undici

What is undici?

The undici npm package is a HTTP/1.1 client, written from scratch for Node.js, that is designed to be faster and more efficient than the built-in 'http' and 'https' modules. It provides a low-level API for making HTTP requests and can be used to build higher-level abstractions.

What are undici's main functionalities?

HTTP Request

Make an HTTP request and process the response. This is the basic functionality of undici, allowing you to send HTTP requests and receive responses.

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

(async () => {
  const { statusCode, headers, body } = await request('https://example.com')
  console.log('response received', statusCode);
  for await (const data of body) {
    console.log('data', data);
  }
})();

HTTP Pool

Use a pool of connections to make HTTP requests. This is useful for making a large number of requests to the same server, as it reuses connections between requests.

const { Pool } = require('undici');

const pool = new Pool('https://example.com')

async function query() {
  const { body } = await pool.request({
    path: '/path',
    method: 'GET'
  })

  for await (const data of body) {
    console.log('data', data);
  }
}

query();

HTTP Stream

Stream an HTTP response to a file or another stream. This is useful for handling large responses that you don't want to hold in memory.

const { pipeline } = require('undici');
const fs = require('fs');

pipeline(
  'https://example.com',
  fs.createWriteStream('output.txt'),
  (err) => {
    if (err) {
      console.error('Pipeline failed', err);
    } else {
      console.log('Pipeline succeeded');
    }
  }
);

HTTP Upgrade

Upgrade an HTTP connection to another protocol, such as WebSockets. This is useful for protocols that start with an HTTP handshake and then upgrade to a different protocol.

const { connect } = require('undici');

(async () => {
  const { socket, statusCode, headers } = await connect({
    path: '/path',
    method: 'GET'
  });

  console.log('upgrade response', statusCode, headers);

  socket.on('data', (chunk) => {
    console.log('data', chunk.toString());
  });
})();

Other packages similar to undici

axios

Axios is a promise-based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. It provides a simple API for making HTTP requests and is often used for its ease of use and wide adoption. Compared to undici, axios is higher-level and more feature-rich, but may not be as performant for certain use cases.

got

Got is a human-friendly and powerful HTTP request library for Node.js. It supports streams, promises, and provides a rich set of features for making HTTP requests. Got is similar to undici in terms of performance but offers a more comprehensive API surface.

node-fetch

node-fetch is a light-weight module that brings the Fetch API to Node.js. It is designed to mimic the browser fetch API as closely as possible. While undici focuses on HTTP/1.1, node-fetch provides a familiar interface for those used to working with fetch in the browser.

README

undici

An HTTP/1.1 client, written from scratch for Node.js.

Undici means eleven in Italian. 1.1 -> 11 -> Eleven -> Undici. It is also a Stranger Things reference.

Have a question about using Undici? Open a Q&A Discussion or join our official OpenJS Slack channel.

Install

npm i undici

Benchmarks

The benchmark is a simple hello world example using a number of unix sockets (connections) with a pipelining depth of 10 running on Node 16. The benchmarks below have the simd feature enabled.

Connections 1

Tests	Samples	Result	Tolerance	Difference with slowest
http - no keepalive	15	4.63 req/sec	± 2.77 %	-
http - keepalive	10	4.81 req/sec	± 2.16 %	+ 3.94 %
undici - stream	25	62.22 req/sec	± 2.67 %	+ 1244.58 %
undici - dispatch	15	64.33 req/sec	± 2.47 %	+ 1290.24 %
undici - request	15	66.08 req/sec	± 2.48 %	+ 1327.88 %
undici - pipeline	10	66.13 req/sec	± 1.39 %	+ 1329.08 %

Connections 50

Tests	Samples	Result	Tolerance	Difference with slowest
http - no keepalive	50	3546.49 req/sec	± 2.90 %	-
http - keepalive	15	5692.67 req/sec	± 2.48 %	+ 60.52 %
undici - pipeline	25	8478.71 req/sec	± 2.62 %	+ 139.07 %
undici - request	20	9766.66 req/sec	± 2.79 %	+ 175.39 %
undici - stream	15	10109.74 req/sec	± 2.94 %	+ 185.06 %
undici - dispatch	25	10949.73 req/sec	± 2.54 %	+ 208.75 %

Quick Start

import { request } from 'undici'

const {
  statusCode,
  headers,
  trailers,
  body
} = await request('http://localhost:3000/foo')

console.log('response received', statusCode)
console.log('headers', headers)

for await (const data of body) {
  console.log('data', data)
}

console.log('trailers', trailers)

Body Mixins

The body mixins are the most common way to format the request/response body. Mixins include:

• .formData()
• .json()
• .text()

Example usage:

import { request } from 'undici'

const {
  statusCode,
  headers,
  trailers,
  body
} = await request('http://localhost:3000/foo')

console.log('response received', statusCode)
console.log('headers', headers)
console.log('data', await body.json())
console.log('trailers', trailers)

Note: Once a mixin has been called then the body cannot be reused, thus calling additional mixins on .body, e.g. .body.json(); .body.text() will result in an error TypeError: unusable being thrown and returned through the Promise rejection.

