httpx Escape text content in `cli` (Fix)

The Fix

Upgrade to version 0.23.0 or later.

Based on closed encode/httpx issue #2050 · PR/commit linked

Production note: Most teams hit this during upgrades or environment changes. Roll out with a canary and smoke critical endpoints (health, OpenAPI/docs) before 100%.

Jump to Verify Open PR/Commit

@@ -8,8 +8,10 @@
 import pygments.util
 import rich.console
+import rich.markup
 import rich.progress
 import rich.syntax

repro.py

$ httpx https://cataas.com/cat 
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx/1.12.2
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2022 11:19:17 GMT
Content-Type: image/jpeg
Content-Length: 40849
Connection: keep-alive
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Access-Control-Allow-Headers: X-Requested-With, Content-Type, Accept, Origin, Authorization
Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS
Cache-Control: public, max-age=30
ETag: 1643256053593

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "venv/bin/httpx", line 11, in <module>
    load_entry_point('httpx', 'console_scripts', 'httpx')()
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1128, in __call__
    return self.main(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1053, in main
    rv = self.invoke(ctx)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1395, in invoke
    return ctx.invoke(self.callback, **ctx.params)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/click/core.py", line 754, in invoke
    return __callback(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/httpx/_main.py", line 486, in main
    print_response(response)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/httpx/_main.py", line 176, in print_response
    console.print(response.text)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/rich/console.py", line 1602, in print
    highlight=highlight,
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/rich/console.py", line 1460, in _collect_renderables
    renderable, emoji=emoji, markup=markup, highlighter=_highlighter
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/rich/console.py", line 1355, in render_str
    emoji_variant=self._emoji_variant,
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/rich/markup.py", line 161, in render
    ) from None
rich.errors.MarkupError: closing tag '[/�$B����c}Nʌ��W�a�����}O��W��4Q;!�����0]' at position 3761 doesn't match any open tag

verify

Re-run: httpx https://cataas.com/cat

fix.md

Option A — Upgrade to fixed release\nUpgrade to version 0.23.0 or later.\nWhen NOT to use: Do not apply this fix if the output does not contain markup that needs escaping.\n\n

Why This Fix Works in Production

Trigger: $ httpx https://cataas.com/cat
Mechanism: Console output raises exceptions due to unescaped markup interpreted by rich
Why the fix works: Fixes console markup escaping issue to prevent exceptions when rendering output in the CLI. (first fixed release: 0.23.0).

Production impact:

If left unfixed, the same config can fail only in production (env differences), causing startup failures or partial feature outages.

Why This Breaks in Prod

Shows up under Python 3.7 in real deployments (not just unit tests).
Console output raises exceptions due to unescaped markup interpreted by rich
Surfaces as: $ httpx https://cataas.com/cat

Proof / Evidence

GitHub issue: #2050
Fix PR: https://github.com/encode/httpx/pull/1866
First fixed release: 0.23.0
Reproduced locally: No (not executed)
Last verified: 2026-02-08
Confidence: 0.85
Did this fix it?: Yes (upstream fix exists)
Own content ratio: 0.25

Discussion

High-signal excerpts from the issue thread (symptoms, repros, edge-cases).

Jump to Sources Open on GitHub

“Resolved in #1866 (I added one additional escape in there)”

@lovelydinosaur · 2022-02-04 · confirmation · source

Failure Signature (Search String)

$ httpx https://cataas.com/cat

Error Message

Stack trace

error.txt

Error Message
-------------
$ httpx https://cataas.com/cat 
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx/1.12.2
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2022 11:19:17 GMT
Content-Type: image/jpeg
Content-Length: 40849
Connection: keep-alive
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Access-Control-Allow-Headers: X-Requested-With, Content-Type, Accept, Origin, Authorization
Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS
Cache-Control: public, max-age=30
ETag: 1643256053593

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "venv/bin/httpx", line 11, in <module>
    load_entry_point('httpx', 'console_scripts', 'httpx')()
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1128, in __call__
    return self.main(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1053, in main
    rv = self.invoke(ctx)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1395, in invoke
    return ctx.invoke(self.callback, **ctx.params)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/click/core.py", line 754, in invoke
    return __callback(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/httpx/_main.py", line 486, in main
    print_response(response)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/httpx/_main.py", line 176, in print_response
    console.print(re
... (truncated) ...

Minimal Reproduction

repro.py

$ httpx https://cataas.com/cat 
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx/1.12.2
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2022 11:19:17 GMT
Content-Type: image/jpeg
Content-Length: 40849
Connection: keep-alive
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Access-Control-Allow-Headers: X-Requested-With, Content-Type, Accept, Origin, Authorization
Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS
Cache-Control: public, max-age=30
ETag: 1643256053593

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "venv/bin/httpx", line 11, in <module>
    load_entry_point('httpx', 'console_scripts', 'httpx')()
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1128, in __call__
    return self.main(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1053, in main
    rv = self.invoke(ctx)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1395, in invoke
    return ctx.invoke(self.callback, **ctx.params)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/click/core.py", line 754, in invoke
    return __callback(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/httpx/_main.py", line 486, in main
    print_response(response)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/httpx/_main.py", line 176, in print_response
    console.print(response.text)
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/rich/console.py", line 1602, in print
    highlight=highlight,
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/rich/console.py", line 1460, in _collect_renderables
    renderable, emoji=emoji, markup=markup, highlighter=_highlighter
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/rich/console.py", line 1355, in render_str
    emoji_variant=self._emoji_variant,
  File "/Users/tomchristie/GitHub/encode/httpx/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/rich/markup.py", line 161, in render
    ) from None
rich.errors.MarkupError: closing tag '[/�$B����c}Nʌ��W�a�����}O��W��4Q;!�����0]' at position 3761 doesn't match any open tag

Environment

Python: 3.7

What Broke

CLI crashes when rendering unescaped response text containing markup.

Why It Broke

Console output raises exceptions due to unescaped markup interpreted by rich

Fix Options (Details)

Option A — Upgrade to fixed release Safe default (recommended)

Upgrade to version 0.23.0 or later.

When NOT to use: Do not apply this fix if the output does not contain markup that needs escaping.

Use when you can deploy the upstream fix. It is usually lower-risk than long-lived workarounds.

Fix reference: https://github.com/encode/httpx/pull/1866

First fixed release: 0.23.0

Last verified: 2026-02-08. Validate in your environment.

When NOT to Use This Fix

Do not apply this fix if the output does not contain markup that needs escaping.

Verify Fix

verify

Re-run: httpx https://cataas.com/cat

Did This Fix Work in Your Case?

Quick signal helps us prioritize which fixes to verify and improve.

Prevention

Add a CI check that diffs key outputs after upgrades (OpenAPI schema snapshots, JSON payload shapes, CLI output).
Upgrade behind a canary and run integration tests against the canary before 100% rollout.

Version Compatibility Table

Version	Status
0.23.0	Fixed

Related Issues

No related fixes found.

Cluster: httpx:configuration-error All hubs All clusters

Related clusters: Data consistency Other Timeout

Sources

We don’t republish the full GitHub discussion text. Use the links above for context.