http-client

http-client

http-client lets you compose HTTP clients using JavaScript's fetch API. This library has the following goals:

• Preserve the full capabilities of the fetch API
• Provide an extendable middleware API
• Use the same API on both client and server

Installation

Using npm:

$ npm install --save http-client

Then with a module bundler like webpack, use as you would anything else:

// using an ES6 transpiler, like babel
import { createFetch } from 'http-client'

// not using an ES6 transpiler
var createFetch = require('http-client').createFetch

You'll need to shim window.fetch in browsers that do not support it (Safari and IE). github/fetch is a great polyfill.

In node, http-client automatically uses the node-fetch library under the hood so no extra configuration is necessary. Be sure to read about the known differences between node-fetch and the fetch spec.

Usage

http-client simplifies the process of creating flexible HTTP clients that work in both node and the browser. You create your own fetch function using the createFetch method, optionally passing middleware as arguments.

import { createFetch, base, accept, parseJSON } from 'http-client'

const fetch = createFetch(
  base('https://api.stripe.com/v1'),  // Prefix all request URLs
  accept('application/json'),         // Set "Accept: application/json" in the request headers
  parseJSON()                         // Read the response as JSON and put it in response.jsonData
)

fetch('/customers/5').then(response => {
  console.log(response.jsonData)
})

Middleware

http-client provides a variety of middleware that may be used to extend the functionality of the client. Out of the box, http-client ships with the following middleware:

method(verb)

Sets the request method.

import { createFetch, method } from 'http-client'

const fetch = createFetch(
  method('POST')
)

header(name, value)

Adds a header to the request.

import { createFetch, header } from 'http-client'

const fetch = createFetch(
  header('Content-Type', 'application/json')
)

auth(value)

Adds an Authorization header to the request.

import { createFetch, auth } from 'http-client'

const fetch = createFetch(
  auth('Bearer ' + oauth2Token)
)

accept(contentType)

Adds an Accept header to the request.

import { createFetch, accept } from 'http-client'

const fetch = createFetch(
  accept('application/json')
)

base(baseURL)

Adds the given baseURL to the beginning of the request URL.

import { createFetch, base } from 'http-client'

const fetch = createFetch(
  base('https://api.stripe.com/v1')
)

fetch('/customers/5') // GET https://api.stripe.com/v1/customers/5

query(object)

Adds the data in the given object (or string) to the query string of the request URL.

body(content, contentType)

Sets the given content string as the request body.

import { createFetch, body } from 'http-client'

const fetch = createFetch(
  body(JSON.stringify(data), 'application/json')
)

json(object)

Adds the data in the given object as JSON to the request body.

params(object)

Adds the given object to the query string of GET/HEAD requests and as a x-www-form-urlencoded payload on all others.

import { createFetch, method, params } from 'http-client'

// Create a client that will append hello=world to the URL in the query string
const fetch = createFetch(
  params({ hello: 'world' })
)

// Create a client that will send hello=world as POST data
const fetch = createFetch(
  method('POST'),
  params({ hello: 'world' })
)

parseText()

Reads the response body as text and puts it on response.textString.

import { createFetch, parseText } from 'http-client'

const fetch = createFetch(
  parseText()
)

fetch(url).then(response => {
  console.log(response.textString)
})

parseJSON()

Reads the response body as JSON and puts it on response.jsonData.

import { createFetch, parseJSON } from 'http-client'

const fetch = createFetch(
  parseJSON()
)

fetch(url).then(response => {
  console.log(response.jsonData)
})

requestInfo()

Adds requestURL and requestOptions properties to the response (or error) object so you can inspect them. Mainly useful for testing/debugging (should be put last in the list of middleware).

import { createFetch, requestInfo } from 'http-client'

const fetch = createFetch(
  // ...
  requestInfo()
)

fetch(url).then(response => {
  console.log(response.requestURL, response.requestOptions)
})

Stacks

Middleware may be combined together into re-usable middleware "stacks" using createStack. A stack is itself a middleware that is composed of one or more other pieces of middleware.

This is useful when you have a common set of functionality that you'd like to share between several different fetch methods, e.g.:

import { createStack, createFetch, header, base, parseJSON } from 'http-client'

const commonStack = createStack(
  header('X-Auth-Key', key),
  header('X-Auth-Email', email),
  base('https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4'),
  parseJSON()
)

// This fetch function can be used standalone...
const fetch = createFetch(commonStack)

// ...or we can add further middleware to create another fetch function!
const fetchSinceBeginningOf2015 = createFetch(
  commonStack,
  query({ since: '2015-01-01T00:00:00Z' })
)