httpdbg

What it is and what it does

httpdbg is a debugging tool that sits between your Python code and the network to capture and visualize HTTP(S) traffic. Instead of modifying your code, you run your program through the `pyhttpdbg` command, and it automatically intercepts all HTTP requests—both those made by your client code and those received by your server. The captured traffic appears in a web dashboard at http://localhost:4909, where you can inspect headers, bodies, timing, and request grouping.

It supports HTTP/1.0, HTTP/1.1, and HTTP/2, and works with popular clients (requests, urllib3, httpx, aiohttp) and servers (Flask, FastAPI). You can trace standalone scripts, test suites (pytest, unittest), or interactive Python sessions. The tool groups related requests together—for example, redirects or requests made within test fixtures—and tags them for easier navigation. It requires no configuration to start and has no runtime dependencies beyond Python itself.

Use it for:

• Debug unexpected HTTP behavior in a script by running it through pyhttpdbg and inspecting the actual requests and responses in the web UI.
• Trace all HTTP calls made by pip or another module to understand its network activity without modifying the module's code.
• Inspect HTTP requests and responses in your test suite to verify that your code is making the correct API calls.
• Monitor incoming HTTP requests to your Flask or FastAPI server during development to verify endpoint behavior.
• Export HTTP traces as a single HTML file for documentation or sharing debugging sessions with teammates.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

httpdbg intercepts and displays HTTP(S) requests made by or received by Python programs, providing a web-based dashboard to inspect client and server traffic without code changes.

Yes. httpdbg is a low-friction development tool with no dependencies, active maintenance, a permissive license, and no known vulnerabilities. It solves a real debugging problem—inspecting HTTP traffic without code changes—and works with common Python HTTP libraries and frameworks. Install it if you regularly debug HTTP-based Python applications.

Install

httpdbg on PyPI

pip install httpdbg

uv add httpdbg

poetry add httpdbg

Installing httpdbg

Before you install

Low friction: pure Python wheel with no runtime dependencies. Actively maintained with recent releases and 905 repository stars.

License in practice

Apache-2.0 permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart

pip install httpdbg

# Run a script with HTTP tracing:
pyhttpdbg --script my_script.py

# Or run tests with tracing:
pyhttpdbg -m pytest tests/

# View requests at http://localhost:4909

Requires Python 3.9 or later.

Verify before relying

• Whether the tool works with all HTTP client libraries or only the explicitly listed ones (requests, urllib3, httpx, aiohttp).
• Performance impact when tracing large volumes of HTTP traffic.
• Whether the web interface persists requests across Python process restarts in all scenarios.

Package facts

Evidence: httpdbg-2.1.8-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

More WWW/HTTP packages