1 2# Request - Simplified HTTP client 3 4[![npm package](https://nodei.co/npm/request.png?downloads=true&downloadRank=true&stars=true)](https://nodei.co/npm/request/) 5 6[![Build status](https://img.shields.io/travis/request/request/master.svg?style=flat-square)](https://travis-ci.org/request/request) 7[![Coverage](https://img.shields.io/codecov/c/github/request/request.svg?style=flat-square)](https://codecov.io/github/request/request?branch=master) 8[![Coverage](https://img.shields.io/coveralls/request/request.svg?style=flat-square)](https://coveralls.io/r/request/request) 9[![Dependency Status](https://img.shields.io/david/request/request.svg?style=flat-square)](https://david-dm.org/request/request) 10[![Known Vulnerabilities](https://snyk.io/test/npm/request/badge.svg?style=flat-square)](https://snyk.io/test/npm/request) 11[![Gitter](https://img.shields.io/badge/gitter-join_chat-blue.svg?style=flat-square)](https://gitter.im/request/request?utm_source=badge) 12 13 14## Super simple to use 15 16Request is designed to be the simplest way possible to make http calls. It supports HTTPS and follows redirects by default. 17 18```js 19var request = require('request'); 20request('http://www.google.com', function (error, response, body) { 21 console.log('error:', error); // Print the error if one occurred 22 console.log('statusCode:', response && response.statusCode); // Print the response status code if a response was received 23 console.log('body:', body); // Print the HTML for the Google homepage. 24}); 25``` 26 27 28## Table of contents 29 30- [Streaming](#streaming) 31- [Promises & Async/Await](#promises--asyncawait) 32- [Forms](#forms) 33- [HTTP Authentication](#http-authentication) 34- [Custom HTTP Headers](#custom-http-headers) 35- [OAuth Signing](#oauth-signing) 36- [Proxies](#proxies) 37- [Unix Domain Sockets](#unix-domain-sockets) 38- [TLS/SSL Protocol](#tlsssl-protocol) 39- [Support for HAR 1.2](#support-for-har-12) 40- [**All Available Options**](#requestoptions-callback) 41 42Request also offers [convenience methods](#convenience-methods) like 43`request.defaults` and `request.post`, and there are 44lots of [usage examples](#examples) and several 45[debugging techniques](#debugging). 46 47 48--- 49 50 51## Streaming 52 53You can stream any response to a file stream. 54 55```js 56request('http://google.com/doodle.png').pipe(fs.createWriteStream('doodle.png')) 57``` 58 59You can also stream a file to a PUT or POST request. This method will also check the file extension against a mapping of file extensions to content-types (in this case `application/json`) and use the proper `content-type` in the PUT request (if the headers don’t already provide one). 60 61```js 62fs.createReadStream('file.json').pipe(request.put('http://mysite.com/obj.json')) 63``` 64 65Request can also `pipe` to itself. When doing so, `content-type` and `content-length` are preserved in the PUT headers. 66 67```js 68request.get('http://google.com/img.png').pipe(request.put('http://mysite.com/img.png')) 69``` 70 71Request emits a "response" event when a response is received. The `response` argument will be an instance of [http.IncomingMessage](https://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_class_http_incomingmessage). 72 73```js 74request 75 .get('http://google.com/img.png') 76 .on('response', function(response) { 77 console.log(response.statusCode) // 200 78 console.log(response.headers['content-type']) // 'image/png' 79 }) 80 .pipe(request.put('http://mysite.com/img.png')) 81``` 82 83To easily handle errors when streaming requests, listen to the `error` event before piping: 84 85```js 86request 87 .get('http://mysite.com/doodle.png') 88 .on('error', function(err) { 89 console.log(err) 90 }) 91 .pipe(fs.createWriteStream('doodle.png')) 92``` 93 94Now let’s get fancy. 95 96```js 97http.createServer(function (req, resp) { 98 if (req.url === '/doodle.png') { 99 if (req.method === 'PUT') { 100 req.pipe(request.put('http://mysite.com/doodle.png')) 101 } else if (req.method === 'GET' || req.method === 'HEAD') { 102 request.get('http://mysite.com/doodle.png').pipe(resp) 103 } 104 } 105}) 106``` 107 108You can also `pipe()` from `http.ServerRequest` instances, as well as to `http.ServerResponse` instances. The HTTP method, headers, and entity-body data will be sent. Which means that, if you don't really care about security, you can do: 109 110```js 111http.createServer(function (req, resp) { 112 if (req.url === '/doodle.png') { 113 var x = request('http://mysite.com/doodle.png') 114 req.pipe(x) 115 x.pipe(resp) 116 } 117}) 118``` 119 120And since `pipe()` returns the destination stream in ≥ Node 0.5.x you can do one line proxying. :) 121 122```js 123req.pipe(request('http://mysite.com/doodle.png')).pipe(resp) 124``` 125 126Also, none of this new functionality conflicts with requests previous features, it just expands them. 127 128```js 129var r = request.defaults({'proxy':'http://localproxy.com'}) 130 131http.createServer(function (req, resp) { 132 if (req.url === '/doodle.png') { 133 r.get('http://google.com/doodle.png').pipe(resp) 134 } 135}) 136``` 137 138You can still use intermediate proxies, the requests will still follow HTTP forwards, etc. 139 140[back to top](#table-of-contents) 141 142 143--- 144 145 146## Promises & Async/Await 147 148`request` supports both streaming and callback interfaces natively. If you'd like `request` to return a Promise instead, you can use an alternative interface wrapper for `request`. These wrappers can be useful if you prefer to work with Promises, or if you'd like to use `async`/`await` in ES2017. 