phin

What is phin?

The phin npm package is a lightweight HTTP client designed for simplicity and minimalism. It is used for making HTTP requests from Node.js environments. It supports promises and can handle various types of requests such as GET, POST, and more.

What are phin's main functionalities?

Simple HTTP GET requests

This code sample demonstrates how to perform a simple HTTP GET request to a specified URL using phin.

const phin = require('phin')

phin('https://example.com', (err, res) => {
  if (err) throw err
  console.log(res.body)
})

HTTP POST requests with JSON

This code sample shows how to perform an HTTP POST request with JSON data using phin.

const phin = require('phin')

const options = {
  url: 'https://example.com/post',
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  data: { key: 'value' }
}

phin(options, (err, res) => {
  if (err) throw err
  console.log(res.body)
})

Promisified HTTP requests

This code sample illustrates how to use phin with promises to make asynchronous HTTP requests.

const phin = require('phin').promisified

async function makeRequest() {
  try {
    const res = await phin('https://example.com')
    console.log(res.body)
  } catch (err) {
    console.error(err)
  }
}

makeRequest()

Other packages similar to phin

axios

Axios is a popular HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. It supports promises by default and has a wide range of features including interceptors, automatic transforms for JSON data, and client-side protection against XSRF. It is more feature-rich compared to phin but also larger in size.

got

Got is another HTTP request library for Node.js that is designed to be more user-friendly and powerful than the built-in http module. It supports streams, advanced timeout handling, and instances with custom defaults. It is more comprehensive than phin but also more complex.

node-fetch

node-fetch is a light-weight module that brings the Fetch API to Node.js. It aims to provide a consistent API with the browser's fetch function. It is similar to phin in terms of simplicity but follows the Fetch API standards.

superagent

Superagent is a small progressive client-side HTTP request library. It has a fluent API that allows chaining of methods to configure requests, and it can be extended with plugins. It is more feature-rich than phin and has a different API design focused on chaining methods.

README

---

The ultra-lightweight Node.js HTTP client

Full documentation | GitHub | NPM

Simple Usage

const p = require('phin')

p('https://ethanent.me', (err, res) => {
	if (!err) console.log(res.body)
})

Install

npm install phin

Why phin?

phin is trusted by some really important projects. The hundreds of contributors at Less, for example, depend on phin as part of their development process.

Also, phin is super lightweight. Like 99.8% smaller than request lightweight. To compare to other libraries, see phin vs. the Competition.

Quick Demos

Simple POST:

p({
	url: 'https://ethanent.me',
	method: 'POST',
	data: {
		hey: 'hi'
	}
})

Promisified:

const p = require('phin').promisified

;(async () => {
	const res = await p({
		url: 'https://ethanent.me'
	})

	console.log(res.body)
})()

Simple parsing of JSON:

// (In async function in this case.)

const res = await p({
	url: 'https://ethanent.me/name',
	parse: 'json'
})

console.log(res.body.first)

Documentation

See the phin documentation.

phin has util.promisify support. The promisified library can also be accessed with require('phin').promisified!

phin vs. the Competition

phin is super lightweight, and it's getting lighter all the time.

It contains all of the common HTTP client features included in competing libraries!

Package	Size (KB)	Dependencies (Tree Count)	Size Comparison (vs. phin)
request	4,446	53	444.6x
superagent	1,235	24	123.5x
got	664	44	66.4x
snekfetch	107	0	10.7x
phin	10	0	1x