JavaScript HTTP Client and Testing Libraries Comparison
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What's JavaScript HTTP Client and Testing Libraries?
These libraries are essential tools for developers working with HTTP requests and testing in JavaScript applications. Axios is a promise-based HTTP client that simplifies making requests to external APIs and handling responses. Frisby is a testing framework specifically designed for REST APIs, providing an easy way to write tests for API endpoints. Jest is a comprehensive testing framework that supports unit and integration testing, offering features like mocking and snapshot testing. Supertest is a library for testing HTTP servers, allowing developers to assert responses from their APIs in a straightforward manner. Together, these libraries enhance the development workflow by ensuring reliable API interactions and robust testing capabilities.
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axios
69,788,494
107,164
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19 days ago
MIT
jest
39,743,077
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MIT
supertest
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MIT
frisby
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73.3 kB
28
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BSD-3-Clause
Feature Comparison: axios vs jest vs supertest vs frisby
Ease of Use
axios:
Axios provides a simple API for making HTTP requests, allowing developers to easily send GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE requests. Its promise-based nature makes it intuitive to handle asynchronous operations, and it includes features like request cancellation and automatic JSON parsing.
jest:
Jest is known for its ease of setup and use, especially for React applications. It requires minimal configuration to get started, and its built-in assertions and mocking capabilities streamline the testing process, making it accessible for developers of all skill levels.
supertest:
Supertest offers a straightforward API for testing HTTP endpoints, allowing developers to write tests that assert the status codes, headers, and body of responses. Its chaining syntax makes it easy to read and write tests.
frisby:
Frisby's syntax is designed for simplicity, enabling developers to write tests for APIs with minimal boilerplate. It allows for easy chaining of methods to validate responses and provides clear error messages when tests fail, enhancing the developer experience.
Testing Capabilities
axios:
While Axios is primarily an HTTP client, it can be tested using Jest or other testing frameworks to ensure that API calls are made correctly and handle responses as expected. However, it does not provide built-in testing features.
jest:
Jest is a powerful testing framework that supports various types of tests, including unit tests, integration tests, and snapshot tests. It provides features like mocking, coverage reporting, and parallel test execution, making it a versatile choice for any JavaScript application.
supertest:
Supertest specializes in testing HTTP servers, allowing developers to easily assert the behavior of their APIs. It can be used in conjunction with other testing frameworks like Jest to provide a complete testing solution for server-side applications.
frisby:
Frisby is specifically designed for testing REST APIs, offering built-in methods for validating JSON responses, status codes, and headers. It simplifies the process of writing comprehensive tests for API endpoints, making it an excellent choice for API testing.
Integration
axios:
Axios integrates well with various JavaScript frameworks and libraries, making it a popular choice for frontend applications. Its compatibility with both Node.js and browser environments allows for seamless API interactions across different platforms.
jest:
Jest is highly extensible and can be integrated with various libraries and tools, including React Testing Library and Enzyme for testing React components. Its ecosystem supports a wide range of testing needs, making it a go-to choice for many developers.
supertest:
Supertest is often used in conjunction with testing frameworks like Jest or Mocha, allowing developers to write comprehensive tests for their HTTP servers. Its integration capabilities enhance the testing workflow for server-side applications.
frisby:
Frisby can be easily integrated into existing testing frameworks like Jest, allowing developers to leverage its API testing capabilities alongside other types of tests. This integration enhances the overall testing strategy for applications that rely heavily on APIs.
Performance
axios:
Axios is optimized for performance, supporting features like request cancellation and automatic retries. However, its performance can be impacted by the size of the response payload and the number of concurrent requests made.
jest:
Jest is designed for speed, running tests in parallel and providing features like test caching to improve performance. Its efficient test runner ensures that even large test suites execute quickly, making it suitable for continuous integration environments.
supertest:
Supertest is lightweight and designed for testing HTTP servers without adding significant overhead. Its performance is generally good, but it may be affected by the complexity of the API being tested and the number of assertions made.
frisby:
Frisby is efficient for testing APIs, but performance can vary based on the complexity of the tests and the number of assertions made. It is designed to be lightweight, ensuring that tests run quickly without excessive overhead.