Should you need to access the body in plain-text after using a mixin, the best practice is to use the .text() mixin first and then manually parse the text to the desired format.

For more information about their behavior, please reference the body mixin from the Fetch Standard.

Common API Methods

This section documents our most commonly used API methods. Additional APIs are documented in their own files within the docs folder and are accessible via the navigation list on the left side of the docs site.

undici.request([url, options]): Promise

Arguments:

• url string | URL | UrlObject
• options RequestOptions
  • dispatcher Dispatcher - Default: getGlobalDispatcher
  • method String - Default: PUT if options.body, otherwise GET
  • maxRedirections Integer - Default: 0

Returns a promise with the result of the Dispatcher.request method.

Calls options.dispatcher.request(options).

See Dispatcher.request for more details.

undici.stream([url, options, ]factory): Promise

Arguments:

• url string | URL | UrlObject
• options StreamOptions
  • dispatcher Dispatcher - Default: getGlobalDispatcher
  • method String - Default: PUT if options.body, otherwise GET
  • maxRedirections Integer - Default: 0
• factory Dispatcher.stream.factory

Returns a promise with the result of the Dispatcher.stream method.

Calls options.dispatcher.stream(options, factory).

See Dispatcher.stream for more details.

undici.pipeline([url, options, ]handler): Duplex

Arguments:

• url string | URL | UrlObject
• options PipelineOptions
  • dispatcher Dispatcher - Default: getGlobalDispatcher
  • method String - Default: PUT if options.body, otherwise GET
  • maxRedirections Integer - Default: 0
• handler Dispatcher.pipeline.handler

Returns: stream.Duplex

Calls options.dispatch.pipeline(options, handler).

See Dispatcher.pipeline for more details.

undici.connect([url, options]): Promise

Starts two-way communications with the requested resource using HTTP CONNECT.

Arguments:

• url string | URL | UrlObject
• options ConnectOptions
  • dispatcher Dispatcher - Default: getGlobalDispatcher
  • maxRedirections Integer - Default: 0
• callback (err: Error | null, data: ConnectData | null) => void (optional)

Returns a promise with the result of the Dispatcher.connect method.

Calls options.dispatch.connect(options).

See Dispatcher.connect for more details.

undici.fetch(input[, init]): Promise

Implements fetch.

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WindowOrWorkerGlobalScope/fetch
• https://fetch.spec.whatwg.org/#fetch-method

Only supported on Node 16.8+.

Basic usage example:

import { fetch } from 'undici'


const res = await fetch('https://example.com')
const json = await res.json()
console.log(json)

You can pass an optional dispatcher to fetch as:

import { fetch, Agent } from 'undici'

const res = await fetch('https://example.com', {
  // Mocks are also supported
  dispatcher: new Agent({
    keepAliveTimeout: 10,
    keepAliveMaxTimeout: 10
  })
})
const json = await res.json()
console.log(json)

request.body

A body can be of the following types:

• ArrayBuffer
• ArrayBufferView
• AsyncIterables
• Blob
• Iterables
• String
• URLSearchParams
• FormData

In this implementation of fetch, request.body now accepts Async Iterables. It is not present in the Fetch Standard.

import { fetch } from 'undici'

const data = {
  async *[Symbol.asyncIterator]() {
    yield 'hello'
    yield 'world'
  },
}

await fetch('https://example.com', { body: data, method: 'POST', duplex: 'half' })

request.duplex

• half

In this implementation of fetch, request.duplex must be set if request.body is ReadableStream or Async Iterables. And fetch requests are currently always be full duplex. More detail refer to Fetch Standard.

response.body

Nodejs has two kinds of streams: web streams, which follow the API of the WHATWG web standard found in browsers, and an older Node-specific streams API. response.body returns a readable web stream. If you would prefer to work with a Node stream you can convert a web stream using .fromWeb().

import { fetch } from 'undici'
import { Readable } from 'node:stream'

const response = await fetch('https://example.com')
const readableWebStream = response.body
const readableNodeStream = Readable.fromWeb(readableWebStream)

Specification Compliance

This section documents parts of the Fetch Standard that Undici does not support or does not fully implement.

Garbage Collection

• https://fetch.spec.whatwg.org/#garbage-collection

The Fetch Standard allows users to skip consuming the response body by relying on garbage collection to release connection resources. Undici does not do the same. Therefore, it is important to always either consume or cancel the response body.

