Options Reference

Complete reference of all orb command-line options.

Usage

orb [OPTIONS] <URL>

Request Options

Option	Description
-X, --request <METHOD>	HTTP method (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.). Default: GET
-H, --header <HEADER>	Add header in Name: Value format. Can be used multiple times
-d, --data <DATA>	Request body. Use @filename to read from file
--json <JSON>	Send JSON data (sets Content-Type: application/json)
-F, --form <FIELD>	Multipart form field. Use field=@file for file upload

Authentication

Option	Description
-u, --user <USER:PASS>	HTTP Basic authentication
--bearer <TOKEN>	Bearer token authentication

Cookies

Option	Description
-b, --cookie <DATA>	Send cookies. Use @filename to read from file
-c, --cookie-jar <FILE>	Save cookies to file (Netscape format)

Output

Option	Description
-o, --output <FILE>	Write response body to file
-i, --include	Include response headers in output
-I, --head	Show response headers only (HEAD request)
-v, --verbose	Verbose mode (show request/response details)
-s, --silent	Silent mode (suppress all output except body)
-w, --write-out	Show statistics (http_code, size, timing)
-#, --progress	Show progress bar

TLS/SSL

Option	Description
-k, --insecure	Skip certificate verification
--cert <FILE>	Client certificate file (PEM)
--key <FILE>	Client certificate key file (PEM)
--cacert <FILE>	CA certificate file (PEM)

Protocol

Option	Description
--http1.1	Force HTTP/1.1
--http2	Force HTTP/2
--http3	Force HTTP/3 (QUIC)

Compression

Option	Description
--compressed	Accept and decompress responses (zstd, br, gzip, deflate)
--compress-algo <ALGO>	Request specific algorithm: gzip, deflate, brotli, zstd

Timeouts & Redirects

Option	Description
--connect-timeout <SECS>	Connection timeout in seconds. Default: 10
-m, --max-time <SECS>	Maximum total request time in seconds
-L, --location	Follow redirects
--max-redirs <NUM>	Maximum redirects to follow. Default: 10

Network

Option	Description
-x, --proxy <URL>	Proxy URL (http:// or socks5://)
--connect-to <RULE>	Override DNS: HOST1:PORT1:HOST2:PORT2

Headers

Option	Description
-A, --user-agent <STRING>	Custom User-Agent header
-e, --referer <URL>	Set Referer header

WebSocket

Option	Description
--ws-message <MSG>	Send WebSocket message and exit

Option Details

-X, --request

Specify the HTTP method. Can be any valid method:

orb -X POST https://example.com
orb -X PUT https://example.com
orb -X DELETE https://example.com
orb -X PATCH https://example.com
orb -X OPTIONS https://example.com

-H, --header

Add custom headers. Can be used multiple times:

orb -H "Authorization: Bearer token" \
    -H "Accept: application/json" \
    -H "X-Custom: value" \
    https://example.com

-d, --data

Send request body data. Sets Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded:

# Inline data
orb -d "key=value&other=data" https://example.com

# From file
orb -d @payload.txt https://example.com

Note

Conflicts with --json and -F.

--json

Send JSON data. Sets Content-Type: application/json:

orb --json '{"name": "Alice"}' https://example.com

-F, --form

Send multipart form data:

# Text field
orb -F "name=Alice" https://example.com

# File upload
orb -F "file=@document.pdf" https://example.com

# Multiple fields
orb -F "name=Alice" -F "avatar=@photo.jpg" https://example.com

-u, --user

HTTP Basic authentication:

orb -u username:password https://example.com
orb -u username: https://example.com  # Empty password

--bearer

Bearer token authentication:

orb --bearer "eyJhbGciOi..." https://example.com

-b, --cookie

Send cookies:

# Inline cookie
orb -b "session=abc123" https://example.com

# From file (Netscape format)
orb -b @cookies.txt https://example.com

-c, --cookie-jar

Save response cookies to file:

orb -c cookies.txt https://example.com

-o, --output

Save response body to file:

orb -o response.json https://api.example.com
orb -o file.zip https://example.com/file.zip

-v, --verbose

Show detailed request/response information:

orb -v https://example.com

-s, --silent

Suppress all output except response body:

orb -s https://example.com > response.txt

-w, --write-out

Show request statistics:

orb -w https://example.com
# Output: http_code: 200, size_download: 1234, time_total: 0.456

-k, --insecure

Skip TLS certificate verification:

orb -k https://self-signed.example.com

--cert and --key

Client certificate for mTLS:

# Combined file
orb --cert combined.pem https://example.com

# Separate files
orb --cert client.pem --key client-key.pem https://example.com

--cacert

Custom CA certificate:

orb --cacert ca.pem https://internal.example.com

--http1.1, --http2, --http3

Force specific HTTP protocol version:

orb --http1.1 https://example.com
orb --http2 https://example.com
orb --http3 https://example.com  # Requires server support

--compressed

Accept compressed responses:

orb --compressed https://example.com
# Sends: Accept-Encoding: zstd, br, gzip, deflate

--connect-timeout and -m, --max-time

Set timeouts:

orb --connect-timeout 5 -m 30 https://example.com

-L, --location

Follow redirects:

orb -L https://httpbin.org/redirect/3
orb -L --max-redirs 5 https://example.com

-x, --proxy

Use a proxy:

orb -x http://proxy:8080 https://example.com
orb -x socks5://proxy:1080 https://example.com

--connect-to

Override DNS routing:

orb --connect-to "api.example.com:443:localhost:8443" https://api.example.com

--ws-message

Send a WebSocket message:

orb wss://echo.websocket.org --ws-message "Hello!"