Tired of manually parsing and stringifying HTTP header values in JavaScript? headers supercharges the standard Headers interface, providing a robust toolkit for effortless and type-safe header manipulation.

HTTP headers are packed with critical information—from content negotiation and caching directives to authentication tokens and file metadata. While the native Headers API provides a basic string-based interface, it leaves the complexities of parsing specific header formats (like Accept, Content-Type, or Set-Cookie) entirely up to you.

Features

Type-Safe Accessors: Interact with complex header values (e.g., media types, quality factors, cookie attributes) through strongly-typed properties and methods, eliminating guesswork and manual parsing.
Automatic Parsing & Stringification: The library intelligently handles the parsing of raw header strings into structured objects and stringifies your structured data back into spec-compliant header values.
Fluent Interface: Enjoy a more expressive and developer-friendly API for reading and writing header information.
Drop-in Enhancement: As a subclass of the standard Headers object, it can be used anywhere a Headers object is expected, providing progressive enhancement to your existing code.
Individual Header Utilities: For fine-grained control, use standalone utility classes for specific headers, perfect for scenarios outside of a full Headers object.

Unlock a more powerful and elegant way to work with HTTP headers in your JavaScript and TypeScript projects!

Installation

npm install @remix-run/headers

Overview

The following should give you a sense of what kinds of things you can do with this library:

import Headers from '@remix-run/headers'

let headers = new Headers()

// Accept
headers.accept = 'text/html, text/*;q=0.9'

headers.accept.mediaTypes // [ 'text/html', 'text/*' ]
Object.fromEntries(headers.accept.entries()) // { 'text/html': 1, 'text/*': 0.9 }

headers.accept.accepts('text/html') // true
headers.accept.accepts('text/plain') // true
headers.accept.accepts('image/jpeg') // false

headers.accept.getPreferred(['text/plain', 'text/html']) // 'text/html'

headers.accept.set('text/plain', 0.9)
headers.accept.set('text/*', 0.8)

headers.get('Accept') // 'text/html,text/plain;q=0.9,text/*;q=0.8'

// Accept-Encoding
headers.acceptEncoding = 'gzip, deflate;q=0.8'

headers.acceptEncoding.encodings // [ 'gzip', 'deflate' ]
Object.fromEntries(headers.acceptEncoding.entries()) // { 'gzip': 1, 'deflate': 0.8 }

headers.acceptEncoding.accepts('gzip') // true
headers.acceptEncoding.accepts('br') // false

headers.acceptEncoding.getPreferred(['gzip', 'deflate']) // 'gzip'

// Accept-Language
headers.acceptLanguage = 'en-US, en;q=0.9'

headers.acceptLanguage.languages // [ 'en-us', 'en' ]
Object.fromEntries(headers.acceptLanguage.entries()) // { 'en-us': 1, en: 0.9 }

headers.acceptLanguage.accepts('en') // true
headers.acceptLanguage.accepts('ja') // false

headers.acceptLanguage.getPreferred(['en-US', 'en-GB']) // 'en-US'
headers.acceptLanguage.getPreferred(['en', 'fr']) // 'en'

// Accept-Ranges
headers.acceptRanges = 'bytes'

// Allow
headers.allow = ['GET', 'POST', 'PUT']
headers.get('Allow') // 'GET, POST, PUT'

// Connection
headers.connection = 'close'

// Content-Type
headers.contentType = 'application/json; charset=utf-8'

headers.contentType.mediaType // "application/json"
headers.contentType.charset // "utf-8"

headers.contentType.charset = 'iso-8859-1'

headers.get('Content-Type') // "application/json; charset=iso-8859-1"

// Content-Disposition
headers.contentDisposition =
  'attachment; filename="example.pdf"; filename*=UTF-8\'\'%E4%BE%8B%E5%AD%90.pdf'

headers.contentDisposition.type // 'attachment'
headers.contentDisposition.filename // 'example.pdf'
headers.contentDisposition.filenameSplat // 'UTF-8\'\'%E4%BE%8B%E5%AD%90.pdf'
headers.contentDisposition.preferredFilename // '例子.pdf'

