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Echo Service API Overview

The Echo Service API is a simple HTTP request and response service designed for testing, debugging, and learning about HTTP and RESTful APIs. It provides a wide range of endpoints that allow users to inspect, manipulate, and experiment with HTTP requests and responses in various ways.

Key Features

  • HTTP Methods: Supports all standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE) for testing different request types.
  • Request & Response Inspection: Endpoints to view request headers, query parameters, and inspect the structure of HTTP requests and responses.
  • Status Codes: Generate responses with specific or random HTTP status codes to test client behavior.
  • Authentication: Simulate HTTP Basic, Bearer, and Digest authentication flows.
  • Dynamic Data: Generate random bytes, UUIDs, and other dynamic content for testing.
  • Cookies: Set, read, and delete cookies to test cookie handling in clients.
  • Redirects: Test client handling of absolute and relative redirects, including custom redirect chains.
  • Response Formats: Return data in various formats such as JSON, XML, HTML, Brotli, GZip, and Deflate.
  • Images: Retrieve images in different formats (JPEG, PNG, SVG, WEBP) for testing image handling.
  • Caching: Simulate cache control and ETag behavior.

Example Use Cases

  • Testing how your application handles different HTTP methods and status codes.
  • Debugging request and response headers.
  • Simulating authentication flows for client development.
  • Experimenting with redirects and cookies.
  • Learning about RESTful API design and HTTP protocol behavior.

Getting Started

You can use the Echo Service API directly via HTTP requests. For example, to test a simple GET request:

curl https://httpbin.konghq.com/get

To run a local instance using Docker:

docker run -p 80:80 kennethreitz/httpbin

Documentation

The API is documented using the OpenAPI specification, which details all available endpoints, parameters, and response formats. Refer to the OpenAPI spec for a comprehensive list of features and usage examples.

The Echo Service API is a versatile tool for developers, QA engineers, and anyone needing a reliable HTTP testing service.