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Trace and reduce redundant curl requests

CircleSoftware Engineer · Online Assessment

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A practical curl interview question on tracing and reducing redundant HTTP requests: instrumenting a curl-based client, finding duplicate calls, and cutting request volume. Includes a full worked solution.

Using curl and lightweight instrumentation, identify how many HTTP requests a client makes during a workflow and which endpoints are called. Add logging of request IDs and correlation IDs, detect redundant or repeated requests, and modify the client to batch, cache, or debounce calls to reduce unnecessary traffic. Explain how you would verify correctness, measure improvement, and prevent regressions with tests and metrics.