// Cookie
headers.cookie = 'session_id=abc123; user_id=12345'

headers.cookie.get('session_id') // 'abc123'
headers.cookie.get('user_id') // '12345'

headers.cookie.set('theme', 'dark')
headers.get('Cookie') // 'session_id=abc123; user_id=12345; theme=dark'

// Host
headers.host = 'example.com'

// If-Match
headers.ifMatch = ['67ab43', '54ed21']
headers.get('If-Match') // '"67ab43", "54ed21"'

headers.ifMatch.matches('67ab43') // true
headers.ifMatch.matches('abc123') // false

// If-None-Match
headers.ifNoneMatch = ['67ab43', '54ed21']
headers.get('If-None-Match') // '"67ab43", "54ed21"'

headers.ifNoneMatch.matches('67ab43') // true
headers.ifNoneMatch.matches('abc123') // false

// If-Range
headers.ifRange = new Date('2021-01-01T00:00:00Z')
headers.get('If-Range') // 'Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT'

headers.ifRange.matches({ lastModified: 1609459200000 }) // true (timestamp)
headers.ifRange.matches({ lastModified: new Date('2021-01-01T00:00:00Z') }) // true (Date)

// Last-Modified
headers.lastModified = new Date('2021-01-01T00:00:00Z')
// or headers.lastModified = new Date('2021-01-01T00:00:00Z').getTime();
headers.get('Last-Modified') // 'Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT'

// Location
headers.location = 'https://example.com'

// Range
headers.range = 'bytes=200-1000'

headers.range.unit // "bytes"
headers.range.ranges // [{ start: 200, end: 1000 }]
headers.range.canSatisfy(2000) // true

// Referer
headers.referer = 'https://example.com/'

// Set-Cookie
headers.setCookie = ['session_id=abc123; Path=/; HttpOnly']

headers.setCookie[0].name // 'session_id'
headers.setCookie[0].value // 'abc123'
headers.setCookie[0].path // '/'
headers.setCookie[0].httpOnly // true

// Modifying Set-Cookie attributes
headers.setCookie[0].maxAge = 3600
headers.setCookie[0].secure = true

headers.get('Set-Cookie') // 'session_id=abc123; Path=/; HttpOnly; Max-Age=3600; Secure'

// Setting multiple cookies is easy, it's just an array
headers.setCookie.push('user_id=12345; Path=/api; Secure')
// or headers.setCookie = [...headers.setCookie, '...']

// Accessing multiple Set-Cookie headers
for (let cookie of headers.getSetCookie()) {
  console.log(cookie)
}
// session_id=abc123; Path=/; HttpOnly; Max-Age=3600; Secure
// user_id=12345; Path=/api; Secure

Headers can be initialized with an object config:

let headers = new Headers({
  contentType: {
    mediaType: 'text/html',
    charset: 'utf-8',
  },
  setCookie: [
    { name: 'session', value: 'abc', path: '/' },
    { name: 'theme', value: 'dark', expires: new Date('2021-12-31T23:59:59Z') },
  ],
})

console.log(`${headers}`)
// Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
// Set-Cookie: session=abc; Path=/
// Set-Cookie: theme=dark; Expires=Fri, 31 Dec 2021 23:59:59 GMT

Headers works just like DOM's Headers (it's a subclass) so you can use them anywhere you need a Headers.

import Headers from '@remix-run/headers'

// Use in a fetch()
let response = await fetch('https://example.com', {
  headers: new Headers(),
})

// Convert from DOM Headers
let headers = new Headers(response.headers)

headers.set('Content-Type', 'text/html')
headers.get('Content-Type') // "text/html"

If you're familiar with using DOM Headers, everything works as you'd expect.

Headers are iterable:

let headers = new Headers({
  'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  'X-API-Key': 'secret-key',
  'Accept-Language': 'en-US,en;q=0.9',
})

for (let [name, value] of headers) {
  console.log(`${name}: ${value}`)
}
// Content-Type: application/json
// X-Api-Key: secret-key
// Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.9

If you're assembling HTTP messages, you can easily convert to a multiline string suitable for using as a Request/Response header block:

let headers = new Headers({
  'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  'Accept-Language': 'en-US,en;q=0.9',
})

console.log(`${headers}`)
// Content-Type: application/json
// Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.9

Individual Header Utility Classes

In addition to the high-level Headers API, headers also provides a rich set of primitives you can use to work with just about any complex HTTP header value. Each header class includes a spec-compliant parser (the constructor), stringifier (toString), and getters/setters for all relevant attributes. Classes for headers that contain a list of fields, like Cookie, are iterable.

