Generates sample data in Magento by via cURL requests to the Magento admin. Useful if CLI access and access to System -> Import/Export is restricted.

createSampleData.php

<?php

class Config
{
    public static $adminUsername = '';
    public static $adminPassword = '';

    public static $expectedLoginLandingRoute = '/index/index/';

    public static $authCookieName = 'adminhtml';
    public static $authCookie = ''; // (leave blank if you've filled out username and password)
    public static $magentoRootUrl = 'https://www.example.com'; // (no trailing slash after TLD)
    public static $adminFrontName = 'admin'; // (as configured in app/etc/local.xml)

    public static $attributeSetId = 4;
    public static $typeId = 'simple';

    public static $productsToCreate = 500;
    public static $skuPrefix = ''; // can leave blank if desired, will generate md5 hash of time() if so
    public static $baseData = [
        'name' => null, // leave null to have match SKU (otherwise will be same for every product)
        'description' => 'description',
        'short_description' => 'short description',
        'weight' => 0,
        'status' => 2,
        'visibility' => 4,
        'price' => 10,
        'msrp_enabled' => 2,
        'msrp_display_actual_price_type' => 4,
        'tax_class_id' => 0,
        'is_recurring' => 0,
        'options_container' => 'container1',
        'use_config_gift_message_available' => 1,
        'website_ids' => [
            1,
        ],
        'stock_data' => [
            'use_config_manage_stock' => 1,
            'original_inventory_qty' => 0,
            'qty' => 0,
            'use_config_min_qty' => 1,
            'use_config_min_sale_qty' => 1,
            'use_config_max_sale_qty' => 1,
            'is_qty_decimal' => 0,
            'is_decimal_divided' => 0,
            'use_config_backorders' => 1,
            'use_config_notify_stock_qty' => 1,
            'use_config_enable_qty_increments' => 1,
            'use_config_qty_increments' => 1,
            'is_in_stock' => 0,
        ]
    ];
}

class Tools
{
    public static function getHandle(string $url, $key = null)
    {
        if (strpos($url, 'https://') !== 0) {
            $url = Config::$magentoRootUrl . '/index.php/' . Config::$adminFrontName . '/' . $url . '/';
            if ($key) {
                $url .= "key/$key/";
            }
        }

        $ch = curl_init($url);
        if (Config::$authCookie) {
            curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, ['Cookie: ' . Config::$authCookieName . '=' . Config::$authCookie]);
        }
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 1);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLINFO_HEADER_OUT, true);

        return $ch;
    }

    public static function getResponseAndClose($ch): string
    {
        $response = curl_exec($ch);
        $errno = curl_errno($ch);
        if ($errno !== 0) {
            echo 'cURL Error: ' . $errno . "\n";
            echo 'cURL Error Message: ' . curl_error($ch) . "\n";
            $info = curl_getinfo($ch);
            if ($info['request_header'] ?? false) {
                echo "Request Headers:\n";
                foreach (explode("\n", $info['request_header']) as $header) {
                    echo "\t$header\n";
                }
            }
            echo "\n";
            curl_close($ch);
            exit(1);
        }
        curl_close($ch);
        return $response;
    }

    public static function findAnchorHrefWithString(string $haystack, string $needle): ?string
    {
        $regexp = "<a\s[^>]*href=(\"??)([^\" >]*?)\\1[^>]*>(.*)<\/a>";
        if (preg_match_all("/$regexp/siU", $haystack, $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER)) {
            foreach($matches as $match) {
                if (($match[2] ?? false) && strpos($match[2], $needle) !== false) {
                    return $match[2];
                }
            }
        }
        return null;
    }

    public static function findButtonKey(string $haystack, string $needle): ?string
    {
        if (preg_match("@$needle/key/([^\"']+)@", $haystack, $matches)) {
            return str_replace('/', '', $matches[1]);
        }
        return null;
    }

    public static function findFormAction(string $haystack, string $needle): ?string
    {
        $regexp = "<form\s[^>]*action=(\"??)([^\" >]*?)\\1[^>]*>(.*)<\/form>";
        if (preg_match_all("/$regexp/siU", $haystack, $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER)) {
            foreach($matches as $match) {
                if (($match[2] ?? false) && strpos($match[2], $needle) !== false) {
                    return $match[2];
                }
            }
        }
        return null;
    }

    /**
     * Finds the current form_key (will not work if page is minified)
     *
     * @param string $haystack
     * @return string|null
     */
    public static function findFormKey(string $haystack): ?string
    {
        foreach (explode("\n", $haystack) as $line) {
            if (strpos($line, 'var FORM_KEY = ') !== false) {
                return trim(str_replace("';", '', substr($line, strpos($line, "'")+1)));
            }
        }
        return null;
    }

    public static function getSaveProductKeyAndFormAction(string $keyForAddProduct = null): array
    {
        if ($keyForAddProduct === null) {
            // request the dashboard and start navigating to add product page.
            $dashboard = Tools::getResponseAndClose(Tools::getHandle('dashboard/index'));
            $linkToProductGrid = Tools::findAnchorHrefWithString(
                $dashboard,
                '/catalog_product/index/key/'
            );
            if ($linkToProductGrid === null) {
                echo $dashboard, "\n";
                echo "ERROR: Link to product grid not found\n";
                exit(1);
            }