149 150Several alternative interfaces are provided by the request team, including: 151- [`request-promise`](https://github.com/request/request-promise) (uses [Bluebird](https://github.com/petkaantonov/bluebird) Promises) 152- [`request-promise-native`](https://github.com/request/request-promise-native) (uses native Promises) 153- [`request-promise-any`](https://github.com/request/request-promise-any) (uses [any-promise](https://www.npmjs.com/package/any-promise) Promises) 154 155 156[back to top](#table-of-contents) 157 158 159--- 160 161 162## Forms 163 164`request` supports `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` and `multipart/form-data` form uploads. For `multipart/related` refer to the `multipart` API. 165 166 167#### application/x-www-form-urlencoded (URL-Encoded Forms) 168 169URL-encoded forms are simple. 170 171```js 172request.post('http://service.com/upload', {form:{key:'value'}}) 173// or 174request.post('http://service.com/upload').form({key:'value'}) 175// or 176request.post({url:'http://service.com/upload', form: {key:'value'}}, function(err,httpResponse,body){ /* ... */ }) 177``` 178 179 180#### multipart/form-data (Multipart Form Uploads) 181 182For `multipart/form-data` we use the [form-data](https://github.com/form-data/form-data) library by [@felixge](https://github.com/felixge). For the most cases, you can pass your upload form data via the `formData` option. 183 184 185```js 186var formData = { 187 // Pass a simple key-value pair 188 my_field: 'my_value', 189 // Pass data via Buffers 190 my_buffer: Buffer.from([1, 2, 3]), 191 // Pass data via Streams 192 my_file: fs.createReadStream(__dirname + '/unicycle.jpg'), 193 // Pass multiple values /w an Array 194 attachments: [ 195 fs.createReadStream(__dirname + '/attachment1.jpg'), 196 fs.createReadStream(__dirname + '/attachment2.jpg') 197 ], 198 // Pass optional meta-data with an 'options' object with style: {value: DATA, options: OPTIONS} 199 // Use case: for some types of streams, you'll need to provide "file"-related information manually. 200 // See the `form-data` README for more information about options: https://github.com/form-data/form-data 201 custom_file: { 202 value: fs.createReadStream('/dev/urandom'), 203 options: { 204 filename: 'topsecret.jpg', 205 contentType: 'image/jpeg' 206 } 207 } 208}; 209request.post({url:'http://service.com/upload', formData: formData}, function optionalCallback(err, httpResponse, body) { 210 if (err) { 211 return console.error('upload failed:', err); 212 } 213 console.log('Upload successful! Server responded with:', body); 214}); 215``` 216 217For advanced cases, you can access the form-data object itself via `r.form()`. This can be modified until the request is fired on the next cycle of the event-loop. (Note that this calling `form()` will clear the currently set form data for that request.) 218 219```js 220// NOTE: Advanced use-case, for normal use see 'formData' usage above 221var r = request.post('http://service.com/upload', function optionalCallback(err, httpResponse, body) {...}) 222var form = r.form(); 223form.append('my_field', 'my_value'); 224form.append('my_buffer', Buffer.from([1, 2, 3])); 225form.append('custom_file', fs.createReadStream(__dirname + '/unicycle.jpg'), {filename: 'unicycle.jpg'}); 226``` 227See the [form-data README](https://github.com/form-data/form-data) for more information & examples. 228 229 230#### multipart/related 231 232Some variations in different HTTP implementations require a newline/CRLF before, after, or both before and after the boundary of a `multipart/related` request (using the multipart option). This has been observed in the .NET WebAPI version 4.0. You can turn on a boundary preambleCRLF or postamble by passing them as `true` to your request options. 233 234```js 235 request({ 236 method: 'PUT', 237 preambleCRLF: true, 238 postambleCRLF: true, 239 uri: 'http://service.com/upload', 240 multipart: [ 241 { 242 'content-type': 'application/json', 243 body: JSON.stringify({foo: 'bar', _attachments: {'message.txt': {follows: true, length: 18, 'content_type': 'text/plain' }}}) 244 }, 245 { body: 'I am an attachment' }, 246 { body: fs.createReadStream('image.png') } 247 ], 248 // alternatively pass an object containing additional options 249 multipart: { 250 chunked: false, 251 data: [ 252 { 253 'content-type': 'application/json', 254 body: JSON.stringify({foo: 'bar', _attachments: {'message.txt': {follows: true, length: 18, 'content_type': 'text/plain' }}}) 255 }, 256 { body: 'I am an attachment' } 257 ] 258 } 259 }, 260 function (error, response, body) { 261 if (error) { 262 return console.error('upload failed:', error); 263 } 264 console.log('Upload successful! Server responded with:', body); 265 }) 266``` 267 268[back to top](#table-of-contents) 269 270 271--- 272 273 274## HTTP Authentication 275 276```js 277request.get('http://some.server.com/').auth('username', 'password', false); 278// or 279request.get('http://some.server.com/', { 280 'auth': { 281 'user': 'username', 282 'pass': 'password', 283 'sendImmediately': false 284 } 285}); 286// or 287request.get('http://some.server.com/').auth(null, null, true, 'bearerToken'); 288// or 289request.get('http://some.server.com/', { 290 'auth': { 291 'bearer': 'bearerToken' 292 } 293}); 294``` 295 296If passed as an option, `auth` should be a hash containing values: 297 298- `user` || `username` 299- `pass` || `password` 300- `sendImmediately` (optional) 301- `bearer` (optional) 302 303The method form takes parameters 304`auth(username, password, sendImmediately, bearer)`. 305 306`sendImmediately` defaults to `true`, which causes a basic or bearer 307authentication header to be sent. If `sendImmediately` is `false`, then 308`request` will retry with a proper authentication header after receiving a 309`401` response from the server (which must contain a `WWW-Authenticate` header 310indicating the required authentication method). 