Install awscurl with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• awscurl

Project history

The `okigan/awscurl` repository was created in October 2015. Its README frames the project around a small Unix-tool idea: keep the shape of curl, but automate AWS request signing so users can call AWS APIs without manually building canonical requests and authorization headers.

Release history shows the project remained active beyond its early Python package life, adding Homebrew packaging around the 0.20 release in January 2020, SSO profile and redirect support in 2021, Docker images, and continued 0.x releases through 2026.

Adoption history

awscurl found a niche among AWS users who need to debug or script signed requests outside the full AWS CLI command model. The README explicitly points to PyPI, Homebrew, Docker Hub, GitHub Container Registry, AWS documentation, and Q&A usage as adoption surfaces.

Its adoption is narrower than AWS CLI but sticky: it solves the awkward middle ground where plain curl is not authenticated and a generated `aws SERVICE OPERATION` command is too high-level.

How it is used

Typical usage supplies a service name, region/profile or explicit credentials, and a URL: for example S3, EC2 query APIs, or API Gateway `execute-api` endpoints. If access keys are not passed by flag or environment, awscurl attempts to use credentials from `~/.aws/credentials`.

The tool exposes curl-like flags for methods, data, headers, redirects, output files, and TLS behavior, while adding AWS-specific options such as `--service`, `--region`, and `--profile`.

Why package nerds care

awscurl is package-nerd catnip because it is a tiny bridge between two command-line cultures: ubiquitous curl-style HTTP tooling and AWS' SigV4 authentication machinery. It packages a fiddly authentication algorithm as one executable, which is exactly the sort of thing users want from Homebrew.

It also demonstrates how AWS-adjacent tools often live outside AWS itself but still rely on official AWS credential conventions.

Timeline

• 2015: Public GitHub repository `okigan/awscurl` created.
• 2018: v0.13 release prepared.
• 2020: v0.20 release adds macOS Homebrew package-manager support.
• 2021: v0.22 release adds SSO profile and redirect support.
• 2026: v0.44 release published.

Related projects

• AWS CLI provides higher-level generated AWS service commands.
• curl provides the familiar HTTP command-line interaction model.
• aws-sigv4-proxy and other SigV4 helpers solve adjacent signed-request problems.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/okigan/awscurl
• https://api.github.com/repos/okigan/awscurl/releases?per_page=100
• https://github.com/okigan/awscurl
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/okigan/awscurl/master/README.md