gaxios

What is gaxios?

The gaxios npm package is a lightweight HTTP client based on Axios but with a smaller footprint. It is designed to work in both browser and node environments, providing a simple way to make HTTP requests. It supports all HTTP request methods, automatic JSON data transformation, and custom configuration for requests.

What are gaxios's main functionalities?

GET Request

This feature allows you to make GET requests to retrieve data from a specified resource.

const { request } = require('gaxios');

async function getUser() {
  try {
    const response = await request({ url: 'https://api.example.com/user', method: 'GET' });
    console.log(response.data);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(error);
  }
}

getUser();

POST Request

This feature allows you to make POST requests to send data to a server to create/update a resource.

const { request } = require('gaxios');

async function createUser(userData) {
  try {
    const response = await request({
      url: 'https://api.example.com/user',
      method: 'POST',
      data: userData
    });
    console.log(response.data);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(error);
  }
}

createUser({ name: 'New User', email: '[e-mail]' });

Interceptors

Interceptors allow you to run your code or modify the request and/or response before the request is sent or after the response is received.

const { Gaxios } = require('gaxios');

const instance = new Gaxios({
  baseURL: 'https://api.example.com'
});

// Add a request interceptor
instance.interceptors.request.use(config => {
  // Do something before request is sent
  config.headers['Authorization'] = 'Bearer token';
  return config;
});

// Add a response interceptor
instance.interceptors.response.use(response => {
  // Do something with response data
  return response;
}, error => {
  // Handle error
  return Promise.reject(error);
});

Custom Configuration

Custom configuration allows you to specify various options for the HTTP request, such as headers, query parameters, timeout, and more.

const { request } = require('gaxios');

async function getCustomData() {
  try {
    const response = await request({
      url: 'https://api.example.com/data',
      method: 'GET',
      timeout: 5000,
      headers: { 'X-Custom-Header': 'foobar' }
    });
    console.log(response.data);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(error);
  }
}

getCustomData();

Other packages similar to gaxios

axios

Axios is a popular HTTP client for the browser and node.js. It is similar to gaxios but has a larger footprint and more features, such as interceptors, automatic transforms for JSON data, and client-side support for protecting against XSRF.

node-fetch

node-fetch is a light-weight module that brings the Fetch API to Node.js. It is similar to gaxios in terms of being promise-based and lightweight but does not have built-in support for interceptors or automatic JSON data transformation.

got

Got is a human-friendly and powerful HTTP request library for Node.js. It offers stream support, promises, and advanced features like retries and timeouts. It is more feature-rich compared to gaxios but also has a larger footprint.

superagent

Superagent is a small progressive client-side HTTP request library, and Node.js module with the same API, sporting many high-level HTTP client features. It is similar to gaxios but includes more built-in features like form data handling and file uploads.

README

gaxios

An HTTP request client that provides an axios like interface over top of node-fetch.

Install

$ npm install gaxios

Example

import {request} from 'gaxios';
const res = await request({url: 'https://google.com/'});

fetch-Compatible API Example

We offer a drop-in fetch-compatible API as well.

import {instance} from 'gaxios';
const res = await instance.fetch('https://google.com/');

To disable the auto-processing of the request body in res.data, set {responseType: 'stream'} or .adapter on a Gaxios instance's defaults or per-request.

Setting Defaults

Gaxios supports setting default properties both on the default instance, and on additional instances. This is often useful when making many requests to the same domain with the same base settings. For example:

import {Gaxios} from 'gaxios';

const gaxios = new Gaxios();

gaxios.defaults = {
  baseURL: 'https://example.com'
  headers: new Headers({
    Authorization: 'SOME_TOKEN'
  })
}

await gaxios.request({url: '/data'});

Note that setting default values will take precedence over other authentication methods, i.e., application default credentials.

GaxiosResponse

The GaxiosResponse object extends the fetch API's Response object, with the addition of:

• config: the configuration used for the request.
• data: the transformed .body, such as JSON, text, arrayBuffer, or more.

Request Options

interface GaxiosOptions = {
  // The url to which the request should be sent.  Required.
  url: string | URL,

  // The HTTP method to use for the request.  Defaults to `GET`.
  method: 'GET',

  // The base Url to use for the request.
  // Resolved as `new URL(url, baseURL)`
  baseURL: 'https://example.com/v1/' | URL;

  // The HTTP methods to be sent with the request.
  headers: new Headers(),

  // The data to send in the body of the request. Objects will be serialized as JSON
  // except for:
  // - `ArrayBuffer`
  // - `Blob`
  // - `Buffer` (Node.js)
  // - `DataView`
  // - `File`
  // - `FormData`
  // - `ReadableStream`
  // - `stream.Readable` (Node.js)
  // - strings
  // - `TypedArray` (e.g. `Uint8Array`, `BigInt64Array`)
  // - `URLSearchParams`
  // - all other objects where:
  //   - headers.get('Content-Type') === 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded' (as they will be serialized as `URLSearchParams`)
  //
  // Here are a few examples that would prevent setting `Content-Type: application/json` by default:
  // - data: JSON.stringify({some: 'data'}) // a `string`
  // - data: fs.readFile('./some-data.jpeg') // a `stream.Readable`
  data: {
    some: 'data'
  },