Community and Support
axios:
Axios has a large community and extensive documentation, making it easy to find support and resources. Its popularity among developers ensures that it is regularly maintained and updated with new features and bug fixes.
jest:
Jest has a vibrant community and is widely used in the JavaScript ecosystem, particularly with React applications. Its extensive documentation, tutorials, and active community support make it easy to find help and resources.
supertest:
Supertest benefits from the popularity of the Node.js ecosystem and is often used alongside other testing libraries. Its documentation is clear, and community support is available through forums and GitHub.
frisby:
Frisby has a smaller community compared to other testing frameworks, but it is well-documented and provides examples to help developers get started. Support can be found through GitHub issues and community forums.
How to Choose: axios vs jest vs supertest vs frisby
axios:
Choose Axios if you need a simple and flexible HTTP client that supports promises and is easy to integrate into your applications. It is great for making API calls and handling responses with built-in features like interceptors and automatic JSON data transformation.
jest:
Choose Jest for a comprehensive testing solution that covers unit tests, integration tests, and snapshot testing. Its rich feature set, including built-in mocking and coverage reporting, makes it suitable for large applications requiring extensive testing.
supertest:
Choose Supertest if you need to test HTTP servers and want a straightforward way to assert responses. It integrates seamlessly with any testing framework and is particularly useful for testing Express applications.
frisby:
Choose Frisby if your primary focus is on testing REST APIs. It provides a fluent syntax for writing tests and includes built-in support for validating JSON responses, making it ideal for API-centric applications.
Similar Npm Packages to axios
axios is a popular promise-based HTTP client for both the browser and Node.js. It simplifies making HTTP requests and handling responses, providing a clean and intuitive API. Axios supports features such as request and response interception, automatic JSON data transformation, and the ability to cancel requests. It is widely used in web applications for interacting with RESTful APIs and is known for its ease of use and flexibility. However, there are several alternatives to axios that developers may consider based on their specific needs:
node-fetch is a lightweight module that brings window.fetch to Node.js. It is a simple and minimalistic implementation of the Fetch API, allowing developers to make HTTP requests using a familiar API. Node-fetch is particularly useful for server-side applications or when working with APIs in a Node.js environment. It supports promises and is a great choice for those who prefer the Fetch API's syntax and behavior over traditional XMLHttpRequest or other libraries.
request was once one of the most popular HTTP request libraries for Node.js. It provided a simple and flexible API for making HTTP requests and handling responses. However, it has been deprecated and is no longer actively maintained. While it may still be found in legacy projects, developers are encouraged to use more modern alternatives like axios or node-fetch for new applications.
superagent is another powerful HTTP request library for Node.js and browsers. It offers a flexible and expressive API for making HTTP requests, supporting features like chaining, automatic content type handling, and file uploads. Superagent is particularly useful for developers who need a more feature-rich alternative to axios or want to work with a library that provides a more expressive syntax.
jest is a popular JavaScript testing framework developed by Facebook. It is designed to work seamlessly with React applications, but it can also be used for testing any JavaScript code. Jest provides a rich set of features, including zero-config setup, snapshot testing, mocking capabilities, and a powerful assertion library. Its focus on simplicity and ease of use makes it a preferred choice for many developers looking to implement unit and integration tests in their applications.
