http-proxy

What is http-proxy?

The http-proxy npm package is a full-featured HTTP proxy library for Node.js. It supports websockets and can be used to proxy different kinds of HTTP and HTTPS traffic, which makes it suitable for implementing reverse proxies and load balancers.

What are http-proxy's main functionalities?

Proxying HTTP/HTTPS requests

This code creates an HTTP server that listens on port 8000 and proxies all incoming requests to 'http://mytarget.com:8080'.

const http = require('http');
const httpProxy = require('http-proxy');

const proxy = httpProxy.createProxyServer({});

const server = http.createServer(function(req, res) {
  proxy.web(req, res, { target: 'http://mytarget.com:8080' });
});

server.listen(8000);

Proxying WebSockets

This code sets up a server that can proxy WebSocket connections to 'ws://mytarget.com:8080' when an 'upgrade' event is emitted.

const http = require('http');
const httpProxy = require('http-proxy');

const proxy = httpProxy.createProxyServer({});
const server = http.createServer(function(req, res) {
  // This function is not used when proxying WebSockets
});

server.on('upgrade', function(req, socket, head) {
  proxy.ws(req, socket, head, { target: 'ws://mytarget.com:8080' });
});

server.listen(8000);

Listening for proxy events

This code listens for errors and responses from the proxy server, allowing for custom error handling and logging.

const httpProxy = require('http-proxy');
const proxy = httpProxy.createProxyServer({});

proxy.on('error', function(err, req, res) {
  res.writeHead(500, {
    'Content-Type': 'text/plain'
  });
  res.end('Something went wrong.');
});

proxy.on('proxyRes', function(proxyRes, req, res) {
  console.log('RAW Response from the target', JSON.stringify(proxyRes.headers, true, 2));
});

Other packages similar to http-proxy

node-http-proxy

node-http-proxy is a similar package that offers high-performance reverse proxy and load balancing capabilities. It is often compared to http-proxy due to its similar feature set.

redbird

Redbird is a modern reverse proxy library for node that includes automatic HTTPS, WebSocket support, and Docker integration. It is an alternative to http-proxy with a focus on simplicity and ease of use.

bouncy

Bouncy is a simple module for writing WebSocket and regular HTTP servers. It allows you to route requests to different destinations based on the request headers or other properties. It is less feature-rich compared to http-proxy but can be used for simpler proxying needs.

README

node-http-proxy

  

node-http-proxy is an HTTP programmable proxying library that supports websockets. It is suitable for implementing components such as reverse proxies and load balancers.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Upgrading from 0.8.x ?
• Core Concept
• Use Cases
  • Setup a basic stand-alone proxy server
  • Setup a stand-alone proxy server with custom server logic
  • Setup a stand-alone proxy server with proxy request header re-writing
  • Modify a response from a proxied server
  • Setup a stand-alone proxy server with latency
  • Using HTTPS
  • Proxying WebSockets
• Options
• Listening for proxy events
• Shutdown
• Miscellaneous
  • Test
  • ProxyTable API
  • Logo
• Contributing and Issues
• License

Installation

npm install http-proxy --save

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Upgrading from 0.8.x ?

Click here

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Core Concept

A new proxy is created by calling createProxyServer and passing an options object as argument (valid properties are available here)

var httpProxy = require('http-proxy');

var proxy = httpProxy.createProxyServer(options); // See (†)

†Unless listen(..) is invoked on the object, this does not create a webserver. See below.

An object will be returned with four methods:

• web req, res, [options] (used for proxying regular HTTP(S) requests)
• ws req, socket, head, [options] (used for proxying WS(S) requests)
• listen port (a function that wraps the object in a webserver, for your convenience)
• close [callback] (a function that closes the inner webserver and stops listening on given port)

It is then possible to proxy requests by calling these functions

http.createServer(function(req, res) {
  proxy.web(req, res, { target: 'http://mytarget.com:8080' });
});

Errors can be listened on either using the Event Emitter API

proxy.on('error', function(e) {
  ...
});

or using the callback API

proxy.web(req, res, { target: 'http://mytarget.com:8080' }, function(e) { ... });

When a request is proxied it follows two different pipelines (available here) which apply transformations to both the req and res object. The first pipeline (incoming) is responsible for the creation and manipulation of the stream that connects your client to the target. The second pipeline (outgoing) is responsible for the creation and manipulation of the stream that, from your target, returns data to the client.

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Use Cases

Setup a basic stand-alone proxy server

var http = require('http'),
    httpProxy = require('http-proxy');
//
// Create your proxy server and set the target in the options.
//
httpProxy.createProxyServer({target:'http://localhost:9000'}).listen(8000); // See (†)

//
// Create your target server
//
http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
  res.write('request successfully proxied!' + '\n' + JSON.stringify(req.headers, true, 2));
  res.end();
}).listen(9000);

†Invoking listen(..) triggers the creation of a web server. Otherwise, just the proxy instance is created.

