Install httpx with Homebrew, apk, Nix, apt

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• httpx

Project history

The projectdiscovery/httpx repository was created in May 2020 as part of ProjectDiscovery's security-tooling ecosystem. The README describes it as a fast, multi-purpose HTTP toolkit built around the retryablehttp library and designed to keep result reliability while increasing thread count.

The tool evolved as a modular reconnaissance probe rather than a simple HTTP client. Its documented flags cover input normalization, matchers, filters, extractors, rate limiting, headless screenshotting, technology detection, database output, and raw request handling.

Adoption history

httpx became package-manager visible across several ecosystems because it sits in a common recon pipeline role: take many discovered hosts or URLs, probe them quickly, and produce structured output for filtering or downstream tools. The input metadata lists Homebrew, Nix, APK, Debian, and Ubuntu package names, though Debian and Ubuntu package names collide with the unrelated Python HTTPX library.

The repository has a large GitHub audience, publishes GitHub releases, and advertises Docker Hub pulls in the README badges. Its ProjectDiscovery documentation and Discord/community links place it inside a broader suite that also includes tools such as nuclei and related reconnaissance utilities.

How it is used

Common usage starts with `httpx -l hosts.txt` or `httpx -u example.com`, then adds probes such as status code, title, web server, response time, TLS certificate, favicon hash, JARM, CDN, ASN, screenshots, or technology detection.

The README documents the default config file path as `$HOME/.config/httpx/config.yaml`, plus rate-limit, proxy, resolver, SNI, random-agent, redirect, JSON/CSV, and database-output flags. That makes the tool useful both as an interactive CLI and as a stage in automated recon pipelines.

Why package nerds care

httpx is package-nerd significant partly because its name collides with other ecosystems: in security tooling it means ProjectDiscovery's Go reconnaissance probe, while in Python packaging HTTPX is a separate HTTP client. Package-manager metadata has to disambiguate intent by homepage, executable, and description.

It is also a strong example of the modern security CLI package: single-purpose enough to compose in shell pipelines, but broad enough to include JSONL, screenshots, DSL matching, rate limits, and config files for serious scans.

Timeline

• 2020: GitHub repository created under ProjectDiscovery.
• 2025: v1.7.x releases published through GitHub releases.
• 2026: v1.8.x and v1.9.0 releases published through GitHub releases.
• 2026: README documents Go installation, active-development warning, and a broad probe/filter/output flag surface.

Related projects

• ProjectDiscovery retryablehttp-go is named by the README as the HTTP retry library used by httpx.
• ProjectDiscovery nuclei is a common companion in security scanning workflows, although it is not the same type of HTTP probe.
• curl and httptap overlap on request timing, but httpx is built for bulk reconnaissance and probe enrichment.
• Python HTTPX is an unrelated project with a colliding package name in some Linux package-manager metadata.

Sources

• GitHub releases supply the 2025 and 2026 release timeline.
• GitHub repository metadata supplies the creation date, description, homepage, license, and popularity signal.
• Homebrew and input package-manager metadata support cross-package-manager availability and name-collision notes.
• The README supplies the security-recon purpose, retryablehttp dependency, feature list, install command, config path, flags, output modes, and active-development warning.