While Jest is a robust testing solution, there are several alternatives available in the JavaScript ecosystem. Here are a few noteworthy options:
ava is a test runner that is known for its minimalistic approach and support for asynchronous testing. It runs tests concurrently, which can lead to faster execution times, especially in larger test suites. Ava's syntax is straightforward, making it easy to write and maintain tests. If you prefer a simple and fast testing framework that supports modern JavaScript features, Ava is a great choice.
jasmine is one of the oldest testing frameworks in the JavaScript ecosystem. It provides a behavior-driven development (BDD) style of testing, allowing developers to write tests in a clear and descriptive manner. Jasmine comes with built-in assertions and spies, making it suitable for unit testing. If you are looking for a well-established framework with a rich set of features and a focus on BDD, Jasmine is worth considering.
mocha is a flexible testing framework that allows developers to choose their assertion libraries and mocking tools. It supports both BDD and TDD (test-driven development) styles and can be easily integrated with other libraries like Chai for assertions and Sinon for mocking. Mocha's flexibility makes it a popular choice for developers who want to customize their testing setup according to their needs.
supertest is a popular testing library for HTTP assertions in Node.js applications. It is commonly used in conjunction with testing frameworks like Mocha or Jest to test APIs. supertest allows developers to make HTTP requests to their application and assert the responses, making it easier to ensure that the API behaves as expected. While supertest is a powerful tool for testing HTTP endpoints, there are alternatives that can also be used for similar purposes. Here are a few notable alternatives:
axios is a promise-based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. While it is primarily used for making HTTP requests, it can also be utilized in testing scenarios. By using axios in conjunction with a testing framework, developers can simulate API calls and verify the responses. Although axios is not specifically designed for testing, its simplicity and ease of use make it a viable option for testing HTTP requests in applications.
fetch-mock is a library that allows developers to mock the Fetch API for testing purposes. It enables you to intercept and respond to HTTP requests made with the Fetch API, making it easy to test how your application handles different responses. fetch-mock is particularly useful when you want to isolate your tests from real API calls, ensuring that your tests are reliable and do not depend on external services.
jest-fetch-mock is a library specifically designed for use with Jest, a popular testing framework. It provides a simple way to mock the Fetch API in Jest tests, allowing developers to control the responses returned by fetch calls. This makes it easy to test various scenarios without making actual network requests. If you are using Jest for your testing needs and want to mock fetch calls, jest-fetch-mock is a great choice.
frisby is a testing framework specifically designed for testing REST APIs in JavaScript applications. It provides a simple and expressive syntax for writing tests, making it easier to validate API responses and ensure that they meet expected criteria. Frisby is built on top of jasmine and superagent, allowing developers to leverage the power of these libraries while focusing on API testing. While Frisby is a robust choice for API testing, there are several alternatives available that cater to different testing needs. Here are a few notable ones:
axios is a popular promise-based HTTP client for making requests from both the browser and Node.js. While not a testing framework per se, it can be used in conjunction with testing libraries to make API calls and validate responses. Developers often use axios to perform requests in their tests, allowing them to assert the correctness of API behavior. If you are looking for a versatile HTTP client that can be easily integrated into your testing workflow, axios is a solid choice.
jest is a widely-used testing framework for JavaScript applications, particularly those built with React. It provides a comprehensive suite of features for writing unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests. While Jest is not specifically focused on API testing, it can be used alongside libraries like axios or supertest to test APIs effectively. If you are already using Jest for your application’s testing needs, you can easily incorporate API tests into your existing test suite.
supertest is a popular testing library for HTTP assertions in Node.js applications. It is particularly useful for testing Express applications and provides a simple API for making requests and asserting responses. Supertest allows developers to test their APIs in a straightforward manner, making it a great alternative to Frisby for those who prefer a more hands-on approach to API testing. If you are building a Node.js application and need to test your API endpoints, supertest is an excellent option.
For some bundlers and some ES6 linters you may need to do the following:
import { default as axios } from 'axios';
For cases where something went wrong when trying to import a module into a custom or legacy environment,
you can try importing the module package directly:
Note: CommonJS usage
In order to gain the TypeScript typings (for intellisense / autocomplete) while using CommonJS imports with require(), use the following approach:
import axios from 'axios';
//const axios = require('axios'); // legacy way
// Make a request for a user with a given ID
axios.get('/user?ID=12345')
.then(function (response) {
// handle success
console.log(response);
})
.catch(function (error) {
// handle error
console.log(error);
})
.finally(function () {
// always executed
});
// Optionally the request above could also be done as
axios.get('/user', {
params: {
ID: 12345
}
})
.then(function (response) {
console.log(response);
})
.catch(function (error) {
console.log(error);
})
.finally(function () {
// always executed
});
// Want to use async/await? Add the `async` keyword to your outer function/method.
async function getUser() {
try {
const response = await axios.get('/user?ID=12345');
console.log(response);
} catch (error) {
console.error(error);
}
}
Note: async/await is part of ECMAScript 2017 and is not supported in Internet
Explorer and older browsers, so use with caution.