311 312Note that you can also specify basic authentication using the URL itself, as 313detailed in [RFC 1738](http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1738.txt). Simply pass the 314`user:password` before the host with an `@` sign: 315 316```js 317var username = 'username', 318 password = 'password', 319 url = 'http://' + username + ':' + password + '@some.server.com'; 320 321request({url: url}, function (error, response, body) { 322 // Do more stuff with 'body' here 323}); 324``` 325 326Digest authentication is supported, but it only works with `sendImmediately` 327set to `false`; otherwise `request` will send basic authentication on the 328initial request, which will probably cause the request to fail. 329 330Bearer authentication is supported, and is activated when the `bearer` value is 331available. The value may be either a `String` or a `Function` returning a 332`String`. Using a function to supply the bearer token is particularly useful if 333used in conjunction with `defaults` to allow a single function to supply the 334last known token at the time of sending a request, or to compute one on the fly. 335 336[back to top](#table-of-contents) 337 338 339--- 340 341 342## Custom HTTP Headers 343 344HTTP Headers, such as `User-Agent`, can be set in the `options` object. 345In the example below, we call the github API to find out the number 346of stars and forks for the request repository. This requires a 347custom `User-Agent` header as well as https. 348 349```js 350var request = require('request'); 351 352var options = { 353 url: 'https://api.github.com/repos/request/request', 354 headers: { 355 'User-Agent': 'request' 356 } 357}; 358 359function callback(error, response, body) { 360 if (!error && response.statusCode == 200) { 361 var info = JSON.parse(body); 362 console.log(info.stargazers_count + " Stars"); 363 console.log(info.forks_count + " Forks"); 364 } 365} 366 367request(options, callback); 368``` 369 370[back to top](#table-of-contents) 371 372 373--- 374 375 376## OAuth Signing 377 378[OAuth version 1.0](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5849) is supported. The 379default signing algorithm is 380[HMAC-SHA1](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5849#section-3.4.2): 381 382```js 383// OAuth1.0 - 3-legged server side flow (Twitter example) 384// step 1 385var qs = require('querystring') 386 , oauth = 387 { callback: 'http://mysite.com/callback/' 388 , consumer_key: CONSUMER_KEY 389 , consumer_secret: CONSUMER_SECRET 390 } 391 , url = 'https://api.twitter.com/oauth/request_token' 392 ; 393request.post({url:url, oauth:oauth}, function (e, r, body) { 394 // Ideally, you would take the body in the response 395 // and construct a URL that a user clicks on (like a sign in button). 396 // The verifier is only available in the response after a user has 397 // verified with twitter that they are authorizing your app. 398 399 // step 2 400 var req_data = qs.parse(body) 401 var uri = 'https://api.twitter.com/oauth/authenticate' 402 + '?' + qs.stringify({oauth_token: req_data.oauth_token}) 403 // redirect the user to the authorize uri 404 405 // step 3 406 // after the user is redirected back to your server 407 var auth_data = qs.parse(body) 408 , oauth = 409 { consumer_key: CONSUMER_KEY 410 , consumer_secret: CONSUMER_SECRET 411 , token: auth_data.oauth_token 412 , token_secret: req_data.oauth_token_secret 413 , verifier: auth_data.oauth_verifier 414 } 415 , url = 'https://api.twitter.com/oauth/access_token' 416 ; 417 request.post({url:url, oauth:oauth}, function (e, r, body) { 418 // ready to make signed requests on behalf of the user 419 var perm_data = qs.parse(body) 420 , oauth = 421 { consumer_key: CONSUMER_KEY 422 , consumer_secret: CONSUMER_SECRET 423 , token: perm_data.oauth_token 424 , token_secret: perm_data.oauth_token_secret 425 } 426 , url = 'https://api.twitter.com/1.1/users/show.json' 427 , qs = 428 { screen_name: perm_data.screen_name 429 , user_id: perm_data.user_id 430 } 431 ; 432 request.get({url:url, oauth:oauth, qs:qs, json:true}, function (e, r, user) { 433 console.log(user) 434 }) 435 }) 436}) 437``` 438 439For [RSA-SHA1 signing](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5849#section-3.4.3), make 440the following changes to the OAuth options object: 441* Pass `signature_method : 'RSA-SHA1'` 442* Instead of `consumer_secret`, specify a `private_key` string in 443 [PEM format](http://how2ssl.com/articles/working_with_pem_files/) 444 445For [PLAINTEXT signing](http://oauth.net/core/1.0/#anchor22), make 446the following changes to the OAuth options object: 447* Pass `signature_method : 'PLAINTEXT'` 448 449To send OAuth parameters via query params or in a post body as described in The 450[Consumer Request Parameters](http://oauth.net/core/1.0/#consumer_req_param) 451section of the oauth1 spec: 452* Pass `transport_method : 'query'` or `transport_method : 'body'` in the OAuth 453 options object. 454* `transport_method` defaults to `'header'` 455 456To use [Request Body Hash](https://oauth.googlecode.com/svn/spec/ext/body_hash/1.0/oauth-bodyhash.html) you can either 457* Manually generate the body hash and pass it as a string `body_hash: '...'` 458* Automatically generate the body hash by passing `body_hash: true` 459 460[back to top](#table-of-contents) 461 462 463--- 464 465 466## Proxies 467 468If you specify a `proxy` option, then the request (and any subsequent 469redirects) will be sent via a connection to the proxy server. 470 471If your endpoint is an `https` url, and you are using a proxy, then 472request will send a `CONNECT` request to the proxy server *first*, and 473then use the supplied connection to connect to the endpoint. 474 475That is, first it will make a request like: 476 477``` 478HTTP/1.1 CONNECT endpoint-server.com:80 479Host: proxy-server.com 480User-Agent: whatever user agent you specify 481``` 482 483and then the proxy server make a TCP connection to `endpoint-server` 484on port `80`, and return a response that looks like: 485 486``` 487HTTP/1.1 200 OK 488``` 489 490At this point, the connection is left open, and the client is 491communicating directly with the `endpoint-server.com` machine. 