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Setup a stand-alone proxy server with custom server logic

This example show how you can proxy a request using your own HTTP server and also you can put your own logic to handle the request.

var http = require('http'),
    httpProxy = require('http-proxy');

//
// Create a proxy server with custom application logic
//
var proxy = httpProxy.createProxyServer({});

//
// Create your custom server and just call `proxy.web()` to proxy
// a web request to the target passed in the options
// also you can use `proxy.ws()` to proxy a websockets request
//
var server = http.createServer(function(req, res) {
  // You can define here your custom logic to handle the request
  // and then proxy the request.
  proxy.web(req, res, { target: 'http://127.0.0.1:5060' });
});

console.log("listening on port 5050")
server.listen(5050);

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Setup a stand-alone proxy server with proxy request header re-writing

This example shows how you can proxy a request using your own HTTP server that modifies the outgoing proxy request by adding a special header.

var http = require('http'),
    httpProxy = require('http-proxy');

//
// Create a proxy server with custom application logic
//
var proxy = httpProxy.createProxyServer({});

// To modify the proxy connection before data is sent, you can listen
// for the 'proxyReq' event. When the event is fired, you will receive
// the following arguments:
// (http.ClientRequest proxyReq, http.IncomingMessage req,
//  http.ServerResponse res, Object options). This mechanism is useful when
// you need to modify the proxy request before the proxy connection
// is made to the target.
//
proxy.on('proxyReq', function(proxyReq, req, res, options) {
  proxyReq.setHeader('X-Special-Proxy-Header', 'foobar');
});

var server = http.createServer(function(req, res) {
  // You can define here your custom logic to handle the request
  // and then proxy the request.
  proxy.web(req, res, {
    target: 'http://127.0.0.1:5060'
  });
});

console.log("listening on port 5050")
server.listen(5050);

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Modify a response from a proxied server

Sometimes when you have received a HTML/XML document from the server of origin you would like to modify it before forwarding it on.

Harmon allows you to do this in a streaming style so as to keep the pressure on the proxy to a minimum.

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Setup a stand-alone proxy server with latency

var http = require('http'),
    httpProxy = require('http-proxy');

//
// Create a proxy server with latency
//
var proxy = httpProxy.createProxyServer();

//
// Create your server that makes an operation that waits a while
// and then proxies the request
//
http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  // This simulates an operation that takes 500ms to execute
  setTimeout(function () {
    proxy.web(req, res, {
      target: 'http://localhost:9008'
    });
  }, 500);
}).listen(8008);

//
// Create your target server
//
http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
  res.write('request successfully proxied to: ' + req.url + '\n' + JSON.stringify(req.headers, true, 2));
  res.end();
}).listen(9008);

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Using HTTPS

You can activate the validation of a secure SSL certificate to the target connection (avoid self signed certs), just set secure: true in the options.

HTTPS -> HTTP

//
// Create the HTTPS proxy server in front of a HTTP server
//
httpProxy.createServer({
  target: {
    host: 'localhost',
    port: 9009
  },
  ssl: {
    key: fs.readFileSync('valid-ssl-key.pem', 'utf8'),
    cert: fs.readFileSync('valid-ssl-cert.pem', 'utf8')
  }
}).listen(8009);

HTTPS -> HTTPS

//
// Create the proxy server listening on port 443
//
httpProxy.createServer({
  ssl: {
    key: fs.readFileSync('valid-ssl-key.pem', 'utf8'),
    cert: fs.readFileSync('valid-ssl-cert.pem', 'utf8')
  },
  target: 'https://localhost:9010',
  secure: true // Depends on your needs, could be false.
}).listen(443);

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Proxying WebSockets

You can activate the websocket support for the proxy using ws:true in the options.

//
// Create a proxy server for websockets
//
httpProxy.createServer({
  target: 'ws://localhost:9014',
  ws: true
}).listen(8014);

Also you can proxy the websocket requests just calling the ws(req, socket, head) method.