The available instance methods are listed below. The specified config will be merged with the instance config.
axios#request(config)
axios#get(url[, config])
axios#delete(url[, config])
axios#head(url[, config])
axios#options(url[, config])
axios#post(url[, data[, config]])
axios#put(url[, data[, config]])
axios#patch(url[, data[, config]])
axios#getUri([config])
Request Config
These are the available config options for making requests. Only the url is required. Requests will default to GET if method is not specified.
{
// `url` is the server URL that will be used for the request
url: '/user',
// `method` is the request method to be used when making the request
method: 'get', // default
// `baseURL` will be prepended to `url` unless `url` is absolute and option `allowAbsoluteUrls` is set to true.
// It can be convenient to set `baseURL` for an instance of axios to pass relative URLs
// to methods of that instance.
baseURL: 'https://some-domain.com/api/',
// `allowAbsoluteUrls` determines whether or not absolute URLs will override a configured `baseUrl`.
// When set to true (default), absolute values for `url` will override `baseUrl`.
// When set to false, absolute values for `url` will always be prepended by `baseUrl`.
allowAbsoluteUrls: true,
// `transformRequest` allows changes to the request data before it is sent to the server
// This is only applicable for request methods 'PUT', 'POST', 'PATCH' and 'DELETE'
// The last function in the array must return a string or an instance of Buffer, ArrayBuffer,
// FormData or Stream
// You may modify the headers object.
transformRequest: [function (data, headers) {
// Do whatever you want to transform the data
return data;
}],
// `transformResponse` allows changes to the response data to be made before
// it is passed to then/catch
transformResponse: [function (data) {
// Do whatever you want to transform the data
return data;
}],
// `headers` are custom headers to be sent
headers: {'X-Requested-With': 'XMLHttpRequest'},
// `params` are the URL parameters to be sent with the request
// Must be a plain object or a URLSearchParams object
params: {
ID: 12345
},
// `paramsSerializer` is an optional config that allows you to customize serializing `params`.
paramsSerializer: {
// Custom encoder function which sends key/value pairs in an iterative fashion.
encode?: (param: string): string => { /* Do custom operations here and return transformed string */ },
// Custom serializer function for the entire parameter. Allows user to mimic pre 1.x behaviour.
serialize?: (params: Record<string, any>, options?: ParamsSerializerOptions ),
// Configuration for formatting array indexes in the params.
indexes: false // Three available options: (1) indexes: null (leads to no brackets), (2) (default) indexes: false (leads to empty brackets), (3) indexes: true (leads to brackets with indexes).
},
// `data` is the data to be sent as the request body
// Only applicable for request methods 'PUT', 'POST', 'DELETE , and 'PATCH'
// When no `transformRequest` is set, must be of one of the following types:
// - string, plain object, ArrayBuffer, ArrayBufferView, URLSearchParams
// - Browser only: FormData, File, Blob
// - Node only: Stream, Buffer, FormData (form-data package)
data: {
firstName: 'Fred'
},
// syntax alternative to send data into the body
// method post
// only the value is sent, not the key
data: 'Country=Brasil&City=Belo Horizonte',
// `timeout` specifies the number of milliseconds before the request times out.
// If the request takes longer than `timeout`, the request will be aborted.
timeout: 1000, // default is `0` (no timeout)
// `withCredentials` indicates whether or not cross-site Access-Control requests
// should be made using credentials
withCredentials: false, // default
// `adapter` allows custom handling of requests which makes testing easier.