492 493See [the wikipedia page on HTTP Tunneling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_tunnel) 494for more information. 495 496By default, when proxying `http` traffic, request will simply make a 497standard proxied `http` request. This is done by making the `url` 498section of the initial line of the request a fully qualified url to 499the endpoint. 500 501For example, it will make a single request that looks like: 502 503``` 504HTTP/1.1 GET http://endpoint-server.com/some-url 505Host: proxy-server.com 506Other-Headers: all go here 507 508request body or whatever 509``` 510 511Because a pure "http over http" tunnel offers no additional security 512or other features, it is generally simpler to go with a 513straightforward HTTP proxy in this case. However, if you would like 514to force a tunneling proxy, you may set the `tunnel` option to `true`. 515 516You can also make a standard proxied `http` request by explicitly setting 517`tunnel : false`, but **note that this will allow the proxy to see the traffic 518to/from the destination server**. 519 520If you are using a tunneling proxy, you may set the 521`proxyHeaderWhiteList` to share certain headers with the proxy. 522 523You can also set the `proxyHeaderExclusiveList` to share certain 524headers only with the proxy and not with destination host. 525 526By default, this set is: 527 528``` 529accept 530accept-charset 531accept-encoding 532accept-language 533accept-ranges 534cache-control 535content-encoding 536content-language 537content-length 538content-location 539content-md5 540content-range 541content-type 542connection 543date 544expect 545max-forwards 546pragma 547proxy-authorization 548referer 549te 550transfer-encoding 551user-agent 552via 553``` 554 555Note that, when using a tunneling proxy, the `proxy-authorization` 556header and any headers from custom `proxyHeaderExclusiveList` are 557*never* sent to the endpoint server, but only to the proxy server. 558 559 560### Controlling proxy behaviour using environment variables 561 562The following environment variables are respected by `request`: 563 564 * `HTTP_PROXY` / `http_proxy` 565 * `HTTPS_PROXY` / `https_proxy` 566 * `NO_PROXY` / `no_proxy` 567 568When `HTTP_PROXY` / `http_proxy` are set, they will be used to proxy non-SSL requests that do not have an explicit `proxy` configuration option present. Similarly, `HTTPS_PROXY` / `https_proxy` will be respected for SSL requests that do not have an explicit `proxy` configuration option. It is valid to define a proxy in one of the environment variables, but then override it for a specific request, using the `proxy` configuration option. Furthermore, the `proxy` configuration option can be explicitly set to false / null to opt out of proxying altogether for that request. 569 570`request` is also aware of the `NO_PROXY`/`no_proxy` environment variables. These variables provide a granular way to opt out of proxying, on a per-host basis. It should contain a comma separated list of hosts to opt out of proxying. It is also possible to opt of proxying when a particular destination port is used. Finally, the variable may be set to `*` to opt out of the implicit proxy configuration of the other environment variables. 571 572Here's some examples of valid `no_proxy` values: 573 574 * `google.com` - don't proxy HTTP/HTTPS requests to Google. 575 * `google.com:443` - don't proxy HTTPS requests to Google, but *do* proxy HTTP requests to Google. 576 * `google.com:443, yahoo.com:80` - don't proxy HTTPS requests to Google, and don't proxy HTTP requests to Yahoo! 577 * `*` - ignore `https_proxy`/`http_proxy` environment variables altogether. 578 579[back to top](#table-of-contents) 580 581 582--- 583 584 585## UNIX Domain Sockets 586 587`request` supports making requests to [UNIX Domain Sockets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_domain_socket). To make one, use the following URL scheme: 588 589```js 590/* Pattern */ 'http://unix:SOCKET:PATH' 591/* Example */ request.get('http://unix:/absolute/path/to/unix.socket:/request/path') 592``` 593 594Note: The `SOCKET` path is assumed to be absolute to the root of the host file system. 595 596[back to top](#table-of-contents) 597 598 599--- 600 601 602## TLS/SSL Protocol 603 604TLS/SSL Protocol options, such as `cert`, `key` and `passphrase`, can be 605set directly in `options` object, in the `agentOptions` property of the `options` object, or even in `https.globalAgent.options`. Keep in mind that, although `agentOptions` allows for a slightly wider range of configurations, the recommended way is via `options` object directly, as using `agentOptions` or `https.globalAgent.options` would not be applied in the same way in proxied environments (as data travels through a TLS connection instead of an http/https agent). 606 607```js 608var fs = require('fs') 609 , path = require('path') 610 , certFile = path.resolve(__dirname, 'ssl/client.crt') 611 , keyFile = path.resolve(__dirname, 'ssl/client.key') 612 , caFile = path.resolve(__dirname, 'ssl/ca.cert.pem') 613 , request = require('request'); 614 615var options = { 616 url: 'https://api.some-server.com/', 617 cert: fs.readFileSync(certFile), 618 key: fs.readFileSync(keyFile), 619 passphrase: 'password', 620 ca: fs.readFileSync(caFile) 621}; 622 623request.get(options); 624``` 625 626### Using `options.agentOptions` 627 628In the example below, we call an API that requires client side SSL certificate 629(in PEM format) with passphrase protected private key (in PEM format) and disable the SSLv3 protocol: 630 631```js 632var fs = require('fs') 633 , path = require('path') 634 , certFile = path.resolve(__dirname, 'ssl/client.crt') 635 , keyFile = path.resolve(__dirname, 'ssl/client.key') 636 , request = require('request'); 637 638var options = { 639 url: 'https://api.some-server.com/', 640 agentOptions: { 641 cert: fs.readFileSync(certFile), 642 key: fs.readFileSync(keyFile), 643 // Or use `pfx` property replacing `cert` and `key` when using private key, certificate and CA certs in PFX or PKCS12 format: 644 // pfx: fs.readFileSync(pfxFilePath), 645 passphrase: 'password', 646 securityOptions: 'SSL_OP_NO_SSLv3' 647 } 648}; 649 650request.get(options); 651``` 652 653It is able to force using SSLv3 only by specifying `secureProtocol`: 654 655```js 656request.get({ 657 url: 'https://api.some-server.com/', 658 agentOptions: { 659 secureProtocol: 'SSLv3_method' 660 } 661}); 662``` 663 664It is possible to accept other certificates than those signed by generally allowed Certificate Authorities (CAs). 