XDiff-NG: HTTP Request Comparison and Building Tools

XDiff-NG is a powerful command-line toolkit for HTTP request comparison and construction, written in Rust. It provides two main utilities:

xdiff: A sophisticated diff tool for comparing HTTP requests and responses. Perfect for comparing differences between production and staging environments, or different versions of the same API.
xreq: A flexible HTTP request builder based on predefined profiles. An excellent replacement for curl/httpie when dealing with complex HTTP requests.

Features

🔍 Smart HTTP Comparison: Compare requests and responses with configurable skip rules
🎨 Syntax Highlighting: Beautiful colored output for better readability
⚙️ Flexible Configuration: YAML-based configuration with profile support
🚀 High Performance: Built with Rust for speed and reliability
📝 Rich Output Formats: Support for various output formats and highlighting
🔧 Extensible: Easy to extend with custom profiles and configurations

Installation

From Source

git clone https://github.com/YanQD/xdiff_ng.git
cd xdiff_ng
cargo build --release

The binaries will be available in target/release/:

xdiff-live
xreq-live

Using Cargo

cargo install --path .

Quick Start

1. Using xdiff

Basic comparison:

# Compare two API endpoints using a predefined profile
cargo run --bin xdiff-live -- run -p rust -c fixtures/test.yml

# Compare with extra parameters
cargo run --bin xdiff-live -- run -p rust -c fixtures/test.yml -e a=100 -e @b=2 -e m=10

Interactive mode:

# Parse and compare URLs interactively
cargo run --bin xdiff-live -- parse
# Then input URLs like:
# https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1?a=1&b=2
# https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/2?a=2&b=3
# todo

2. Using xreq

Make HTTP requests:

# Execute a request using a predefined profile
cargo run --bin xreq-live -- run -p todo -c fixtures/xreq_test.yml

# Run with custom parameters
cargo run --bin xreq-live -- run -p api -c config.yml -e token=abc123

XDiff - HTTP Request Comparison Tool

XDiff allows you to compare HTTP requests and responses between different environments or API versions. It's particularly useful for:

Comparing production vs staging environments
Validating API changes between versions
Debugging differences in HTTP responses
Testing API compatibility

Configuration

XDiff uses YAML configuration files to define comparison profiles. Each profile contains:

Request definitions: Two requests to compare (method, URL, headers, parameters, body)
Response filtering: Rules for skipping certain headers or body fields during comparison

Example configuration:

---
# Profile for comparing Rust website responses
rust:
  req1:
    method: GET
    url: https://www.rust-lang.org/
    headers:
        user-agent: Aloha
    params:
      hello: world
  req2:
    method: GET
    url: https://www.rust-lang.org/
    params: {}
  res:
    skip_headers:
      - set-cookie
      - date
      - via
      - x-amz-cf-id
    skip_body:
      - timestamp
      - request_id

# Profile for comparing JSON API responses  
todo:
  req1:
    url: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1
    params: 
      a: 100
  req2:
    url: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/2
    params:
      c: 200
  res:
    skip_headers:
      - report-to
      - date
      - x-ratelimit-remaining
      - x-ratelimit-reset
      - cf-ray
      - age
    skip_body:
      - id

Command Line Options

xdiff-live <COMMAND>

Commands:
  run    Run diff comparison with specified profile
  parse  Interactive mode for parsing and comparing URLs
  help   Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Options for 'run':
  -p, --profile <PROFILE>    Profile name to use
  -c, --config <CONFIG>      Configuration file path
  -e, --extra <EXTRA>        Extra parameters (format: key=value or @key=value)

Extra Parameters

You can override or add parameters using the -e flag:

-e key=value: Add/override query parameter
-e @key=value: Add/override header
-e #key=value: Add/override body parameter

XReq - HTTP Request Builder

XReq is a powerful HTTP client that builds requests based on predefined profiles. It's designed to replace curl or httpie for complex HTTP requests.