// Return a promise and supply a valid response (see lib/adapters/README.md)
adapter: function (config) {
/* ... */
},
// Also, you can set the name of the built-in adapter, or provide an array with their names
// to choose the first available in the environment
adapter: 'xhr', // 'fetch' | 'http' | ['xhr', 'http', 'fetch']
// `auth` indicates that HTTP Basic auth should be used, and supplies credentials.
// This will set an `Authorization` header, overwriting any existing
// `Authorization` custom headers you have set using `headers`.
// Please note that only HTTP Basic auth is configurable through this parameter.
// For Bearer tokens and such, use `Authorization` custom headers instead.
auth: {
username: 'janedoe',
password: 's00pers3cret'
},
// `responseType` indicates the type of data that the server will respond with
// options are: 'arraybuffer', 'document', 'json', 'text', 'stream'
// browser only: 'blob'
responseType: 'json', // default
// `responseEncoding` indicates encoding to use for decoding responses (Node.js only)
// Note: Ignored for `responseType` of 'stream' or client-side requests
// options are: 'ascii', 'ASCII', 'ansi', 'ANSI', 'binary', 'BINARY', 'base64', 'BASE64', 'base64url',
// 'BASE64URL', 'hex', 'HEX', 'latin1', 'LATIN1', 'ucs-2', 'UCS-2', 'ucs2', 'UCS2', 'utf-8', 'UTF-8',
// 'utf8', 'UTF8', 'utf16le', 'UTF16LE'
responseEncoding: 'utf8', // default
// `xsrfCookieName` is the name of the cookie to use as a value for xsrf token
xsrfCookieName: 'XSRF-TOKEN', // default
// `xsrfHeaderName` is the name of the http header that carries the xsrf token value
xsrfHeaderName: 'X-XSRF-TOKEN', // default
// `undefined` (default) - set XSRF header only for the same origin requests
withXSRFToken: boolean | undefined | ((config: InternalAxiosRequestConfig) => boolean | undefined),
// `onUploadProgress` allows handling of progress events for uploads
// browser & node.js
onUploadProgress: function ({loaded, total, progress, bytes, estimated, rate, upload = true}) {
// Do whatever you want with the Axios progress event
},
// `onDownloadProgress` allows handling of progress events for downloads
// browser & node.js
onDownloadProgress: function ({loaded, total, progress, bytes, estimated, rate, download = true}) {
// Do whatever you want with the Axios progress event
},
// `maxContentLength` defines the max size of the http response content in bytes allowed in node.js
maxContentLength: 2000,
// `maxBodyLength` (Node only option) defines the max size of the http request content in bytes allowed
maxBodyLength: 2000,
// `validateStatus` defines whether to resolve or reject the promise for a given
// HTTP response status code. If `validateStatus` returns `true` (or is set to `null`
// or `undefined`), the promise will be resolved; otherwise, the promise will be
// rejected.
validateStatus: function (status) {
return status >= 200 && status < 300; // default
},
// `maxRedirects` defines the maximum number of redirects to follow in node.js.
// If set to 0, no redirects will be followed.
maxRedirects: 21, // default
// `beforeRedirect` defines a function that will be called before redirect.
// Use this to adjust the request options upon redirecting,
// to inspect the latest response headers,
// or to cancel the request by throwing an error
// If maxRedirects is set to 0, `beforeRedirect` is not used.
beforeRedirect: (options, { headers }) => {
if (options.hostname === "example.com") {
options.auth = "user:password";
}
},
// `socketPath` defines a UNIX Socket to be used in node.js.
// e.g. '/var/run/docker.sock' to send requests to the docker daemon.
// Only either `socketPath` or `proxy` can be specified.
// If both are specified, `socketPath` is used.
socketPath: null, // default
// `transport` determines the transport method that will be used to make the request.
// If defined, it will be used. Otherwise, if `maxRedirects` is 0,
// the default `http` or `https` library will be used, depending on the protocol specified in `protocol`.