665This can be useful, for example, when using self-signed certificates. 666To require a different root certificate, you can specify the signing CA by adding the contents of the CA's certificate file to the `agentOptions`. 667The certificate the domain presents must be signed by the root certificate specified: 668 669```js 670request.get({ 671 url: 'https://api.some-server.com/', 672 agentOptions: { 673 ca: fs.readFileSync('ca.cert.pem') 674 } 675}); 676``` 677 678[back to top](#table-of-contents) 679 680 681--- 682 683## Support for HAR 1.2 684 685The `options.har` property will override the values: `url`, `method`, `qs`, `headers`, `form`, `formData`, `body`, `json`, as well as construct multipart data and read files from disk when `request.postData.params[].fileName` is present without a matching `value`. 686 687A validation step will check if the HAR Request format matches the latest spec (v1.2) and will skip parsing if not matching. 688 689```js 690 var request = require('request') 691 request({ 692 // will be ignored 693 method: 'GET', 694 uri: 'http://www.google.com', 695 696 // HTTP Archive Request Object 697 har: { 698 url: 'http://www.mockbin.com/har', 699 method: 'POST', 700 headers: [ 701 { 702 name: 'content-type', 703 value: 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded' 704 } 705 ], 706 postData: { 707 mimeType: 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded', 708 params: [ 709 { 710 name: 'foo', 711 value: 'bar' 712 }, 713 { 714 name: 'hello', 715 value: 'world' 716 } 717 ] 718 } 719 } 720 }) 721 722 // a POST request will be sent to http://www.mockbin.com 723 // with body an application/x-www-form-urlencoded body: 724 // foo=bar&hello=world 725``` 726 727[back to top](#table-of-contents) 728 729 730--- 731 732## request(options, callback) 733 734The first argument can be either a `url` or an `options` object. The only required option is `uri`; all others are optional. 735 736- `uri` || `url` - fully qualified uri or a parsed url object from `url.parse()` 737- `baseUrl` - fully qualified uri string used as the base url. Most useful with `request.defaults`, for example when you want to do many requests to the same domain. If `baseUrl` is `https://example.com/api/`, then requesting `/end/point?test=true` will fetch `https://example.com/api/end/point?test=true`. When `baseUrl` is given, `uri` must also be a string. 738- `method` - http method (default: `"GET"`) 739- `headers` - http headers (default: `{}`) 740 741--- 742 743- `qs` - object containing querystring values to be appended to the `uri` 744- `qsParseOptions` - object containing options to pass to the [qs.parse](https://github.com/hapijs/qs#parsing-objects) method. Alternatively pass options to the [querystring.parse](https://nodejs.org/docs/v0.12.0/api/querystring.html#querystring_querystring_parse_str_sep_eq_options) method using this format `{sep:';', eq:':', options:{}}` 745- `qsStringifyOptions` - object containing options to pass to the [qs.stringify](https://github.com/hapijs/qs#stringifying) method. Alternatively pass options to the [querystring.stringify](https://nodejs.org/docs/v0.12.0/api/querystring.html#querystring_querystring_stringify_obj_sep_eq_options) method using this format `{sep:';', eq:':', options:{}}`. For example, to change the way arrays are converted to query strings using the `qs` module pass the `arrayFormat` option with one of `indices|brackets|repeat` 746- `useQuerystring` - if true, use `querystring` to stringify and parse 747 querystrings, otherwise use `qs` (default: `false`). Set this option to 748 `true` if you need arrays to be serialized as `foo=bar&foo=baz` instead of the 749 default `foo[0]=bar&foo[1]=baz`. 750 751--- 752 753- `body` - entity body for PATCH, POST and PUT requests. Must be a `Buffer`, `String` or `ReadStream`. If `json` is `true`, then `body` must be a JSON-serializable object. 754- `form` - when passed an object or a querystring, this sets `body` to a querystring representation of value, and adds `Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded` header. When passed no options, a `FormData` instance is returned (and is piped to request). See "Forms" section above. 755- `formData` - data to pass for a `multipart/form-data` request. See 756 [Forms](#forms) section above. 757- `multipart` - array of objects which contain their own headers and `body` 758 attributes. Sends a `multipart/related` request. See [Forms](#forms) section 759 above. 760 - Alternatively you can pass in an object `{chunked: false, data: []}` where 761 `chunked` is used to specify whether the request is sent in 762 [chunked transfer encoding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunked_transfer_encoding) 763 In non-chunked requests, data items with body streams are not allowed. 764- `preambleCRLF` - append a newline/CRLF before the boundary of your `multipart/form-data` request. 765- `postambleCRLF` - append a newline/CRLF at the end of the boundary of your `multipart/form-data` request. 