diff --git a/cylc/uiserver/client.py b/cylc/uiserver/client.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6c54e00f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cylc/uiserver/client.py
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+# Copyright (C) NIWA & British Crown (Met Office) & Contributors.
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+
+import json
+import os
+import requests
+from shutil import which
+import socket
+import sys
+from typing import Any, Optional, Union, Dict
+
+from cylc.flow import LOG
+from cylc.flow.exceptions import ClientError, ClientTimeout
+from cylc.flow.network import encode_
+from cylc.flow.network.client import WorkflowRuntimeClientBase
+from cylc.flow.network.client_factory import CommsMeth
+
+from cylc.uiserver.app import API_INFO_FILE
+
+
+class WorkflowRuntimeClient(WorkflowRuntimeClientBase):
+    """Client to UI server communication using HTTP."""
+
+    DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 10  # seconds
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        workflow: str,
+        host: Optional[str] = None,
+        port: Union[int, str, None] = None,
+        timeout: Union[float, str, None] = None,
+    ):
+        self.timeout = timeout
+        # gather header info post start
+        self.header = self.get_header()
+
+    async def async_request(
+        self,
+        command: str,
+        args: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None,
+        timeout: Optional[float] = None,
+        req_meta: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None
+    ) -> object:
+        """Send an asynchronous request using asyncio.
+
+        Has the same arguments and return values as ``serial_request``.
+
+        """
+        if not args:
+            args = {}
+
+        with open(API_INFO_FILE, "r") as api_file:
+            api_info = json.loads(api_file.read())
+
+        # send message
+        msg: Dict[str, Any] = {'command': command, 'args': args}
+        msg.update(self.header)
+        # add the request metadata
+        if req_meta:
+            msg['meta'].update(req_meta)
+
+        LOG.debug('http:send %s', msg)
+
+        try:
+            res = requests.post(
+                api_info["url"] + 'cylc/graphql',
+                headers={
+                    'Authorization': f'token {api_info["token"]}',
+                    'meta': encode_(msg.get('meta', {})),
+                },
+                json={
+                    'query': args['request_string'],
+                    'variables': args.get('variables', {}),
+                },
+                timeout=self.timeout
+            )
+            res.raise_for_status()
+        except requests.ConnectTimeout:
+            raise ClientTimeout(
+                'Timeout waiting for server response.'
+                ' This could be due to network or server issues.'
+                ' Check the UI Server log.'
+            )
+        except requests.ConnectionError as exc:
+            raise ClientError(
+                'Unable to connect to UI Server or Hub.',
+                f'{exc}'
+            )
+
+        response = res.json()
+        LOG.debug('http:recv %s', response)
+
+        try:
+            return response['data']
+        except KeyError:
+            error = response.get(
+                'error',
+                {'message': f'Received invalid response: {response}'},
+            )
+            raise ClientError(
+                error.get('message'),
+                error.get('traceback'),
+            )
+
+    def get_header(self) -> dict:
+        """Return "header" data to attach to each request for traceability.
+
+        Returns:
+            dict: dictionary with the header information, such as
+                program and hostname.
+        """
+        host = socket.gethostname()
+        if len(sys.argv) > 1:
+            cmd = sys.argv[1]
+        else:
+            cmd = sys.argv[0]
+
+        cylc_executable_location = which("cylc")
+        if cylc_executable_location:
+            cylc_bin_dir = os.path.abspath(
+                os.path.join(cylc_executable_location, os.pardir)
+            )
+            if not cylc_bin_dir.endswith("/"):
+                cylc_bin_dir = f"{cylc_bin_dir}/"
+
+            if cmd.startswith(cylc_bin_dir):
+                cmd = cmd.replace(cylc_bin_dir, '')
+        return {
+            'meta': {
+                'prog': cmd,
+                'host': host,
+                'comms_method':
+                    os.getenv(
+                        "CLIENT_COMMS_METH",
+                        default=CommsMeth.HTTP.value
+                    )
+            }
+        }
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 2269d913..f645768f 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ install_requires =
     jupyter_server>=1.10.2
     tornado>=6.1.0  # matches jupyter_server value
     traitlets>=5.2.1  # required for logging_config (5.2.0 had bugs)
+    requests==2.28.*
 
     # Transitive dependencies that we directly (lightly) use:
     pyzmq