If you need support for a header that isn't listed here, please send a PR! The goal is to have first-class support for all common HTTP headers.

Accept

import { Accept } from '@remix-run/headers'

let header = new Accept('text/html;text/*;q=0.9')

header.has('text/html') // true
header.has('text/plain') // false

header.accepts('text/html') // true
header.accepts('text/plain') // true
header.accepts('text/*') // true
header.accepts('image/jpeg') // false

header.getPreferred(['text/html', 'text/plain']) // 'text/html'

for (let [mediaType, quality] of header) {
  // ...
}

// Alternative init styles
let header = new Accept({ 'text/html': 1, 'text/*': 0.9 })
let header = new Accept(['text/html', ['text/*', 0.9]])

Accept-Encoding

import { AcceptEncoding } from '@remix-run/headers'

let header = new AcceptEncoding('gzip,deflate;q=0.9')

header.has('gzip') // true
header.has('br') // false

header.accepts('gzip') // true
header.accepts('deflate') // true
header.accepts('identity') // true
header.accepts('br') // true

header.getPreferred(['gzip', 'deflate']) // 'gzip'

for (let [encoding, weight] of header) {
  // ...
}

// Alternative init styles
let header = new AcceptEncoding({ gzip: 1, deflate: 0.9 })
let header = new AcceptEncoding(['gzip', ['deflate', 0.9]])

Accept-Language

import { AcceptLanguage } from '@remix-run/headers'

let header = new AcceptLanguage('en-US,en;q=0.9')

header.has('en-US') // true
header.has('en-GB') // false

header.accepts('en-US') // true
header.accepts('en-GB') // true
header.accepts('en') // true
header.accepts('fr') // true

header.getPreferred(['en-US', 'en-GB']) // 'en-US'
header.getPreferred(['en', 'fr']) // 'en'

for (let [language, quality] of header) {
  // ...
}

// Alternative init styles
let header = new AcceptLanguage({ 'en-US': 1, en: 0.9 })
let header = new AcceptLanguage(['en-US', ['en', 0.9]])

Cache-Control

import { CacheControl } from '@remix-run/headers'

let header = new CacheControl('public, max-age=3600, s-maxage=3600')
header.public // true
header.maxAge // 3600
header.sMaxage // 3600

// Alternative init style
let header = new CacheControl({ public: true, maxAge: 3600 })

// Full set of supported properties
header.public // true/false
header.private // true/false
header.noCache // true/false
header.noStore // true/false
header.noTransform // true/false
header.mustRevalidate // true/false
header.proxyRevalidate // true/false
header.maxAge // number
header.sMaxage // number
header.minFresh // number
header.maxStale // number
header.onlyIfCached // true/false
header.immutable // true/false
header.staleWhileRevalidate // number
header.staleIfError // number

Content-Disposition

import { ContentDisposition } from '@remix-run/headers'

let header = new ContentDisposition('attachment; name=file1; filename=file1.txt')
header.type // "attachment"
header.name // "file1"
header.filename // "file1.txt"
header.preferredFilename // "file1.txt"

// Alternative init style
let header = new ContentDisposition({
  type: 'attachment',
  name: 'file1',
  filename: 'file1.txt',
})

Content-Type

import { ContentType } from '@remix-run/headers'

let header = new ContentType('text/html; charset=utf-8')
header.mediaType // "text/html"
header.boundary // undefined
header.charset // "utf-8"

// Alternative init style
let header = new ContentType({
  mediaType: 'multipart/form-data',
  boundary: '------WebKitFormBoundary12345',
  charset: 'utf-8',
})

Content-Range

import { ContentRange } from '@remix-run/headers'

