HTTP verbs
All of the HTTP verbs are available. To include data in the request body, set
$_.requestData, as shown below.
http://localhost > GET http://localhost/json.php?one=1&two=2
HTTP 200 http://localhost/json.php
http://localhost > $_.json.get
{ one: '1', two: '2' }
http://localhost > $_.json.server.REQUEST_METHOD
'GET'
http://localhost > $_.requestData = {three:3, four:4}
{ three: 3, four: 4 }
http://localhost > POST http://localhost/json.php?one=1&two=2
HTTP 200 http://localhost/json.php
http://localhost > $_.json.post
{ three: '3', four: '4' }
http://localhost > $_.json.get
{ one: '1', two: '2' }
http://localhost > $_.json.server.REQUEST_METHOD
'POST'
http://localhost > $_.requestData = "five=5&six=6"
'five=5&six=6'
http://localhost > POST http://localhost/json.php?one=1&two=2
HTTP 200 http://localhost/json.php
http://localhost > $_.json.post
{ five: '5', six: '6' }
sarcasm:~/src/webshell (master)$ echo "testing some PUT data" > ~/test.txt
sarcasm:~/src/webshell (master)$ node shell.js
Loaded context: _previous
http://localhost > $_.fileToRequestData('/Users/sean/test.txt')
Set requestData to '/Users/sean/test.txt' (22 bytes, utf8)
http://localhost > PUT http://localhost/json.php
HTTP 200 http://localhost/json.php
http://localhost > $_.json.server.REQUEST_METHOD
'PUT'
http://localhost > $_.json.input
'testing some PUT data\n'
http://localhost >
The results of HTTP verb commands can be stored in local variables, just like everything in the REPL.
http://localhost > result = $_.get('http://fictivekin.com')
GET http://fictivekin.com
HTTP 200 http://fictivekin.com/
http://www.google.com > result2 = $_.get('http://www.google.ca')
GET http://www.google.ca
HTTP 200 http://www.google.ca/
http://www.google.ca > result.headers['content-type']
'text/html'
http://www.google.ca > result2.headers['content-type']
'text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1'
HTTP headers
You can inspect request and response headers, easily.
http://localhost > GET http://localhost
HTTP 200 http://localhost/
http://localhost > $_.requestHeaders
{ host: 'localhost'
, 'user-agent': 'Webshell/0.1-dev node.js/v0.2.1'
, accept: 'application/json, */*'
, 'content-type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
}
http://localhost > $_.headers
{ date: 'Sat, 06 Nov 2010 21:14:02 GMT'
, server: 'Apache/2.2.15 (Unix) PHP/5.3.3-dev mod_ssl/2.2.15 OpenSSL/0.9.8l'
, 'content-length': '3617'
, connection: 'close'
, 'content-type': 'text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1'
}
You can also arbitrarily set request headers.
http://localhost > GET http://localhost:5984/
HTTP 200 http://localhost:5984/
http://localhost:5984 > $_.json
{ couchdb: 'Welcome', version: '1.0.1' }
http://localhost:5984 > $_.json.version
'1.0.1'
http://localhost:5984 > $_.headers['content-type']
'application/json'
http://localhost:5984 > $_.requestHeaders.accept
'application/json, */*'
http://localhost:5984 > $_.requestHeaders.accept = '*/*' // not json explicitly
'*/*'
http://localhost:5984 > GET http://localhost:5984/
HTTP 200 http://localhost:5984/
http://localhost:5984 > $_.headers['content-type']
'text/plain;charset=utf-8'
http://localhost:5984 > $_.json
http://localhost:5984 > // no JSON )-:
Toolbox and callbacks
Functions placed in $_.toolbox will be stored in your current context. They
are serialized (converted to strings) on save, and deserialized (converted back
to functions) on load.
Additionally, the HTTP verbs are the names of properties of the $_ object
(e.g. GET is $_.get). These functions can be called programmatically, and
they take an optional second parameter for a callback that runs when the
request is complete.
http://localhost > $_.toolbox.lastTweet = function (username) {
... $_.get('http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline' + username + '.json',
... function () { if ($_.status == '200') {
... console.log("Last tweet: " + $_.json[0].text)
... }});
... }
[Function]
http://twitter.com > $_.toolbox.lastTweet('coates')
HTTP 200 http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/coates.json
Last tweet: Doing a bunch of work on Webshell. Fixed some bugs, added relative URLs, and re-writing the docs. http://github.com/fictivekin/webshell
http://twitter.com > $_.toolbox.lastTweet('sirevanhaas')
HTTP 200 http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/sirevanhaas.json
Last tweet: If only Firefox extensions were as simple as Chrome/Safari extensions
http://twitter.com > $_.toolbox.lastTweet('userwhodoesntexist')
HTTP 404 http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/userwhodoesntexist.json
http://twitter.com >
Contributors
- Evan Haas
- Sean Coates
- Joël Perras
- Mark Cahill
- Herman J. Radtke III
- Michael C. Harris
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