766- `json` - sets `body` to JSON representation of value and adds `Content-type: application/json` header. Additionally, parses the response body as JSON. 767- `jsonReviver` - a [reviver function](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/JSON/parse) that will be passed to `JSON.parse()` when parsing a JSON response body. 768- `jsonReplacer` - a [replacer function](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/JSON/stringify) that will be passed to `JSON.stringify()` when stringifying a JSON request body. 769 770--- 771 772- `auth` - a hash containing values `user` || `username`, `pass` || `password`, and `sendImmediately` (optional). See documentation above. 773- `oauth` - options for OAuth HMAC-SHA1 signing. See documentation above. 774- `hawk` - options for [Hawk signing](https://github.com/hueniverse/hawk). The `credentials` key must contain the necessary signing info, [see hawk docs for details](https://github.com/hueniverse/hawk#usage-example). 775- `aws` - `object` containing AWS signing information. Should have the properties `key`, `secret`, and optionally `session` (note that this only works for services that require session as part of the canonical string). Also requires the property `bucket`, unless you’re specifying your `bucket` as part of the path, or the request doesn’t use a bucket (i.e. GET Services). If you want to use AWS sign version 4 use the parameter `sign_version` with value `4` otherwise the default is version 2. If you are using SigV4, you can also include a `service` property that specifies the service name. **Note:** you need to `npm install aws4` first. 776- `httpSignature` - options for the [HTTP Signature Scheme](https://github.com/joyent/node-http-signature/blob/master/http_signing.md) using [Joyent's library](https://github.com/joyent/node-http-signature). The `keyId` and `key` properties must be specified. See the docs for other options. 777 778--- 779 780- `followRedirect` - follow HTTP 3xx responses as redirects (default: `true`). This property can also be implemented as function which gets `response` object as a single argument and should return `true` if redirects should continue or `false` otherwise. 781- `followAllRedirects` - follow non-GET HTTP 3xx responses as redirects (default: `false`) 782- `followOriginalHttpMethod` - by default we redirect to HTTP method GET. you can enable this property to redirect to the original HTTP method (default: `false`) 783- `maxRedirects` - the maximum number of redirects to follow (default: `10`) 784- `removeRefererHeader` - removes the referer header when a redirect happens (default: `false`). **Note:** if true, referer header set in the initial request is preserved during redirect chain. 785 786--- 787 788- `encoding` - encoding to be used on `setEncoding` of response data. If `null`, the `body` is returned as a `Buffer`. Anything else **(including the default value of `undefined`)** will be passed as the [encoding](http://nodejs.org/api/buffer.html#buffer_buffer) parameter to `toString()` (meaning this is effectively `utf8` by default). (**Note:** if you expect binary data, you should set `encoding: null`.) 789- `gzip` - if `true`, add an `Accept-Encoding` header to request compressed content encodings from the server (if not already present) and decode supported content encodings in the response. **Note:** Automatic decoding of the response content is performed on the body data returned through `request` (both through the `request` stream and passed to the callback function) but is not performed on the `response` stream (available from the `response` event) which is the unmodified `http.IncomingMessage` object which may contain compressed data. See example below. 790- `jar` - if `true`, remember cookies for future use (or define your custom cookie jar; see examples section) 791 792--- 793 794- `agent` - `http(s).Agent` instance to use 795- `agentClass` - alternatively specify your agent's class name 796- `agentOptions` - and pass its options. **Note:** for HTTPS see [tls API doc for TLS/SSL options](http://nodejs.org/api/tls.html#tls_tls_connect_options_callback) and the [documentation above](#using-optionsagentoptions). 797- `forever` - set to `true` to use the [forever-agent](https://github.com/request/forever-agent) **Note:** Defaults to `http(s).Agent({keepAlive:true})` in node 0.12+ 798- `pool` - an object describing which agents to use for the request. If this option is omitted the request will use the global agent (as long as your options allow for it). Otherwise, request will search the pool for your custom agent. If no custom agent is found, a new agent will be created and added to the pool. **Note:** `pool` is used only when the `agent` option is not specified. 799 - A `maxSockets` property can also be provided on the `pool` object to set the max number of sockets for all agents created (ex: `pool: {maxSockets: Infinity}`). 800 - Note that if you are sending multiple requests in a loop and creating 801 multiple new `pool` objects, `maxSockets` will not work as intended. To 802 work around this, either use [`request.defaults`](#requestdefaultsoptions) 803 with your pool options or create the pool object with the `maxSockets` 804 property outside of the loop. 805- `timeout` - integer containing the number of milliseconds to wait for a 806server to send response headers (and start the response body) before aborting 807the request. Note that if the underlying TCP connection cannot be established, 808the OS-wide TCP connection timeout will overrule the `timeout` option ([the 809default in Linux can be anywhere from 20-120 seconds][linux-timeout]). 810 811[linux-timeout]: http://www.sekuda.com/overriding_the_default_linux_kernel_20_second_tcp_socket_connect_timeout 812 813--- 814 815- `localAddress` - local interface to bind for network connections. 