// Satisfied range
let header = new ContentRange('bytes 200-1000/67589')
header.unit // "bytes"
header.start // 200
header.end // 1000
header.size // 67589

// Unsatisfied range
let header = new ContentRange('bytes */67589')
header.unit // "bytes"
header.start // null
header.end // null
header.size // 67589

// Alternative init style
let header = new ContentRange({
  unit: 'bytes',
  start: 200,
  end: 1000,
  size: 67589,
})

import { Cookie } from '@remix-run/headers'

let header = new Cookie('theme=dark; session_id=123')
header.get('theme') // "dark"
header.set('theme', 'light')
header.delete('theme')
header.has('session_id') // true

// Iterate over cookie name/value pairs
for (let [name, value] of header) {
  // ...
}

// Alternative init styles
let header = new Cookie({ theme: 'dark', session_id: '123' })
let header = new Cookie([
  ['theme', 'dark'],
  ['session_id', '123'],
])

If-Match

import { IfMatch } from '@remix-run/headers'

let header = new IfMatch('"67ab43", "54ed21"')

header.has('67ab43') // true
header.has('21ba69') // false

// Check if precondition passes
header.matches('"67ab43"') // true
header.matches('"abc123"') // false

// Note: Uses strong comparison only (weak ETags never match)
let weakHeader = new IfMatch('W/"67ab43"')
weakHeader.matches('W/"67ab43"') // false

// Alternative init styles
let header = new IfMatch(['67ab43', '54ed21'])
let header = new IfMatch({
  tags: ['67ab43', '54ed21'],
})

If-None-Match

import { IfNoneMatch } from '@remix-run/headers'

let header = new IfNoneMatch('"67ab43", "54ed21"')

header.has('67ab43') // true
header.has('21ba69') // false

header.matches('"67ab43"') // true

// Alternative init styles
let header = new IfNoneMatch(['67ab43', '54ed21'])
let header = new IfNoneMatch({
  tags: ['67ab43', '54ed21'],
})

If-Range

import { IfRange } from '@remix-run/headers'

// Initialize with HTTP date
let header = new IfRange('Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT')
header.matches({ lastModified: 1609459200000 }) // true
header.matches({ lastModified: new Date('2021-01-01T00:00:00Z') }) // true (Date also supported)

// Initialize with Date object
let header = new IfRange(new Date('2021-01-01T00:00:00Z'))
header.matches({ lastModified: 1609459200000 }) // true

// Initialize with strong ETag
let header = new IfRange('"67ab43"')
header.matches({ etag: '"67ab43"' }) // true

// Never matches weak ETags
let weakHeader = new IfRange('W/"67ab43"')
header.matches({ etag: 'W/"67ab43"' }) // false

// Returns true if header is not present (range should proceed unconditionally)
let emptyHeader = new IfRange('')
emptyHeader.matches({ etag: '"67ab43"' }) // true

Range

import { Range } from '@remix-run/headers'

let header = new Range('bytes=200-1000')

header.unit // "bytes"
header.ranges // [{ start: 200, end: 1000 }]

// Check if ranges can be satisfied for a given file size
header.canSatisfy(2000) // true
header.canSatisfy(500) // false (end is beyond file size)

// Multiple ranges
let header = new Range('bytes=0-499, 1000-1499')
header.ranges.length // 2

// Normalize to concrete start/end values for a given file size
let header = new Range('bytes=1000-')
header.normalize(2000)
// [{ start: 1000, end: 1999 }]

// Alternative init style
let header = new Range({
  unit: 'bytes',
  ranges: [
    { start: 200, end: 1000 },
    { start: 2000, end: 2999 },
  ],
})

import { SetCookie } from '@remix-run/headers'

let header = new SetCookie('session_id=abc; Domain=example.com; Path=/; Secure; HttpOnly')
header.name // "session_id"
header.value // "abc"
header.domain // "example.com"
header.path // "/"
header.secure // true
header.httpOnly // true
header.sameSite // undefined
header.maxAge // undefined
header.expires // undefined

// Alternative init styles
let header = new SetCookie({
  name: 'session_id',
  value: 'abc',
  domain: 'example.com',
  path: '/',
  secure: true,
  httpOnly: true,
})