Garbage collection in Node is less aggressive and deterministic (due to the lack of clear idle periods that browsers have through the rendering refresh rate) which means that leaving the release of connection resources to the garbage collector can lead to excessive connection usage, reduced performance (due to less connection re-use), and even stalls or deadlocks when running out of connections.

// Do
const headers = await fetch(url)
  .then(async res => {
    for await (const chunk of res.body) {
      // force consumption of body
    }
    return res.headers
  })

// Do not
const headers = await fetch(url)
  .then(res => res.headers)

However, if you want to get only headers, it might be better to use HEAD request method. Usage of this method will obviate the need for consumption or cancelling of the response body. See MDN - HTTP - HTTP request methods - HEAD for more details.

const headers = await fetch(url, { method: 'HEAD' })
  .then(res => res.headers)

Forbidden and Safelisted Header Names

• https://fetch.spec.whatwg.org/#cors-safelisted-response-header-name
• https://fetch.spec.whatwg.org/#forbidden-header-name
• https://fetch.spec.whatwg.org/#forbidden-response-header-name
• https://github.com/wintercg/fetch/issues/6

The Fetch Standard requires implementations to exclude certain headers from requests and responses. In browser environments, some headers are forbidden so the user agent remains in full control over them. In Undici, these constraints are removed to give more control to the user.

undici.upgrade([url, options]): Promise

Upgrade to a different protocol. See MDN - HTTP - Protocol upgrade mechanism for more details.

Arguments:

• url string | URL | UrlObject
• options UpgradeOptions
  • dispatcher Dispatcher - Default: getGlobalDispatcher
  • maxRedirections Integer - Default: 0
• callback (error: Error | null, data: UpgradeData) => void (optional)

Returns a promise with the result of the Dispatcher.upgrade method.

Calls options.dispatcher.upgrade(options).

See Dispatcher.upgrade for more details.

undici.setGlobalDispatcher(dispatcher)

• dispatcher Dispatcher

Sets the global dispatcher used by Common API Methods.

undici.getGlobalDispatcher()

Gets the global dispatcher used by Common API Methods.

Returns: Dispatcher

undici.setGlobalOrigin(origin)

• origin string | URL | undefined

Sets the global origin used in fetch.

If undefined is passed, the global origin will be reset. This will cause Response.redirect, new Request(), and fetch to throw an error when a relative path is passed.

setGlobalOrigin('http://localhost:3000')

const response = await fetch('/api/ping')

console.log(response.url) // http://localhost:3000/api/ping

undici.getGlobalOrigin()

Gets the global origin used in fetch.

Returns: URL

UrlObject

• port string | number (optional)
• path string (optional)
• pathname string (optional)
• hostname string (optional)
• origin string (optional)
• protocol string (optional)
• search string (optional)

Specification Compliance

This section documents parts of the HTTP/1.1 specification that Undici does not support or does not fully implement.

Expect

Undici does not support the Expect request header field. The request body is always immediately sent and the 100 Continue response will be ignored.

Refs: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-5.1.1

Pipelining

Undici will only use pipelining if configured with a pipelining factor greater than 1.

Undici always assumes that connections are persistent and will immediately pipeline requests, without checking whether the connection is persistent. Hence, automatic fallback to HTTP/1.0 or HTTP/1.1 without pipelining is not supported.

Undici will immediately pipeline when retrying requests after a failed connection. However, Undici will not retry the first remaining requests in the prior pipeline and instead error the corresponding callback/promise/stream.

Undici will abort all running requests in the pipeline when any of them are aborted.

• Refs: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2616#section-8.1.2.2
• Refs: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7230#section-6.3.2

Manual Redirect

Since it is not possible to manually follow an HTTP redirect on the server-side, Undici returns the actual response instead of an opaqueredirect filtered one when invoked with a manual redirect. This aligns fetch() with the other implementations in Deno and Cloudflare Workers.

Refs: https://fetch.spec.whatwg.org/#atomic-http-redirect-handling

Collaborators

• Daniele Belardi, https://www.npmjs.com/~dnlup
• Ethan Arrowood, https://www.npmjs.com/~ethan_arrowood
• Matteo Collina, https://www.npmjs.com/~matteo.collina
• Matthew Aitken, https://www.npmjs.com/~khaf
• Robert Nagy, https://www.npmjs.com/~ronag
• Szymon Marczak, https://www.npmjs.com/~szmarczak
• Tomas Della Vedova, https://www.npmjs.com/~delvedor

Releasers

• Ethan Arrowood, https://www.npmjs.com/~ethan_arrowood
• Matteo Collina, https://www.npmjs.com/~matteo.collina
• Robert Nagy, https://www.npmjs.com/~ronag

License

MIT