816- `proxy` - an HTTP proxy to be used. Supports proxy Auth with Basic Auth, identical to support for the `url` parameter (by embedding the auth info in the `uri`) 817- `strictSSL` - if `true`, requires SSL certificates be valid. **Note:** to use your own certificate authority, you need to specify an agent that was created with that CA as an option. 818- `tunnel` - controls the behavior of 819 [HTTP `CONNECT` tunneling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_tunnel#HTTP_CONNECT_tunneling) 820 as follows: 821 - `undefined` (default) - `true` if the destination is `https`, `false` otherwise 822 - `true` - always tunnel to the destination by making a `CONNECT` request to 823 the proxy 824 - `false` - request the destination as a `GET` request. 825- `proxyHeaderWhiteList` - a whitelist of headers to send to a 826 tunneling proxy. 827- `proxyHeaderExclusiveList` - a whitelist of headers to send 828 exclusively to a tunneling proxy and not to destination. 829 830--- 831 832- `time` - if `true`, the request-response cycle (including all redirects) is timed at millisecond resolution. When set, the following properties are added to the response object: 833 - `elapsedTime` Duration of the entire request/response in milliseconds (*deprecated*). 834 - `responseStartTime` Timestamp when the response began (in Unix Epoch milliseconds) (*deprecated*). 835 - `timingStart` Timestamp of the start of the request (in Unix Epoch milliseconds). 836 - `timings` Contains event timestamps in millisecond resolution relative to `timingStart`. If there were redirects, the properties reflect the timings of the final request in the redirect chain: 837 - `socket` Relative timestamp when the [`http`](https://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_event_socket) module's `socket` event fires. This happens when the socket is assigned to the request. 838 - `lookup` Relative timestamp when the [`net`](https://nodejs.org/api/net.html#net_event_lookup) module's `lookup` event fires. This happens when the DNS has been resolved. 839 - `connect`: Relative timestamp when the [`net`](https://nodejs.org/api/net.html#net_event_connect) module's `connect` event fires. This happens when the server acknowledges the TCP connection. 840 - `response`: Relative timestamp when the [`http`](https://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_event_response) module's `response` event fires. This happens when the first bytes are received from the server. 841 - `end`: Relative timestamp when the last bytes of the response are received. 842 - `timingPhases` Contains the durations of each request phase. If there were redirects, the properties reflect the timings of the final request in the redirect chain: 843 - `wait`: Duration of socket initialization (`timings.socket`) 844 - `dns`: Duration of DNS lookup (`timings.lookup` - `timings.socket`) 845 - `tcp`: Duration of TCP connection (`timings.connect` - `timings.socket`) 846 - `firstByte`: Duration of HTTP server response (`timings.response` - `timings.connect`) 847 - `download`: Duration of HTTP download (`timings.end` - `timings.response`) 848 - `total`: Duration entire HTTP round-trip (`timings.end`) 849 850- `har` - a [HAR 1.2 Request Object](http://www.softwareishard.com/blog/har-12-spec/#request), will be processed from HAR format into options overwriting matching values *(see the [HAR 1.2 section](#support-for-har-1.2) for details)* 851- `callback` - alternatively pass the request's callback in the options object 852 853The callback argument gets 3 arguments: 854 8551. An `error` when applicable (usually from [`http.ClientRequest`](http://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_class_http_clientrequest) object) 8562. An [`http.IncomingMessage`](https://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_class_http_incomingmessage) object (Response object) 8573. The third is the `response` body (`String` or `Buffer`, or JSON object if the `json` option is supplied) 858 859[back to top](#table-of-contents) 860 861 862--- 863 864## Convenience methods 865 866There are also shorthand methods for different HTTP METHODs and some other conveniences. 867 868 869### request.defaults(options) 870 871This method **returns a wrapper** around the normal request API that defaults 872to whatever options you pass to it. 873 874**Note:** `request.defaults()` **does not** modify the global request API; 875instead, it **returns a wrapper** that has your default settings applied to it. 876 877**Note:** You can call `.defaults()` on the wrapper that is returned from 878`request.defaults` to add/override defaults that were previously defaulted. 879 880For example: 881```js 882//requests using baseRequest() will set the 'x-token' header 883var baseRequest = request.defaults({ 884 headers: {'x-token': 'my-token'} 885}) 886 887//requests using specialRequest() will include the 'x-token' header set in 888//baseRequest and will also include the 'special' header 889var specialRequest = baseRequest.defaults({ 890 headers: {special: 'special value'} 891}) 892``` 893 894### request.METHOD() 895 896These HTTP method convenience functions act just like `request()` but with a default method already set for you: 897 898- *request.get()*: Defaults to `method: "GET"`. 899- *request.post()*: Defaults to `method: "POST"`. 900- *request.put()*: Defaults to `method: "PUT"`. 901- *request.patch()*: Defaults to `method: "PATCH"`. 902- *request.del() / request.delete()*: Defaults to `method: "DELETE"`. 903- *request.head()*: Defaults to `method: "HEAD"`. 904- *request.options()*: Defaults to `method: "OPTIONS"`. 905 906### request.cookie() 907 908Function that creates a new cookie. 909 910```js 911request.cookie('key1=value1') 912``` 913### request.jar() 914 915Function that creates a new cookie jar. 916 917```js 918request.jar() 919``` 920 921[back to top](#table-of-contents) 922 923 924--- 925 926 927## Debugging 928 929There are at least three ways to debug the operation of `request`: 930 9311. Launch the node process like `NODE_DEBUG=request node script.js` 932 (`lib,request,otherlib` works too). 