Fish Shell:
Sending an HTTP request with basic authentication

How to:

In Fish Shell, use curl to make an HTTP request with basic auth. Replace username, password, and the_url:

set -x AUTH (echo -n "username:password" | base64)
curl -H "Authorization: Basic $AUTH" the_url

Or, let curl handle the encoding:

curl -u username:password the_url

Sample output might look like this:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{
  "message": "Authenticated successfully."
}

Deep Dive

Basic authentication is part of HTTP’s protocol, existing since the early 90s. While easy to implement, it’s less secure due to credentials being only base64 encoded, not encrypted. HTTPS helps, but it’s not foolproof.

Alternatives include OAuth, which uses tokens instead of credentials, adding security layers. For added security, consider using API keys or JWT (JSON Web Tokens).

With Fish Shell, we’re interfacing with curl, a powerful tool that supports various protocols and authentication methods. The -u flag is convenient, but avoid hardcoding creds; instead, use environment variables or config files with proper permissions.

See Also:

• cURL Documentation: https://curl.se/docs/httpscripting.html
• HTTP Basic Auth RFC: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7617
• Fish Shell Documentation: https://fishshell.com/docs/current/index.html
• Understanding JWT: https://jwt.io/introduction/