# Directives

Directives aim to extend the HTTP specification with additional features.

For instance, let’s say you have numerous requests to the same API, such as:

```
get https://httl.dev/api/users

post https://httl.dev/api/users {
  name: "morpheus",
  job: "leader"
}

delete https://httl.dev/api/users/1
```

The standard HTTP specification doesn’t provide a way to encapsulate common parts of a request.
While we can use a global header like `Host: httl.dev`, it only specifies the host, not the full URL.

That’s why we need something that extends HTTP specification.

This is where directives come in handy.

```
@base https://httl.dev/api

get /users

post /users {
  name: "morpheus",
  job: "leader"
}

delete /users/1
```

That’s much better, isn’t it?

## Types of directives

There are several directives in httl:

- ### `@base`

Sets the base URL for the current Api object

```
@base https://httl.dev/api
```

- ### `@spec`

Sets the OpenAPI specification for current Api object

```
@spec: https://httl.dev/api/spec.json
```

- ### `@auth-basic`

Experimental directive that sets the Basic Authentification header for current Api object

```
@auth-basic: username password
```

will be transformed to `Authorization: Basic base64(username:password)`

Last updated on April 2, 2025