Walkman

Write HTTP requests in Org mode and replay them at will using cURL

Features

write HTTP requests as org mode "walkman entries"
execute walkman entries via curl
export walkman entries to a curl command
import curl command to walkman entries (beta)
support lisp variable or functions in a walkman entry
execute a series of lisp callbacks, passing the status code, headers, and response body

Installation

Load up the walkman.el file.

Usage

By default, after calling M-x walkman-setup, these bindings will be added to org-mode:

C-c C-RETURN   to execute the entry at point
C-c C-'        for the walkman menu
C-c C-' c      to copy the entry at point as a curl command
C-c C-' i      to import a curl command and insert as walkman entry

How to write a walkman entry

See the sample.org file for example of walkman entries.

The general structure is

* Request Title
  GET/POST/PUT/... URL
  - Header1: value
  - Header2: value
  :FORM:
  - type: document
  - file: [[/home/user/document.jpg]]
  :END:
  #+begin_src
    {
      "body": "in any mode/format"
    }
  #+end_src
  1. First Callback
     #+begin_src emacs-lisp
       (lambda (status headers body)
         (message "status %s, headers %s, body %s" status headers body))
     #+end_src
  2. Second Callback
     #+begin_src emacs-lisp
       (lambda (status headers body)
         (message "Second callback"))
     #+end_src

Note that only the HTTP action and URL are required, everything else is up to you.

Simple GET request

* Simple GET request
  GET https://httpbin.org/get

Simple POST request with JSON body

* Simple POST request
  POST https://httpbin.org/post
  - Accept: application/json
  - Content-Type: application/json
  #+begin_src json
    {
      "data": {
        "title": "Hello",
        "hello": "world"
      }
    }
  #+end_src

Multipart upload

You can upload multipart document using the :FORM: Org drawer syntax:

* Multi part
  POST https://httpbin.org/post
  - Accept: application/json
  :FORM:
  - type: document
  - file: [[/home/username/sample_document.jpg]]
  :END:

will result in

curl --silent -i -X POST https://httpbin.org/post -F 'file=@/home/username/sample_document.jpg' -F 'type=document' -H 'Accept: application/json'

Things to know:

Headers inside the org drawer :FORM: will be set with the curl -F flag for form
org links to file will get their path prefixed with a @
:FORM: headers must be AFTER regular headers for the parser to work properly

This is an example that will not work:

* Wrong multi part
  POST https://httpbin.org/post
  :FORM:
  - file: [[/home/username/sample_document.jpg]]
  :END:
  - Accept: application/json

because the Accept header will not be parsed correctly.

Request with lisp variable

Define my-http-status with

(setq my-http-status "400")

OR specify a file variable and run

* Embedded lisp variable
  GET https://httpbin.org/status/`my-http-status`

Request with callbacks

* Request with callbacks
  POST https://httpbin.org/post
  #+begin_src json
    {
      "some": "body"
    }
  #+end_src
  1. First callback
     #+begin_src emacs-lisp
       (lambda (status headers body)
         (message "status %s, headers %s, body %s" status headers body))
     #+end_src
  2. Second callback
     #+begin_src emacs-lisp
       (lambda (status headers body)
         (pp (assoc 'url (json-read-from-string body))))
     #+end_src

Customization

Always keep the headers

If you don't want to bother with the -v flag to keep the headers in the response buffer, you can do

(setq walkman-keep-headers t)

Custom key bindings

By default, running walkman-setup will run

(define-key org-mode-map (kbd "C-c C-'") #'walkman-transient)
(define-key org-mode-map (kbd "C-c <C-return>") #'walkman-at-point)

If you want to setup your own binding, don't run walkman-setup and instead bind

walkman-at-point for quick execution under the cursor
walkman-transient for the transient-based interactive menu

TODO

insert response in org doc?
execute all requests sequentially
unit tests
option to run async
multiple backends

abrochard/walkman