//
// Setup our server to proxy standard HTTP requests
//
var proxy = new httpProxy.createProxyServer({
  target: {
    host: 'localhost',
    port: 9015
  }
});
var proxyServer = http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  proxy.web(req, res);
});

//
// Listen to the `upgrade` event and proxy the
// WebSocket requests as well.
//
proxyServer.on('upgrade', function (req, socket, head) {
  proxy.ws(req, socket, head);
});

proxyServer.listen(8015);

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Options

httpProxy.createProxyServer supports the following options:

• target: url string to be parsed with the url module
• forward: url string to be parsed with the url module
• agent: object to be passed to http(s).request (see Node's https agent and http agent objects)
• ssl: object to be passed to https.createServer()
• ws: true/false, if you want to proxy websockets
• xfwd: true/false, adds x-forward headers
• secure: true/false, if you want to verify the SSL Certs
• toProxy: true/false, passes the absolute URL as the path (useful for proxying to proxies)
• prependPath: true/false, Default: true - specify whether you want to prepend the target's path to the proxy path
• ignorePath: true/false, Default: false - specify whether you want to ignore the proxy path of the incoming request (note: you will have to append / manually if required).
• localAddress: Local interface string to bind for outgoing connections
• changeOrigin: true/false, Default: false - changes the origin of the host header to the target URL
• preserveHeaderKeyCase: true/false, Default: false - specify whether you want to keep letter case of response header key
• auth: Basic authentication i.e. 'user:password' to compute an Authorization header.
• hostRewrite: rewrites the location hostname on (201/301/302/307/308) redirects.
• autoRewrite: rewrites the location host/port on (201/301/302/307/308) redirects based on requested host/port. Default: false.
• protocolRewrite: rewrites the location protocol on (201/301/302/307/308) redirects to 'http' or 'https'. Default: null.
• cookieDomainRewrite: rewrites domain of set-cookie headers. Possible values:
  • false (default): disable cookie rewriting
  • String: new domain, for example cookieDomainRewrite: "new.domain". To remove the domain, use cookieDomainRewrite: "".
  • Object: mapping of domains to new domains, use "*" to match all domains.
    For example keep one domain unchanged, rewrite one domain and remove other domains:

    cookieDomainRewrite: {
      "unchanged.domain": "unchanged.domain",
      "old.domain": "new.domain",
      "*": ""
    }
    

• headers: object with extra headers to be added to target requests.
• proxyTimeout: timeout (in millis) when proxy receives no response from target

NOTE: options.ws and options.ssl are optional. options.target and options.forward cannot both be missing

If you are using the proxyServer.listen method, the following options are also applicable:

• ssl: object to be passed to https.createServer()
• ws: true/false, if you want to proxy websockets

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Listening for proxy events

• error: The error event is emitted if the request to the target fail. We do not do any error handling of messages passed between client and proxy, and messages passed between proxy and target, so it is recommended that you listen on errors and handle them.
• proxyReq: This event is emitted before the data is sent. It gives you a chance to alter the proxyReq request object. Applies to "web" connections
• proxyReqWs: This event is emitted before the data is sent. It gives you a chance to alter the proxyReq request object. Applies to "websocket" connections
• proxyRes: This event is emitted if the request to the target got a response.
• open: This event is emitted once the proxy websocket was created and piped into the target websocket.
• close: This event is emitted once the proxy websocket was closed.
• (DEPRECATED) proxySocket: Deprecated in favor of open.

var httpProxy = require('http-proxy');
// Error example
//
// Http Proxy Server with bad target
//
var proxy = httpProxy.createServer({
  target:'http://localhost:9005'
});

proxy.listen(8005);

//
// Listen for the `error` event on `proxy`.
proxy.on('error', function (err, req, res) {
  res.writeHead(500, {
    'Content-Type': 'text/plain'
  });

  res.end('Something went wrong. And we are reporting a custom error message.');
});

//
// Listen for the `proxyRes` event on `proxy`.
//
proxy.on('proxyRes', function (proxyRes, req, res) {
  console.log('RAW Response from the target', JSON.stringify(proxyRes.headers, true, 2));
});

//
// Listen for the `open` event on `proxy`.
//
proxy.on('open', function (proxySocket) {
  // listen for messages coming FROM the target here
  proxySocket.on('data', hybiParseAndLogMessage);
});

//
// Listen for the `close` event on `proxy`.
//
proxy.on('close', function (res, socket, head) {
  // view disconnected websocket connections
  console.log('Client disconnected');
});

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Shutdown

• When testing or running server within another program it may be necessary to close the proxy.
• This will stop the proxy from accepting new connections.

var proxy = new httpProxy.createProxyServer({
  target: {
    host: 'localhost',
    port: 1337
  }
});

proxy.close();

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Miscellaneous

ProxyTable API

A proxy table API is available through this add-on module, which lets you define a set of rules to translate matching routes to target routes that the reverse proxy will talk to.

Test

$ npm test

Logo

Logo created by Diego Pasquali

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Contributing and Issues

• Search on Google/Github
• If you can't find anything, open an issue
• If you feel comfortable about fixing the issue, fork the repo
• Commit to your local branch (which must be different from master)
• Submit your Pull Request (be sure to include tests and update documentation)

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License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2010 - 2016 Charlie Robbins, Jarrett Cruger & the Contributors.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Changelog

1.16.2 - 2016-12-06

Merged

• [WIP] Revert default behavior of writeHeaders method #1104