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Restish

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What Restish is

Restish is a free, MIT-licensed command-line tool for exploring and working with REST-style HTTP APIs. It can send generic URL requests or discover OpenAPI descriptions and generate API-aware commands, contextual help, and shell completion for registered APIs. Requests support shorthand bodies, standard input, forms, multipart uploads, and files. Responses can be normalized and filtered with shorthand queries or jq expressions, then rendered as JSON, YAML, tables, CSV, NDJSON, lines, or raw downloads. Documented authentication includes bearer tokens, API keys, Basic Auth, OAuth, and profile-based credentials. Plugins cover bulk workflows, CSV, MCP, TLS signing, and custom API behavior. Restish runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, with desktop release archives for amd64 and arm64 systems, and it can be self-hosted. Installation options include Homebrew, Go source, mise, release archives, and a GitHub Container Registry image. Documentation advises storing secrets in environment variables rather than shared project configuration.

Who it suits

It suits developers and technical users who explore APIs, use OpenAPI-generated commands, or need scriptable request and response handling across desktop systems.

What it does well

  • Free and MIT-licensed
  • OpenAPI discovery and generated commands
  • Multiple request-body input methods
  • Many response output formats
  • Supports common authentication methods

What to know first

  • Command-line tool rather than a graphical app
  • No free trial listed because it is free software

Plans

PlanBilled and limitsPrice
Free and open sourceMIT-licensed CLI; no paid plans listedFree

As rest.sh lists them, read 11 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.

Verdict

Restish provides a broad command-line workflow for discovering, calling, filtering, and formatting REST APIs. Its cross-platform releases, authentication options, and plugins make it adaptable for API exploration and automation.

Facts from Restish's own pages

API discovery
It discovers OpenAPI descriptions and generates API-aware commands, help, and shell completion. · rest.sh, 11 Oct 2026
Authentication
Documented authentication options include bearer tokens, API keys, Basic Auth, OAuth, and profile-based credentials. · rest.sh, 11 Oct 2026
Free plan
Yes · rest.sh, 20 Sept 2026
Install options
The install guide lists Homebrew, Go source installation, mise, OS-specific release archives, and a GitHub Container Registry image. · rest.sh, 11 Oct 2026
Intended users
The docs describe using Restish to explore APIs with generic URL requests and to work with registered APIs through generated commands. · rest.sh, 11 Oct 2026
License
The project is released under the MIT License. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
Output
It can render responses in formats including JSON, YAML, tables, CSV, NDJSON, lines, and raw downloads. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
Available platforms
desktop · rest.sh, 20 Sept 2026
Plugins
The project documents plugins for bulk workflows, CSV, MCP, TLS signing, and custom API behavior. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
Purpose
Restish is a command-line tool for working with REST-style HTTP APIs. · rest.sh, 11 Oct 2026
Request input
It supports shorthand request bodies, stdin, forms, multipart uploads, and files. · rest.sh, 11 Oct 2026
Response filtering
It filters normalized responses with shorthand queries or jq expressions. · rest.sh, 11 Oct 2026
Security
The documentation recommends keeping secrets out of shared project configuration and referencing secret values through environment variables. · rest.sh, 11 Oct 2026
Supported desktop systems
Release archives are published for macOS, Linux, and Windows on amd64 and arm64. · rest.sh, 11 Oct 2026

Where Restish stands on Freedom251

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