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Why Every Developer Should Still Know curl in 2026

In 2026, with AI-powered IDEs writing your fetch calls, Postman generating collections from a description, and copilots auto-completing your entire API integration layer — you might wonder: do I still need to learn **curl?

Yes. Absolutely. And here's why.

What is curl?

curl (Client URL) is a command-line tool for transferring data using network protocols — most commonly HTTP and HTTPS. It has been around since 1998, ships on virtually every Unix-based system, and is available on Windows. It requires no GUI, no account, no setup. You open a terminal and you run it.

That simplicity is precisely why it remains irreplaceable.

The AI Argument — and Why It Doesn't Replace curl

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