Ranga Vadhineni

Posted on Feb 17, 2023 • Edited on Feb 27, 2023

Thunder Client CLI — A new way to test APIs inside VS Code

#vscode #api #testing #javascript

In 2021 we launched Thunder Client extension for VSCode which was game changer, as we were the first to launch a GUI based API Client inside VSCode. Today we are launching Thunder Client CLI, which will be a game changer too, as we are bringing many new innovative features to CLI for API Testing.

Key Features

Simple & Easy to Use CLI tool
Seamless Integration with Thunder Client Extension
Run Requests/Collections and View Test results
Syntax Highlighting and VSCode Themes
Open Request/Collection UI from the terminal
Enhances CURL commands
CI/CD Integration

Installation

Requirements: Node 16 or higher
Please update the extension to latest version
Install CLI — npm i -g @thunderclient/cli

Note: If you are using Thunder Client settings in the extension, make sure they are workspace scope for CLI to access them.

Run Requests

The CLI and Extension are integrated seamlessly, so you can access requests data from the terminal without any additional configuration.

To execute requests run tc 'requestNameOrId', the request can be executed using id, name or partial name

As you can see in the above image, executing requests is very easy from CLI. The output is formatted beautifully with Status, Response with Syntax highlighting & VSCode theme, and Test results.

To Run the same request from UI requires multiple steps as below

Open Sidebar
Click Collections Tab
Open collection User and folder Account
Then open Welcome request
Now execute the request

Output Log

When the user executes a request by default — Status, Response & Test Results are displayed. You can control the data to output with --log argument.

Log options for request: 0=All Data, 1=ReqHeaders, 2=ReqBody, 6=ResHeaders, 7=ResBody, 8=Tests
Example: tc 'welcome' --log 1,2,7 will display Req headers, Req Body, and Response Body.

Open Request UI from CLI

If you like to quickly execute a request in extension UI, then you can do it easily from CLI using — ui argument.

tc 'welcome' — ui To open a request in UI and execute automatically
tc 'welcome' — ui2 To open a request in UI without auto-run.

VSCode Themes In CLI

We are bringing VSCode themes to the terminal for the first time.

Run Collection

Collection Runner will execute all the requests in the collection and display output in a beautiful format similar to the extension UI.

tc --col 'colNameOrId’ will run requests in the collection from CLI
tc --fol 'folNameOrId’ will run requests in the folder from CLI

Reports

CLI can generate reports in xml, html, json and csv formats.

tc --col 'User' --report xml,html command will execute all the requests and save reports in thunder-reports folder

Open Run Collection UI from CLI

If you like to execute Run collection in extension UI quickly, then you can do it easily from CLI using — ui argument.

tc --col 'User' — ui To open a collection runner in UI and execute automatically
tc --col 'User' — ui2 To open a collection runner in UI without auto-run.

List Collections or Requests

tc list to display the list of all collections

tc list user to display the list of requests in collection ‘User’

Enhances Curl Commands

In the above we have seen how to run requests and collections easily from CLI. Thunder Client CLI also has integration with CURL commands, so you can use it to create requests from CLI.

Standard Curl Command

Run Curl command using TC CLI

Run Curl command by prefixing tc and see the magic. By using Thunder Client CLI you will get the following benefits over normal curl.

Formatted Output
Syntax Highlighting & VSCode Themes
Request history will be saved to your Activity Tab

Save Request to Collection/Folder

You can also save requests to collection or folder using curl command from CLI.

tc curl 'http://httpbin.org/anything' --name 'Curl Req1' --col User the command will add request to collection User with name Curl Req1
Use --col argument to save to collection, and --fol argument to save to folder, and --name to specify the name of request

CI/CD Integration

Thunder Client CLI can be used in build server to run collection and save reports in xml, html, json and csv formats.

Settings: If you are using any TC VSCode settings, they need to set the scope to workspace, so the settings will be saved to the workspace directory.
Git Sync: The collection runner in build server will work only when you enable git sync feature
tc --col 'ColNameOrId' --report xml,html command will execute all the requests and save reports in thunder-reports folder

Github Actions

The sample yaml file can be used to integrate with Github actions or other build pipelines

Workspace Location

The CLI will use the current working directory as workspace directory, but if the data is in different workspace directory then use the --ws 'fullpathToGitWorkspace' to specify the workspace path.

Help Screen

The help screen for most CLI tools is boring and difficult to understand. So I custom designed our CLI help screen to be colorful and easy to understand.

Feedback

We love to hear your feedback about our new CLI tool, Please use it and let me know if any further improvements can be done in the comments or GitHub page.