quick-start.md

Quick Start Guide

Getting and posting data with promises

The simplest GET request:

import got from 'got';

const url = 'https://httpbin.org/anything';
const response = await got(url);

The call returns a Promise<Response>. If the body contains JSON, it can be retrieved directly:

import got from 'got';

const url = 'https://httpbin.org/anything';
const data = await got(url).json();

The similar got.text method returns plain text.

All got methods accept an options object for passing extra configuration, such as headers:

import got from 'got';

const url = 'https://httpbin.org/anything';

const options = {
	headers: {
		'Custom-Header': 'Quick start',
	},
	timeout: {
		send: 3500
	},
};

const data = await got(url, options).json();

A POST request is very similar:

import got from 'got';

const url = 'https://httpbin.org/anything';

const options = {
	json: {
		documentName: 'Quick Start',
	},
};

const data = await got.post(url, options);

The request body is passed in the options object. The json property will automatically set headers accordingly. Custom headers can be added exactly as above.

Using streams

The Stream API allows to leverage Node.js Streams capabilities:

import fs from 'node:fs';
import {pipeline as streamPipeline} from 'node:stream/promises';
import got from 'got';

const url = 'https://httpbin.org/anything';

const options = {
	json: {
		documentName: 'Quick Start',
	},
};

const gotStream = got.stream.post(url, options);

const outStream = fs.createWriteStream('anything.json');

try {
	await streamPipeline(gotStream, outStream);
} catch (error) {
	console.error(error);
}

Options

Options can be set at the client level and reused in subsequent queries:

import got from 'got';

const options = {
	prefixUrl: 'https://httpbin.org',
	headers: {
		Authorization: getTokenFromVault(),
	},
};

const client = got.extend(options);

export default client;

Some noticeable common options are:

• searchParams: A query string object.
• prefixUrl: Prepended to query paths. Paths must be relative to prefix, i.e. not begin with a /.
• method: The HTTP method name.
• headers: Query headers.
• json: JSON body.
• form: A form query string object.

See the documentation for other options.

Errors

Both Promise and Stream APIs throw errors with metadata.

import got from 'got';

try {
	const data = await got.get('https://httpbin.org/status/404');
} catch (error) {
	console.error(error.response.statusCode);
}

import got from 'got';

const stream = got.stream
	.get('https://httpbin.org/status/404')
	.once('error', error => {
		console.error(error.response.statusCode);
	});

Miscellaneous

The HTTP method name can also be given as an option, this may be convenient when it is known only at runtime:

import got from 'got';

const url = 'https://httpbin.org/anything';

const method = 'POST';

const options = {
	method,
	json: {
		documentName: 'Quick Start',
	},
};

const data = await got(url, options);

For most apps, HTTP clients just do GET and POST queries (PUT, PATCH or DELETE methods work similarly). The following sections will give some pointers to more advanced usage.

Timeouts

By default, requests have no timeout. It is a good practice to set one:

import got from 'got';

const options = {
	timeout: {
		request: 10000,
	},
};

const client = got.extend(options);

export default client;

The above sets a global timeout of 10000 milliseconds for all requests issued by the exported client. Like all options, timeouts can also be set at the request level. See the timeout option.

Retries

A failed request is retried twice. The retry policy may be tuned with a retry options object.

import got from 'got';

const options = {
	retry: {
		limit: 5,
		errorCodes: [
			'ETIMEDOUT'
		],
	},
};

Retries with stream are a little trickier, see stream.on('retry', …).

Hooks

Hooks are custom functions called on some request events:

import got from 'got';

const logRetry = (error, retryCount) => {
	console.error(`Retrying after error ${error.code}, retry #: ${retryCount}`);
};

const options = {
	hooks: {
		beforeRetry: [
			logRetry,
		],
	},
};

const client = got.extend(options);

export default client;

Note that hooks are given as arrays, thus multiple hooks can be given. See documentation for other possible hooks.

Going further

There is a lot more to discover in the documentation and tips. Among others, Got can handle cookies, pagination, cache. Please read the documentation before implementing something that is already done by Got 😇.