Send JSON via POST in C# and Receive the JSON returned?

I found myself using the HttpClient library to query RESTful APIs as the code is very straightforward and fully async'ed.

(Edit: Adding JSON from question for clarity)

{
  "agent": {                             
    "name": "Agent Name",                
    "version": 1                                                          
  },
  "username": "Username",                                   
  "password": "User Password",
  "token": "xxxxxx"
}

With two classes representing the JSON-Structure you posted that may look like this:

public class Credentials
{
    [JsonProperty("agent")]
    public Agent Agent { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("username")]
    public string Username { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("password")]
    public string Password { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("token")]
    public string Token { get; set; }
}

public class Agent
{
    [JsonProperty("name")]
    public string Name { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("version")]
    public int Version { get; set; }
}

you could have a method like this, which would do your POST request:

var payload = new Credentials { 
    Agent = new Agent { 
        Name = "Agent Name",
        Version = 1 
    },
    Username = "Username",
    Password = "User Password",
    Token = "xxxxx"
};

// Serialize our concrete class into a JSON String
var stringPayload = await Task.Run(() => JsonConvert.SerializeObject(payload));

// Wrap our JSON inside a StringContent which then can be used by the HttpClient class
var httpContent = new StringContent(stringPayload, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");

using (var httpClient = new HttpClient()) {

    // Do the actual request and await the response
    var httpResponse = await httpClient.PostAsync("http://localhost/api/path", httpContent);

    // If the response contains content we want to read it!
    if (httpResponse.Content != null) {
        var responseContent = await httpResponse.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();

        // From here on you could deserialize the ResponseContent back again to a concrete C# type using Json.Net
    }
}

Using the JSON.NET NuGet package and anonymous types, you can simplify what the other posters are suggesting:

// ...

string payload = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(new
{
    agent = new
    {
        name    = "Agent Name",
        version = 1,
    },

    username = "username",
    password = "password",
    token    = "xxxxx",
});

var client = new HttpClient();
var content = new StringContent(payload, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");

HttpResponseMessage response = await client.PostAsync(uri, content);

// ...

You can build your HttpContent using the combination of JObject to avoid and JProperty and then call ToString() on it when building the StringContent:

        /*{
          "agent": {                             
            "name": "Agent Name",                
            "version": 1                                                          
          },
          "username": "Username",                                   
          "password": "User Password",
          "token": "xxxxxx"
        }*/

        JObject payLoad = new JObject(
            new JProperty("agent", 
                new JObject(
                    new JProperty("name", "Agent Name"),
                    new JProperty("version", 1)
                    ),
                new JProperty("username", "Username"),
                new JProperty("password", "User Password"),
                new JProperty("token", "xxxxxx")    
                )
            );

        using (HttpClient client = new HttpClient())
        {
            var httpContent = new StringContent(payLoad.ToString(), Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");

            using (HttpResponseMessage response = await client.PostAsync(requestUri, httpContent))
            {
                response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
                string responseBody = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
                return JObject.Parse(responseBody);
            }
        }