            // Navigate to add product page
            $keyForAddProduct = Tools::findButtonKey(
                Tools::getResponseAndClose(Tools::getHandle($linkToProductGrid)),
                '\/catalog_product\/new'
            );
            if ($keyForAddProduct === null) {
                echo "ERROR: Key for navigating to add product page not found\n";
                exit(1);
            }
        }

        $editProductPage = Tools::getResponseAndClose(
            Tools::getHandle(
                'catalog_product/new/set/' . Config::$attributeSetId . '/type/' . Config::$typeId,
                $keyForAddProduct
            )
        );

        $formKey = Tools::findFormKey($editProductPage);
        if ($formKey === null) {
            echo "ERROR: Form key for edit product not found\n";
            exit(1);
        }
        $formAction = Tools::findFormAction($editProductPage, 'catalog_product/save');
        if ($formAction === null) {
            echo "ERROR: Form action for saving product from edit product page not found\n";
            exit;
        }

        return [
            'key' => $formKey,
            'action' => $formAction,
        ];
    }

    public static function getSaveProductPostData(string $formKey, int $iteration = null): array
    {
        $data = [
            'form_key' => $formKey,
            'product' => Config::$baseData,
        ];
        $data['product']['sku'] = Config::$skuPrefix . ($iteration === null ? '' : '_' . $iteration);
        if (!($data['product']['name'] ?? false)) {
            $data['product']['name'] = $data['product']['sku'];
        }
        return $data;
    }

    public static function setAuthCookie(string $response)
    {
        $authCoookieSet = false;
        $timesSet = 0;
        foreach (explode("\n", $response) as $line) {
            if (strpos($line, 'set-cookie: ' . Config::$authCookieName . '=') === 0) {
                $cookie = substr($line, strlen('set-cookie: ' . Config::$authCookieName . '='));
                $cookie = explode(';', $cookie);
                $cookie = trim($cookie[0]);
                if ($cookie === 'deleted' || $cookie === Config::$authCookie) {
                    continue;
                }
                $timesSet++;
                Config::$authCookie = $cookie;
                echo "Auth Cookie Set: $cookie\n";
                $authCoookieSet = true;
                if ($timesSet == 2) {
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
        if (!$authCoookieSet) {
            echo "ERROR: Auth cookie not set\n";
            exit(1);
        }
    }

    public static function login(): bool
    {
        $response = Tools::getResponseAndClose(
            Tools::getHandle(Config::$magentoRootUrl . '/index.php/' . Config::$adminFrontName . '/')
        );
        $lines = explode("\n", $response);
        $formKey = null;
        Tools::setAuthCookie($response);
        foreach ($lines as $line) {
            if (strpos($line, 'form_key') !== false) {
                $formKey = explode('"', $line);
                $formKey = $formKey[5];
            }
        }
        if ($formKey === null) {
            echo "Error: Form key not found.";
            exit(1);
        }

        $ch = Tools::getHandle(Config::$magentoRootUrl . '/index.php/' . Config::$adminFrontName . '/');
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, false);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
        curl_setopt(
            $ch,
            CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS,
            http_build_query([
                'form_key' => $formKey,
                'login' => [
                    'username' => Config::$adminUsername,
                    'password' => Config::$adminPassword,
                ],
            ])
        );
        $response = curl_exec($ch);
        Tools::setAuthCookie($response);
        foreach (explode("\n", $response) as $header) {
            if (strpos($header, 'location: ') === 0) {
                $location = explode(': ', $header);
                $location = $location[1];
                if (strpos($location, Config::$expectedLoginLandingRoute) !== false) {
                    return true;
                }
            }
        }
        return false;
    }
}


if (Config::$authCookie === '' && !Tools::login()) {
    echo "ERROR: Login Failed\n";
    exit(1);
}

$autogenerateSku = Config::$skuPrefix === '' ? true : false;

$i = 1;
$keyForAddProduct = null;
$formKey = null;
$keyAndAction = null;
do {
    if ($autogenerateSku) {
        Config::$skuPrefix = md5(microtime());
    }
    if ($formKey === null) {
        $keyAndAction = Tools::getSaveProductKeyAndFormAction($keyForAddProduct);
        $data = Tools::getSaveProductPostData($keyAndAction['key'], $autogenerateSku ? null : $i);
        echo (new \DateTime())->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'), " - Saving: {$data['product']['sku']}\n";
        $ch = Tools::getHandle($keyAndAction['action']);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query($data));
        $response = Tools::getResponseAndClose($ch);
        $keyForAddProduct = Tools::findButtonKey($response, '\/catalog_product\/new');
    } else {
        $data = Tools::getSaveProductPostData($formKey, $autogenerateSku ? null : $i);
        echo (new \DateTime())->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'), " - Saving: {$data['product']['sku']}\n";
        $ch = Tools::getHandle($keyAndAction['action']);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query($data));
        $response = Tools::getResponseAndClose($ch);
    }
    $formKey = Tools::findFormKey($response);
    echo "\tsaved.";
    if ($i <= Config::$productsToCreate) {
        echo " ", (Config::$productsToCreate - $i), " SKUs remaining";
    }
    echo "\n";
} while (++$i <= Config::$productsToCreate);