Skip to content

cURL to Code Converter

Paste any cURL command and get the equivalent code in JavaScript fetch, Python requests, Node.js axios, Go, PHP, Ruby, Java, or C#. Headers, body, authentication, and query parameters all carry over correctly. The cURL stays the source of truth; the generated code is a transcription, not a reinterpretation.

Why cURL Stays the Lingua Franca of HTTP

Every API doc has a cURL example. Every browser's Network tab has Copy as cURL. Every shell prompt has cURL available. It became the default way humans describe an HTTP request to other humans, and that convention isn't going anywhere. The friction is that the moment you want to put the request into a real program, you have to translate the cURL flags into whatever your language's HTTP client wants — and the mapping isn't always obvious.

Some flags translate cleanly: -H is a header, -d is a body, -X POST is a method. Others have surprising mappings. --data-urlencode requires the body to be percent-encoded but the Content-Type to be application/x-www-form-urlencoded. -u user:pass is HTTP Basic auth, which in fetch becomes an Authorization header with the credentials base64-encoded. --cookie-jar is a session feature most fetch-style clients don't have at all. Getting these right by hand for every request gets old.

How It Works

The cURL command is tokenized using shell-aware parsing — quoted strings are kept whole, escapes are honoured, and line-continuation backslashes get folded. Each flag is mapped to its semantic meaning (header, body, auth, method, URL, etc.) and then re-emitted in the target language's idiom. JavaScript fetch goes through a fetch(url, options) call; Python requests becomes requests.request(method, url, **kwargs); Go becomes a net/http client with the request object built explicitly.

The generated code is intentionally beginner-friendly — it imports the standard HTTP library, builds the request explicitly with named variables, and adds error handling. Experienced developers can shorten it; the verbose version is easier to learn from and harder to misread.

Reverse direction (code to cURL) is the natural follow-up. Paste a generated fetch call back into the JSON formatter for inspection, or pipe a generated request body through the URL encoder to verify the encoding.

Common Use Cases

Promoting an API call from the browser DevTools Network tab into a script. Sharing a working request with a teammate whose language isn't yours. Generating starting code for a Postman-equivalent test. Translating an API doc's cURL example into the boilerplate your codebase uses. Verifying that your client library is sending the exact same bytes as the cURL you tested with — when the cURL works and the code doesn't, the diff is usually a header.

How We Compare

curlconverter.com is the original web-based cURL converter and supports a large number of target languages with high accuracy. This tool covers the most-used 8 languages with the same accuracy on the common flag set, runs locally without upload (useful when the cURL contains auth tokens), and integrates with the rest of the UDT toolkit. For exotic flags or rare languages, curlconverter has broader coverage; for the 95% case of standard REST requests, either tool is equivalent and this one keeps your tokens out of someone else's logs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which cURL flags are supported?+
The converter handles -X/--request (HTTP method), -H/--header (headers), -d/--data/--data-raw/--data-binary (request body), -u (basic auth), -A (user agent), -b (cookie), -e (referrer), and the default URL argument. Flags like -v, -k, -i are parsed but don't affect output.
Does it support multipart/form-data?+
The current version supports text bodies (-d, --data, --data-raw) and JSON. Multipart file uploads (-F) generate basic stubs — you may need to adjust the file path in the generated code.
Will it work with cURL from DevTools 'Copy as cURL'?+
Yes. Chrome, Firefox, and Safari's 'Copy as cURL' outputs paste directly. The converter handles quoted strings, backslash line continuations, and properly escapes special characters in the output code.
Is the command sent to any server?+
No. All parsing and code generation happens in your browser. Your cURL command, headers, and any auth tokens never leave your device.
Which target languages are supported?+
JavaScript (fetch, axios), Python (requests, httpx), Node.js, Go, Ruby, PHP, Java (OkHttp), C# (HttpClient), Swift (URLSession), and plain raw HTTP for debugging. Pick from the dropdown.
Does it handle complex curl flags?+
Yes — --data, --data-raw, --data-binary, --form (multipart), --cookie, --cookie-jar, --user (basic auth), --header, --location (follow redirects), and --insecure (SSL skip) all translate accurately into each language’s idioms.
What about authentication headers?+
Basic auth (--user) becomes the right language idiom (e.g., requests.auth in Python). Bearer tokens passed via --header survive intact. The tool flags possible secret values for review before pasting elsewhere.
Can I reverse-translate code back into curl?+
Not currently — the tool flows in one direction. For testing your generated code, the API Request Builder lets you experiment with the same request without writing code at all.
What about file uploads and multipart forms?+
Text bodies work cleanly. File uploads using -F / --form are a more complex case \u2014 the current version generates basic stubs. For file uploads, you'll want to adjust the file path handling in the generated code.

Built by Derek Giordano \u00B7 Part of Ultimate Design Tools

Privacy Policy \u00B7 Terms of Service