Make API Calls from the Terminal – curl, JSON & jq for Hackers Explained (Ch.5)

🌐 Bash for Offensive Security — Chapter 5: API Calls & JSON Chapter 5 is where your Bash scripts stop being local tools and start talking to the internet. We learn curl — the command-line HTTP client — and jq — the JSON processor that makes API responses actually usable. Combined, they give you a UI-less web browser you can script, automate, and chain with everything we've built so far. ✅ What you'll learn: • How HTTP works: methods, headers, status codes (200, 401, 404, 500) • curl basics — GET, POST, PUT, DELETE from the terminal • The -s silent flag and why you almost always need it in scripts • Parsing JSON responses with jq — extracting single values, arrays • The -r flag to get raw output without quotes • Chaining curl | jq for clean, scriptable API data • Deep dive: Authentication (Bearer tokens, API keys, Basic auth) • Sending POST data, custom headers, cookies, proxies • Practical patterns: paginated APIs, chaining API calls, dynamic JSON • Exercise 8: weather.sh — live weather data fetched and parsed from wttr.in 🔧 Tools used: curl, jq, Bash, Ubuntu Terminal 📌 Part of the free "Bash Fundamentals for Offensive Security" series by ⚠️ DISCLAIMER: Educational and ethical hacking purposes only. #curl #jq #BashAPI #JSONParsing #OffensiveSecurity #EthicalHacking #LinuxAPI #BashScripting #CurlTutorial #JqTutorial #CyberSecurity #APIHacking