Install httpyac with Homebrew, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• httpyac

Project history

The AnWeber/httpyac repository was created in January 2021. Its README expands the name as 'Yet another Rest Client' and describes a CLI for executing `.http` and `.rest` files, either as individual request files or as folders of requests.

The release stream grew into a mature npm-style version line, with GitHub releases showing 6.16.x publications in 2024 and 2025. The documentation and README point to examples, a guide, a CHANGELOG, Docker images, and a command surface organized around `httpyac send` and `httpyac oauth2`.

Adoption history

httpYac's adoption is tied to the editor-friendly `.http` file convention popularized by REST Client-style workflows. It gives those files a standalone CLI runner, making request collections usable in shells, scripts, and CI without opening an editor.

The input package metadata lists Homebrew and Nix packages, while the README documents npm global installation and a GHCR Docker image. That combination places httpYac in both JavaScript package culture and general CLI package-manager culture.

How it is used

Users install it with npm, Homebrew, Nix, or Docker, then run `httpyac send <fileName...>` to execute one or more `.http` files. The README documents filtering by environment, tag, name, or line, plus JSON and JUnit output modes, parallel repetition, verbosity controls, and variable injection.

The curated config paths reflect httpYac's documented configuration and environment-file conventions: project config can live in `httpyac.config.js`, `.httpyac.js`, `.httpyac.json`, or `package.json`, and private environment values are conventionally separated into `http-client.private.env.json` files.

Why package nerds care

httpYac is significant because it treats plain request files as the packageable unit. That makes API examples, smoke tests, and manual request collections easy to version, review, and run from a package-manager-installed CLI.

It also bridges several protocol niches that often require separate tools. For package users who want one text-file runner for REST plus GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket, MQTT, and SOAP, httpYac occupies a practical middle ground between curl snippets and a full GUI API client.

Timeline

• 2021: GitHub repository created.
• 2021: Early 0.3 and 0.4 GitHub releases published.
• 2024: 6.16.0 through 6.16.4 releases published.
• 2025: 6.16.5 through 6.16.7 releases published.

Related projects

• VS Code REST Client-style `.http` files are the workflow family that httpYac turns into a standalone CLI experience.
• curl and HTTPie are neighboring CLI HTTP clients, but they do not center on multi-request `.http` files in the same way.
• Postman and Insomnia occupy the GUI API-client side of the same API-testing space.
• grpcurl and WebSocket-specific clients overlap with individual protocol slices that httpYac includes under one runner.

Sources

• GitHub releases supply the 2021, 2024, and 2025 release timeline.
• GitHub repository metadata supplies the creation date, description, homepage, license, and popularity signal.
• Project docs and input curation support config and private environment-file locations.
• The README supplies the project name, CLI purpose, protocol support, install methods, commands, options, examples, and changelog link.