Features

Profile-based requests: Define reusable request templates
Parameter substitution: Dynamic parameter injection
Rich output: Syntax highlighted response display
Header management: Easy header customization
Body templating: Support for various body formats

Configuration

---
# API testing profile
api:
  method: POST
  url: https://api.example.com/users
  headers:
    content-type: application/json
    authorization: Bearer {{token}}
  body:
    name: "{{name}}"
    email: "{{email}}"

# Simple GET request profile    
todo:
  method: GET
  url: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/{{id}}
  params:
    _limit: 10

Command Line Usage

xreq-live run -p <PROFILE> -c <CONFIG> [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -p, --profile <PROFILE>    Profile name to use
  -c, --config <CONFIG>      Configuration file path  
  -e, --extra <EXTRA>        Extra parameters for substitution

Configuration File Format

Both tools use YAML configuration files. See yaml.md for detailed YAML syntax reference.

Profile Structure

---
profile_name:
  method: GET|POST|PUT|DELETE|PATCH    # HTTP method (default: GET)
  url: string                          # Request URL (required)
  headers:                             # Request headers
    key: value
  params:                              # Query parameters  
    key: value
  body:                                # Request body (for POST/PUT/PATCH)
    key: value
  res:                                 # Response filtering (xdiff only)
    skip_headers:                      # Headers to ignore in comparison
      - header-name
    skip_body:                         # Body fields to ignore in comparison
      - field-name

Examples

1. Comparing API Endpoints

Compare two different API endpoints:

# Compare todo items from JSONPlaceholder API
cargo run --bin xdiff-live -- run -p todo -c fixtures/test.yml

2. Environment Comparison

Compare the same endpoint across different environments:

---
api_comparison:
  req1:
    url: https://staging-api.example.com/users
    headers:
      authorization: Bearer staging-token
  req2:
    url: https://prod-api.example.com/users  
    headers:
      authorization: Bearer prod-token
  res:
    skip_headers:
      - date
      - server
      - x-request-id

3. Version Comparison

Compare different API versions:

# Compare v1 vs v2 API responses
cargo run --bin xdiff-live -- run -p version_compare -c api_versions.yml

4. Making HTTP Requests with xreq

# Make a simple GET request
cargo run --bin xreq-live -- run -p todo -c fixtures/xreq_test.yml

# POST request with parameters
cargo run --bin xreq-live -- run -p create_user -c api.yml -e name="John Doe" -e email="john@example.com"

Development

Prerequisites

Rust 1.70 or later
Cargo

Building

# Debug build
cargo build

# Release build  
cargo build --release

# Run tests
cargo test

# Run with examples
cargo run --example highlight
cargo run --example similar

Project Structure

├── src/
│   ├── bin/          # Binary entry points
│   │   ├── xdiff.rs  # xdiff CLI
│   │   └── xreq.rs   # xreq CLI  
│   ├── config/       # Configuration handling
│   ├── cli.rs        # Command line interface
│   ├── lib.rs        # Library exports
│   └── utils.rs      # Utility functions
├── examples/         # Example code
├── fixtures/         # Test configuration files
├── tests/           # Integration tests
└── README.md        # This file

Running Tests

# Run all tests
cargo test

# Run specific test
cargo test cli_tests

# Run with verbose output
cargo test -- --nocapture

Contributing

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

Built with Rust
HTTP client powered by reqwest
Text diffing by similar
Syntax highlighting by syntect
CLI framework by clap

Changelog

v0.1.0

Initial release
Basic xdiff functionality for HTTP request comparison
xreq tool for making HTTP requests from profiles
YAML configuration support
Syntax highlighting for output
Interactive parsing mode

xdiff-live 0.1.1

XDiff-NG: HTTP Request Comparison and Building Tools

Features

Installation

From Source

Using Cargo

Quick Start

1. Using xdiff

2. Using xreq

XDiff - HTTP Request Comparison Tool

Configuration

Command Line Options

Extra Parameters

XReq - HTTP Request Builder

Features

Configuration

Command Line Usage

Configuration File Format

Profile Structure

Examples

1. Comparing API Endpoints

2. Environment Comparison

3. Version Comparison

4. Making HTTP Requests with xreq

Development

Prerequisites

Building

Project Structure

Running Tests

Contributing

License

Acknowledgments

Changelog

v0.1.0