HttpInspector.AspNetCore 1.5.0

HttpInspector.AspNetCore

A Zero-Config Live HTTP Inspector for ASP.NET Core

HttpInspector.AspNetCore provides a built-in, real-time view of incoming and outgoing HTTP traffic inside any ASP.NET Core application.
It captures the complete request lifecycle and exposes it through a polished, embedded dashboard ideal for development, testing, QA, CI pipelines, and microservice debugging.

It is not a replacement for ELK, Seq, or Application Insights.
Instead, it fills the gap between “no visibility at all” and “full observability stack,” and does so with almost no setup.

💡 Philosophy

HttpInspector focuses on being:

• Fast to enable
• Effortless to use
• Powerful for debugging
• Zero-infrastructure
• In-app and self-contained

It provides immediate clarity into what the API is doing right now, especially in complex request chains — all without the overhead of full observability stacks.

🖼 Dashboard Preview

1. Install the NuGet package:

   dotnet add package HttpInspector.AspNetCore --version 1.4.0
   

2. Use the Quick Start Guide to set up the package in your ASP.NET project
3. Open the dashboard:

http://localhost:<port>/http-inspector

✨ Features

🎛 Real-time visual dashboard

Access /http-inspector to see:

• Live stream of captured HTTP traffic
• Expandable request/response panels
• Syntax-highlighted JSON bodies
• Duration bars & status color coding
• Free-text, method, and status filters
• Smooth, responsive UI designed for developers

🔗 Outgoing HTTP request tracking

Automatically captures all HttpClient calls triggered during request processing.

• Child → parent correlation
• URL, method, headers, body
• Response status and duration
• End-to-end request chain visibility

🔁 Request replay built-in

Replay any captured request directly:

• Instant replay using internal loopback
• Copy as:
  • curl
  • PowerShell
  • Raw HTTP format
• Replay results rendered directly in the UI

🔒 Safe and configurable

• Redact sensitive headers
• Truncate large request/response bodies
• Include/exclude specific paths
• Optional authentication for the dashboard
• Configurable retention and file rotation

📦 Extensible storage

The storage layer is fully pluggable via:

public interface IHttpInspectorStore
{
    IAsyncEnumerable<JsonElement> GetEventsAsync(DateTimeOffset? since, CancellationToken ct);
}

Use the built-in JSONL file store or replace it with:

• SQLite
• SQL databases
• Cloud blob storage
• In-memory ring buffers
• Custom backends

🌐 Streaming API

Query traffic programmatically:

/http-inspector/stream?since=<timestamp>

Returns an efficient JSON array with incremental fetch capability, ideal for:

• automation
• custom dashboards
• debugging pipelines
• IDE integrations

🚀 Quick Start

Enable HttpInspector with two lines:

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

#if DEBUG
builder.Services.AddHttpInspector();
#endif

var app = builder.Build();

#if DEBUG
app.UseHttpInspector();
#endif

app.Run();

⚙️ Optional Configuration

app.UseHttpInspector(store =>
{
    store.MaxFileSizeBytes = 5 * 1024 * 1024; // 5 MB
    store.RetainedFileCount = 4;
    store.RetainedDays = 14;
});