isomorphic-fetch

What is isomorphic-fetch?

The isomorphic-fetch npm package is a library that enables the use of the Fetch API in both server-side (Node.js) and client-side (browser) environments. It provides a consistent interface for making HTTP requests, allowing developers to write universal code that works across different platforms.

What are isomorphic-fetch's main functionalities?

Making HTTP GET requests

This code sample demonstrates how to make a simple HTTP GET request to retrieve data from a specified URL and then process the JSON response.

fetch('https://api.example.com/data')
  .then(response => response.json())
  .then(data => console.log(data))
  .catch(error => console.error('Error:', error));

Making HTTP POST requests

This code sample shows how to make an HTTP POST request to send JSON data to a server and then handle the JSON response.

fetch('https://api.example.com/data', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ key: 'value' })
})
.then(response => response.json())
.then(data => console.log(data))
.catch(error => console.error('Error:', error));

Handling HTTP errors

This code sample illustrates how to handle errors in HTTP requests by checking the response status and throwing an error if the response is not successful.

fetch('https://api.example.com/data')
  .then(response => {
    if (!response.ok) {
      throw new Error('Network response was not ok');
    }
    return response.json();
  })
  .then(data => console.log(data))
  .catch(error => console.error('Error:', error));

Other packages similar to isomorphic-fetch

axios

Axios is a popular HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. It provides a promise-based API and has a similar feature set to isomorphic-fetch, including interceptors, automatic transforms for JSON data, and cancellation of requests. Axios also provides more detailed configuration options for requests compared to isomorphic-fetch.

node-fetch

Node-fetch is a light-weight module that brings the Fetch API to Node.js. It is similar to isomorphic-fetch but is specifically designed for Node.js environments. Unlike isomorphic-fetch, node-fetch does not provide a polyfill for the browser environment.

whatwg-fetch

Whatwg-fetch is a polyfill for the Fetch API for browsers that do not support it natively. It is similar to isomorphic-fetch in that it allows the use of the Fetch API in the browser, but it does not provide support for Node.js environments.

cross-fetch

Cross-fetch is another library that provides a polyfill for the Fetch API for both Node.js and browser environments. It is similar to isomorphic-fetch in its universal approach, but it may have different implementation details or additional features.

README

isomorphic-fetch

Fetch for node and Browserify. Built on top of GitHub's WHATWG Fetch polyfill.

Warnings

• This adds fetch as a global so that its API is consistent between client and server.

For ease-of-maintenance and backward-compatibility reasons, this library will always be a polyfill. As a "safe" alternative, which does not modify the global, consider fetch-ponyfill.

Why Use Isomorphic Fetch

The Fetch API is currently not implemented consistently across browsers. This module will enable you to use fetch in your Node code in a cross-browser compliant fashion. The Fetch API is part of the Web platform API defined by the standards bodies WHATWG and W3C.

Installation

NPM

npm install --save isomorphic-fetch

Bower

bower install --save isomorphic-fetch

Usage

require('isomorphic-fetch');

fetch('//offline-news-api.herokuapp.com/stories')
	.then(function(response) {
		if (response.status >= 400) {
			throw new Error("Bad response from server");
		}
		return response.json();
	})
	.then(function(stories) {
		console.log(stories);
	});

License

All open source code released by FT Labs is licenced under the MIT licence. Based on the fine work by jxck.

Alternatives

• cross-fetch
• Using node-fetch and the Fetch polyfill directly (or from polyfill.io, or relying on the browser's implementation of the Fetch API).