httpd-echo

A Simple Python HTTP server that echos the request in the response

Provide a simple HTTP server that tries to echo the request back in the response in the most sensible way possible. This can be useful for, testing, debugging, stubbing out a local server in systems that have a hard-coded assumption of making HTTP requests, etc.:

$ python -m httpdecho
Echoing HTTP at http://localhost:8000 ...

Examples

Without specifying a port, the server will try to find the next available port starting at 8000 to try and be as predictable as possible:

>>> import sys
>>> import time
>>> import subprocess
>>> from six.moves import SimpleHTTPServer
>>> startup_delay = 0.5
>>> simple_popen = subprocess.Popen(
...     [sys.executable, '-m', SimpleHTTPServer.__name__]
...     ); time.sleep(1)
>>> echo_popen = subprocess.Popen(
...     [sys.executable, '-m', 'httpdecho']
...     ); time.sleep(1)
>>> echo_popen.poll()
>>> simple_popen.kill()

Once running, HTTP requests are echoed in the responses. The default response body format is basically HTTP header format, from http.client.HTTPMessage:

>>> import io
>>> import requests
>>> import email
>>> get_response = requests.delete('http://localhost:8001')
>>> get_body = email.message_from_string(get_response.text)
>>> print(get_body['Method'])
DELETE
>>> print(get_body['Path'])
/
>>> print(get_body.get_payload())
<BLANKLINE>

Query parameters are also included:

>>> query_response = requests.get(
...     'http://localhost:8001', params=dict(Foo='foo'))
>>> query_body = email.message_from_string(query_response.text)
>>> print(query_body['Foo'])
foo

If the request is a POST or another method that accepts a body on the request, the body or the responses body will contain the POST body:

>>> post_response = requests.patch(
...     'http://localhost:8001', data=dict(Bar='bar'))
>>> post_body = email.message_from_string(post_response.text)
>>> print(post_body.get_payload())
Bar=bar

Shutdown the server:

>>> echo_popen.kill()

TODO

Features for future releases

Content-Type and Accept support for content negotiation:

Return the response body in the format specified in the Accept header if given, otherwise in the same Content-Type as the request.