cURL to Code: Convert cURL Commands to Any Language

You found a cURL command in the API docs. Now you need to turn it into actual code. Here's a cheat sheet for the most common conversions.

cURL to JavaScript (fetch)

// cURL: curl -X POST https://api.example.com/data -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"name":"test"}'

const response = await fetch('https://api.example.com/data', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  body: JSON.stringify({ name: 'test' })
});
const data = await response.json();

cURL to Python (requests)

import requests

response = requests.post(
    'https://api.example.com/data',
    json={'name': 'test'}
)
data = response.json()

Common cURL Flags Translated

• -X POST = method: 'POST'
• -H "Header: value" = headers: { 'Header': 'value' }
• -d '{"key":"val"}' = body/data/json parameter
• -u user:pass = Basic auth header (base64 encoded)
• -k = skip SSL verification (don't do this in production)

Debugging API Responses

When the API sends back a giant blob of JSON, paste it into the JSON Formatter to make it readable. It indents, highlights, and validates the JSON so you can actually see the structure.

Pro Tip

Most browser DevTools let you right-click a network request and "Copy as cURL." Then you can convert that cURL to whatever language your backend uses. It's the fastest way to reproduce a request programmatically.