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CLI Reference

This page covers the command forms, arguments, and options exposed by the Hen CLI.

Top-level command

hen [OPTIONS] [PATH] [SELECTOR]
hen run [OPTIONS] [PATH] [SELECTOR]
hen verify [OPTIONS] <PATH>
hen inspect [OPTIONS] <PATH>

The default hen [PATH] [SELECTOR] form behaves like hen run [PATH] [SELECTOR].

Common arguments

ArgumentMeaning
PATHpath to a .hen collection or a directory containing one
SELECTORrequest index or all

hen run

Use hen run to execute a collection or a single request.

Options

OptionMeaning
--env <ENV>select a named collection environment
--input key=valueprovide a prompt value up front
--non-interactivefail instead of prompting for collection or request selection
--output <FORMAT>render output as text, json, ndjson, or junit
--body <MODE>show response bodies in text output for none, selected, failed, or all requests
--parallelexecute independent requests concurrently
--max-concurrency <N>limit concurrency when running with --parallel
--continue-on-errorkeep unaffected dependency branches running after a failure
--benchmark <N>benchmark a request instead of running it once
--exportrender the selected request as a curl command
--verbose, -vinclude more detail in text output and enable debug logging

Examples

hen run ./examples/lorem.hen 0
hen run ./examples/lorem.hen all --non-interactive --output json
hen run ./examples/environment_overrides.hen 0 --env local --input client_id=demo

hen verify

Use hen verify to parse and validate a collection without executing shell substitutions or HTTP requests.

Options

OptionMeaning
--output <FORMAT>render output as text, json, ndjson, or junit

Example

hen verify ./examples/lorem.hen

hen inspect

Use hen inspect when tooling needs collection summaries, declarations, symbols, request metadata, and required inputs without executing the collection.

Options

OptionMeaning
--output <FORMAT>render output as text, json, or ndjson

Example

hen inspect ./examples/lorem.hen --output json

Output formats

FormatSupported by
textrun, verify, inspect
jsonrun, verify, inspect
ndjsonrun, verify, inspect
junitrun, verify