933 9342. Set `require('request').debug = true` at any time (this does the same thing 935 as #1). 936 9373. Use the [request-debug module](https://github.com/request/request-debug) to 938 view request and response headers and bodies. 939 940[back to top](#table-of-contents) 941 942 943--- 944 945## Timeouts 946 947Most requests to external servers should have a timeout attached, in case the 948server is not responding in a timely manner. Without a timeout, your code may 949have a socket open/consume resources for minutes or more. 950 951There are two main types of timeouts: **connection timeouts** and **read 952timeouts**. A connect timeout occurs if the timeout is hit while your client is 953attempting to establish a connection to a remote machine (corresponding to the 954[connect() call][connect] on the socket). A read timeout occurs any time the 955server is too slow to send back a part of the response. 956 957These two situations have widely different implications for what went wrong 958with the request, so it's useful to be able to distinguish them. You can detect 959timeout errors by checking `err.code` for an 'ETIMEDOUT' value. Further, you 960can detect whether the timeout was a connection timeout by checking if the 961`err.connect` property is set to `true`. 962 963```js 964request.get('http://10.255.255.1', {timeout: 1500}, function(err) { 965 console.log(err.code === 'ETIMEDOUT'); 966 // Set to `true` if the timeout was a connection timeout, `false` or 967 // `undefined` otherwise. 968 console.log(err.connect === true); 969 process.exit(0); 970}); 971``` 972 973[connect]: http://linux.die.net/man/2/connect 974 975## Examples: 976 977```js 978 var request = require('request') 979 , rand = Math.floor(Math.random()*100000000).toString() 980 ; 981 request( 982 { method: 'PUT' 983 , uri: 'http://mikeal.iriscouch.com/testjs/' + rand 984 , multipart: 985 [ { 'content-type': 'application/json' 986 , body: JSON.stringify({foo: 'bar', _attachments: {'message.txt': {follows: true, length: 18, 'content_type': 'text/plain' }}}) 987 } 988 , { body: 'I am an attachment' } 989 ] 990 } 991 , function (error, response, body) { 992 if(response.statusCode == 201){ 993 console.log('document saved as: http://mikeal.iriscouch.com/testjs/'+ rand) 994 } else { 995 console.log('error: '+ response.statusCode) 996 console.log(body) 997 } 998 } 999 ) 1000``` 1001 1002For backwards-compatibility, response compression is not supported by default. 1003To accept gzip-compressed responses, set the `gzip` option to `true`. Note 1004that the body data passed through `request` is automatically decompressed 1005while the response object is unmodified and will contain compressed data if 1006the server sent a compressed response. 1007 1008```js 1009 var request = require('request') 1010 request( 1011 { method: 'GET' 1012 , uri: 'http://www.google.com' 1013 , gzip: true 1014 } 1015 , function (error, response, body) { 1016 // body is the decompressed response body 1017 console.log('server encoded the data as: ' + (response.headers['content-encoding'] || 'identity')) 1018 console.log('the decoded data is: ' + body) 1019 } 1020 ) 1021 .on('data', function(data) { 1022 // decompressed data as it is received 1023 console.log('decoded chunk: ' + data) 1024 }) 1025 .on('response', function(response) { 1026 // unmodified http.IncomingMessage object 1027 response.on('data', function(data) { 1028 // compressed data as it is received 1029 console.log('received ' + data.length + ' bytes of compressed data') 1030 }) 1031 }) 1032``` 1033 1034Cookies are disabled by default (else, they would be used in subsequent requests). To enable cookies, set `jar` to `true` (either in `defaults` or `options`). 1035 1036```js 1037var request = request.defaults({jar: true}) 1038request('http://www.google.com', function () { 1039 request('http://images.google.com') 1040}) 1041``` 1042 1043To use a custom cookie jar (instead of `request`’s global cookie jar), set `jar` to an instance of `request.jar()` (either in `defaults` or `options`) 1044 1045```js 1046var j = request.jar() 1047var request = request.defaults({jar:j}) 1048request('http://www.google.com', function () { 1049 request('http://images.google.com') 1050}) 1051``` 1052 1053OR 1054 1055```js 1056var j = request.jar(); 1057var cookie = request.cookie('key1=value1'); 1058var url = 'http://www.google.com'; 1059j.setCookie(cookie, url); 1060request({url: url, jar: j}, function () { 1061 request('http://images.google.com') 1062}) 1063``` 1064 1065To use a custom cookie store (such as a 1066[`FileCookieStore`](https://github.com/mitsuru/tough-cookie-filestore) 1067which supports saving to and restoring from JSON files), pass it as a parameter 1068to `request.jar()`: 1069 1070```js 1071var FileCookieStore = require('tough-cookie-filestore'); 1072// NOTE - currently the 'cookies.json' file must already exist! 1073var j = request.jar(new FileCookieStore('cookies.json')); 1074request = request.defaults({ jar : j }) 1075request('http://www.google.com', function() { 1076 request('http://images.google.com') 1077}) 1078``` 1079 1080The cookie store must be a 1081[`tough-cookie`](https://github.com/SalesforceEng/tough-cookie) 1082store and it must support synchronous operations; see the 1083[`CookieStore` API docs](https://github.com/SalesforceEng/tough-cookie#cookiestore-api) 1084for details. 1085 1086To inspect your cookie jar after a request: 1087 1088```js 1089var j = request.jar() 1090request({url: 'http://www.google.com', jar: j}, function () { 1091 var cookie_string = j.getCookieString(url); // "key1=value1; key2=value2; ..." 1092 var cookies = j.getCookies(url); 1093 // [{key: 'key1', value: 'value1', domain: "www.google.com", ...}, ...] 1094}) 1095``` 1096 1097[back to top](#table-of-contents) 1098