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Examples

Practical, runnable recipes built from the public API. All examples are async — remember to await.


1. Basic curl command

Convert a single curl command and inspect the generated document.

import { curlToOpenApi } from "@powerduck/x-to-openapi";

const result = await curlToOpenApi(
`curl -X POST https://api.example.com/users \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{"name":"Ada","age":36,"tags":["admin","user"]}'`,
);

console.log(result.document.openapi); // "3.2.0"
console.log(result.ok, result.documentValid); // true true

const post = result.document.paths["/users"].post;
console.log(post.requestBody.content["application/json"].schema);
// {
// type: "object",
// properties: {
// name: { type: "string" },
// age: { type: "integer" },
// tags: { type: "array", items: { type: "string" } }
// },
// required: ["name", "age", "tags"]
// }

Diagnostics are always returned, even on success:

for (const d of result.diagnostics) {
console.log(`[${d.severity}] ${d.code}: ${d.message}`);
}

2. Multiple curl commands (batch)

Pass an array of commands or a multi-command string. Requests that share a method + path are merged; schemas combine structurally.

import { curlToOpenApi } from "@powerduck/x-to-openapi";

const result = await curlToOpenApi(
[
"curl https://api.example.com/users",
"curl https://api.example.com/users/123",
`curl -X POST https://api.example.com/users \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{"name":"Ada"}'`,
],
{
title: "User API",
version: "2.0.0",
useServerBasePath: true,
inferPathParameters: true,
},
);

// GET /users and GET /users/123 are grouped; "123" looks like an id.
console.log(Object.keys(result.document.paths)); // ["/users", "/users/{userId}"]

Browser "Copy all as cURL" output

Paste a whole block at once — splitCurlCommands handles quotes, continuations, prompts, and curl.exe.

const block = `
$ curl 'https://api.example.com/users/1?active=true'
> curl 'https://api.example.com/users/2' -X POST \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' --data '{"name":"Ada"}'`;

const result = await curlToOpenApi(block, { title: "Pasted traffic" });

3. Postman Collection

Convert a collection object. Nested folders, auth inheritance, and test scripts are all honored.

import { postmanToOpenApi } from "@powerduck/x-to-openapi";

const collection = {
info: {
name: "User API",
schema: "https://schema.postman.com/json/collection/v2.1.0/collection.json",
},
auth: { type: "bearer", bearer: [{ key: "token", value: "{{token}}" }] },
item: [
{
name: "Users",
item: [
{
name: "Create user",
request: {
method: "POST",
url: "https://api.example.com/users",
header: [{ key: "Content-Type", value: "application/json" }],
body: {
mode: "raw",
raw: '{"name":"Ada","role":"admin"}',
options: { raw: { language: "json" } },
},
},
event: [
{
listen: "test",
script: {
type: "text/javascript",
exec: ["pm.test('status is 201', () => pm.response.to.have.status(201));"],
},
},
],
},
],
},
],
};

const result = await postmanToOpenApi(collection, {
title: collection.info.name,
inferPathParameters: true,
});

// Collection-level bearer auth becomes a securityScheme + operation security.
console.log(result.document.components?.securitySchemes);
// { bearerAuth: { type: "http", scheme: "bearer" } }

// The Postman test script is preserved:
console.log(result.document.paths["/users"].post["x-postman-scripts"]);
// { test: "pm.test('status is 201', () => ...)" }

A JSON string works too:

const fromText = await postmanToOpenApi(JSON.stringify(collection));

4. Path parameter inference

When inferPathParameters is on (the default), a segment is templated when it varies across at least pathParameterMinSamples requests and every value looks like an identifier (numeric, UUID, ULID, or hex ≥ 8 chars).

import { curlToOpenApi } from "@powerduck/x-to-openapi";

const result = await curlToOpenApi(
[
"curl https://api.example.com/users/123",
"curl https://api.example.com/users/456",
"curl https://api.example.com/users/456/posts/abc123",
"curl https://api.example.com/users/456/posts/def456",
],
{ pathParameterMinSamples: 2 },
);

console.log(Object.keys(result.document.paths));
// [ "/users/{userId}", "/users/{userId}/posts/{postId}" ]

Parameter names come from the preceding static segment, singularized and camel-cased:

Path patternParameter names
/users/{}userId
/users/{}/posts/{}userId, postId
/categories/{}/items/{}categoryId, itemId
/{} (no preceding segment)param1

Duplicates within a path get numeric suffixes (userId, userId2).

Turn inference off to keep literal path segments:

await curlToOpenApi(commands, { inferPathParameters: false });

5. Custom adapter

Implement SourceAdapter to add a new source (HAR, HTTPie, Insomnia, …). Then register it on XToOpenApi.

import {
XToOpenApi,
CurlAdapter,
type SourceAdapter,
type NormalizedRequest,
type AdapterContext,
} from "@powerduck/x-to-openapi";

// A trivial adapter that emits a single GET request.
class PingAdapter implements SourceAdapter<{ url: string }> {
readonly id = "ping";

canHandle(input: unknown): boolean {
return (
typeof input === "object" &&
input !== null &&
"url" in (input as Record<string, unknown>)
);
}

async parse(
input: { url: string },
context: AdapterContext,
): Promise<NormalizedRequest[]> {
let url: URL;
try {
url = new URL(input.url);
} catch (cause) {
context.report({
code: "ADAPTER_PARSE_FAILED",
severity: "error",
source: this.id,
message: `Invalid URL: ${input.url}`,
cause,
});
return [];
}

return [
{
source: this.id,
sourceIndex: 0,
method: "get",
url,
urlString: url.toString(),
headers: [],
query: [],
cookies: [],
},
];
}
}

const converter = new XToOpenApi()
.register(new PingAdapter())
.register(new CurlAdapter());

// Explicit adapter id:
const a = await converter.convert("ping", { url: "https://api.example.com/health" });

// Auto-detect:
const b = await converter.convert("auto", { url: "https://api.example.com/health" });

console.log(a.document.paths["/health"]?.get?.operationId);

6. Error handling and strict mode

Non-fatal problems are collected in result.diagnostics. Use strict: true to throw a ConversionError instead.

import { curlToOpenApi, ConversionError } from "@powerduck/x-to-openapi";

// Soft mode: inspect diagnostics yourself.
const soft = await curlToOpenApi("curl https://api.example.com/health");
if (!soft.ok) {
for (const d of soft.diagnostics) {
console.error(`[${d.severity}] ${d.code}: ${d.message}`);
}
}

// Strict mode: throw on the first error-severity diagnostic.
try {
await curlToOpenApi("not a curl command at all", { strict: true });
} catch (error) {
if (error instanceof ConversionError) {
console.error("Conversion failed:", error.message);
for (const d of error.diagnostics) console.error(` ${d.code}`);
}
}

Note: inputs larger than 10 MB always throw a ConversionError, regardless of strict.


Next steps