Quick Start

This tutorial will help you get started with Octrafic CLI as quickly as possible.

Step 1: Install Octrafic

The quickest way to install:

Linux/macOS

curl -fsSL https://octrafic.com/install.sh | sh

Windows

iex (irm https://octrafic.com/install.ps1)

For all installation options (Homebrew, AUR, DEB/RPM, Go, manual download), see the Installation page.

Step 2: First launch setup

When you start Octrafic for the first time, you'll go through a quick setup:

1. Choose your AI provider

   • Anthropic Claude (recommended)
   • OpenRouter (access to multiple models)
   • OpenAI
   • Ollama (local, no API key needed)
   • llama.cpp (local, no API key needed)

2. Enter your API key (cloud providers) or server URL (local providers)

   • Get Claude API key: console.anthropic.com
   • Get OpenRouter API key: openrouter.ai/keys
   • Get OpenAI API key: platform.openai.com
   • For Ollama/llama.cpp, see Providers guide

3. Select a model

   • Choose from available models for your provider

Your configuration is saved locally and you won't need to set it up again.

Step 3: Start your first session

There are three ways to start Octrafic:

Quick test (temporary session)

TIP

No OpenAPI spec? No problem. Use the built-in OOPS Auto-Scanner to generate api-spec.json directly from your source code using octrafic scan -p . -o api-spec.json.

For one-time testing without saving:

octrafic -u https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com -s api-spec.json

This creates a temporary session that won't be saved.

Named project (saved for later)

To save a project for future use:

octrafic -u https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com -s api-spec.json -n "My API Project"

The project is saved and you can easily return to it later:

octrafic -n "My API Project"

Browse saved projects

To see all your saved projects:

octrafic

This opens an interactive list where you can:

• Navigate with arrow keys or j/k
• Search projects by pressing /
• Select a project with Enter
• Quit with q

Step 4: Ask your first question

Now you can interact with your API using natural language. Try asking:

what endpoints does this API have?

Octrafic will analyze the OpenAPI spec and show you all available endpoints.

You can also ask more specific questions:

show me the users endpoint
what are the required fields for creating a post?
how do I authenticate requests?

Step 5: Make your first API call

Test an endpoint directly:

get the first user

Octrafic will:

• Find the appropriate endpoint
• Show you the request details
• Execute the call
• Display the response

Step 6: Explore and analyze

Ask Octrafic to analyze your API:

analyze the API structure

Or get specific information:

what authentication methods are supported?
what are the response formats?
are there any rate limits?

Step 7: Generate test cases

Automatically generate test cases from your spec:

generate tests for the users endpoint

Octrafic will create comprehensive test scenarios covering:

• Happy path
• Edge cases
• Error handling
• Validation

Essential commands

Starting Octrafic

Command	What it does	Example
octrafic -u <url> -s <spec>	Quick test (temporary)	octrafic -u https://api.example.com -s spec.yaml
octrafic -u <url> -s <spec> -n "Name"	Create named project	octrafic -u https://api.example.com -s spec.yaml -n "Production API"
octrafic -n "Name"	Load named project	octrafic -n "Production API"
octrafic	Browse saved projects	octrafic

Authentication flags

Flag	What it does	Example
--auth bearer --token <token>	Bearer authentication	--auth bearer --token abc123
--auth apikey --key <name> --value <val>	API key authentication	--auth apikey --key X-API-Key --value abc123
--auth basic --user <u> --pass <p>	Basic authentication	--auth basic --user admin --pass secret
--clear-auth	Remove saved auth from project	--clear-auth

In-session commands

Command	What it does	Example
/help	Show available commands	/help
exit or Ctrl+C	Exit Octrafic	exit

Common workflows

Testing a new API once

# Quick test without saving
octrafic -u https://test-api.com -s spec.json

Working with a production API

# Save for future use
octrafic -u https://api.example.com -s prod-spec.yaml -n "Production API"

# Return to it later from anywhere
octrafic -n "Production API"

Managing multiple APIs

# Save different APIs
octrafic -u https://api1.com -s spec1.json -n "Stripe API"
octrafic -u https://api2.com -s spec2.json -n "GitHub API"
octrafic -u https://api3.com -s spec3.json -n "Client API"

# Browse and select
octrafic  # Opens interactive list with search

Updating a project

# Update with new spec or URL
octrafic -u https://api.example.com -s new-spec.yaml -n "Production API"

# You'll be prompted to confirm the update

Managing authentication

# Override auth with different credentials
octrafic -n "API" --auth bearer --token newtoken

# Clear saved authentication
octrafic -n "API" --clear-auth

Next steps

• Explore Authentication Methods
• Read about Project Management