  // The max size of the http response content in bytes allowed.
  // Defaults to `0`, which is the same as unset.
  maxContentLength: 2000,

  // The query parameters that will be encoded using `URLSearchParams` and
  // appended to the url
  params: {
    querystring: 'parameters'
  },

  // The timeout for the HTTP request in milliseconds. No timeout by default.
  timeout: 60000,

  // Optional method to override making the actual HTTP request. Useful
  // for writing tests and instrumentation
  adapter?: async (options, defaultAdapter) => {
    const res = await defaultAdapter(options);
    res.data = {
      ...res.data,
      extraProperty: 'your extra property',
    };
    return res;
  };

  // The expected return type of the request.  Options are:
  // 'json' | 'stream' | 'blob' | 'arraybuffer' | 'text' | 'unknown'
  // Defaults to `unknown`.
  //
  // If the `fetchImplementation` is native `fetch`, the
  // stream is a `ReadableStream`, otherwise `readable.Stream`.
  //
  // Note: Setting 'stream' does not consume the `Response#body` - this can
  // be useful for passthrough requests, where a consumer would like to
  // transform the `Response#body`, or for using Gaxios as a drop-in `fetch`
  // replacement.
  responseType: 'unknown',

  // The node.js http agent to use for the request.
  agent: someHttpsAgent,

  // Custom function to determine if the response is valid based on the
  // status code.  Defaults to (>= 200 && < 300)
  validateStatus: (status: number) => true,

  /**
   * Implementation of `fetch` to use when making the API call. Will use
   * `node-fetch` by default.
   */
  fetchImplementation?: typeof fetch;

  // Configuration for retrying of requests.
  retryConfig: {
    // The number of times to retry the request.  Defaults to 3.
    retry?: number;

    // The number of retries already attempted.
    currentRetryAttempt?: number;

    // The HTTP Methods that will be automatically retried.
    // Defaults to ['GET','PUT','HEAD','OPTIONS','DELETE']
    httpMethodsToRetry?: string[];

    // The HTTP response status codes that will automatically be retried.
    // Defaults to: [[100, 199], [408, 408], [429, 429], [500, 599]]
    statusCodesToRetry?: number[][];

    // Function to invoke when a retry attempt is made.
    onRetryAttempt?: (err: GaxiosError) => Promise<void> | void;

    // Function to invoke which determines if you should retry
    shouldRetry?: (err: GaxiosError) => Promise<boolean> | boolean;

    // When there is no response, the number of retries to attempt. Defaults to 2.
    noResponseRetries?: number;

    // The amount of time to initially delay the retry, in ms.  Defaults to 100ms.
    retryDelay?: number;
  },

  // Enables default configuration for retries.
  retry: boolean,

  // Enables aborting via AbortController
  signal?: AbortSignal

  /**
   * A collection of parts to send as a `Content-Type: multipart/related` request.
   */
  multipart?: GaxiosMultipartOptions;

  /**
   * An optional proxy to use for requests.
   * Available via `process.env.HTTP_PROXY` and `process.env.HTTPS_PROXY` as well - with a preference for the this config option when multiple are available.
   * The `agent` option overrides this.
   *
   * @see {@link GaxiosOptions.noProxy}
   * @see {@link GaxiosOptions.agent}
   */
  proxy?: string | URL;

  /**
   * A list for excluding traffic for proxies.
   * Available via `process.env.NO_PROXY` as well as a common-separated list of strings - merged with any local `noProxy` rules.
   *
   * - When provided a string, it is matched by
   *   - Wildcard `*.` and `.` matching are available. (e.g. `.example.com` or `*.example.com`)
   * - When provided a URL, it is matched by the `.origin` property.
   *   - For example, requesting `https://example.com` with the following `noProxy`s would result in a no proxy use:
   *     - new URL('https://example.com')
   *     - new URL('https://example.com:443')
   *   - The following would be used with a proxy:
   *     - new URL('http://example.com:80')
   *     - new URL('https://example.com:8443')
   * - When provided a regular expression it is used to match the stringified URL
   *
   * @see {@link GaxiosOptions.proxy}
   */
  noProxy?: (string | URL | RegExp)[];

  /**
   * An experimental, customizable error redactor.
   *
   * Set `false` to disable.
   *
   * @remarks
   *
   * This does not replace the requirement for an active Data Loss Prevention (DLP) provider. For DLP suggestions, see:
   * - https://cloud.google.com/sensitive-data-protection/docs/redacting-sensitive-data#dlp_deidentify_replace_infotype-nodejs
   * - https://cloud.google.com/sensitive-data-protection/docs/infotypes-reference#credentials_and_secrets
   *
   * @experimental
   */
  errorRedactor?: typeof defaultErrorRedactor | false;
}

License

Apache-2.0

Changelog

7.1.1 (2025-06-21)

Bug Fixes

• Don't iterate over undefined opts.data. (#711) (c05def6)