// Otherwise, the `httpFollow` or `httpsFollow` library will be used, again depending on the protocol,
// which can handle redirects.
transport: undefined, // default
// `httpAgent` and `httpsAgent` define a custom agent to be used when performing http
// and https requests, respectively, in node.js. This allows options to be added like
// `keepAlive` that are not enabled by default before Node.js v19.0.0. After Node.js
// v19.0.0, you no longer need to customize the agent to enable `keepAlive` because
// `http.globalAgent` has `keepAlive` enabled by default.
httpAgent: new http.Agent({ keepAlive: true }),
httpsAgent: new https.Agent({ keepAlive: true }),
// `proxy` defines the hostname, port, and protocol of the proxy server.
// You can also define your proxy using the conventional `http_proxy` and
// `https_proxy` environment variables. If you are using environment variables
// for your proxy configuration, you can also define a `no_proxy` environment
// variable as a comma-separated list of domains that should not be proxied.
// Use `false` to disable proxies, ignoring environment variables.
// `auth` indicates that HTTP Basic auth should be used to connect to the proxy, and
// supplies credentials.
// This will set an `Proxy-Authorization` header, overwriting any existing
// `Proxy-Authorization` custom headers you have set using `headers`.
// If the proxy server uses HTTPS, then you must set the protocol to `https`.
proxy: {
protocol: 'https',
host: '127.0.0.1',
// hostname: '127.0.0.1' // Takes precedence over 'host' if both are defined
port: 9000,
auth: {
username: 'mikeymike',
password: 'rapunz3l'
}
},
// `cancelToken` specifies a cancel token that can be used to cancel the request
// (see Cancellation section below for details)
cancelToken: new CancelToken(function (cancel) {
}),
// an alternative way to cancel Axios requests using AbortController
signal: new AbortController().signal,
// `decompress` indicates whether or not the response body should be decompressed
// automatically. If set to `true` will also remove the 'content-encoding' header
// from the responses objects of all decompressed responses
// - Node only (XHR cannot turn off decompression)
decompress: true, // default
// `insecureHTTPParser` boolean.
// Indicates where to use an insecure HTTP parser that accepts invalid HTTP headers.
// This may allow interoperability with non-conformant HTTP implementations.
// Using the insecure parser should be avoided.
// see options https://nodejs.org/dist/latest-v12.x/docs/api/http.html#http_http_request_url_options_callback
// see also https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/february-2020-security-releases/#strict-http-header-parsing-none
insecureHTTPParser: undefined, // default
// transitional options for backward compatibility that may be removed in the newer versions
transitional: {
// silent JSON parsing mode
// `true` - ignore JSON parsing errors and set response.data to null if parsing failed (old behaviour)
// `false` - throw SyntaxError if JSON parsing failed (Note: responseType must be set to 'json')
silentJSONParsing: true, // default value for the current Axios version
// try to parse the response string as JSON even if `responseType` is not 'json'
forcedJSONParsing: true,
// throw ETIMEDOUT error instead of generic ECONNABORTED on request timeouts
clarifyTimeoutError: false,
},
env: {
// The FormData class to be used to automatically serialize the payload into a FormData object
FormData: window?.FormData || global?.FormData
},
formSerializer: {
visitor: (value, key, path, helpers) => {}; // custom visitor function to serialize form values
dots: boolean; // use dots instead of brackets format
metaTokens: boolean; // keep special endings like {} in parameter key
indexes: boolean; // array indexes format null - no brackets, false - empty brackets, true - brackets with indexes
},
// http adapter only (node.js)
maxRate: [
100 * 1024, // 100KB/s upload limit,
100 * 1024 // 100KB/s download limit
]
}
Response Schema
The response for a request contains the following information.
{
// `data` is the response that was provided by the server
data: {},
// `status` is the HTTP status code from the server response
status: 200,
// `statusText` is the HTTP status message from the server response
statusText: 'OK',
// `headers` the HTTP headers that the server responded with
// All header names are lowercase and can be accessed using the bracket notation.
// Example: `response.headers['content-type']`
headers: {},
// `config` is the config that was provided to `axios` for the request
config: {},
// `request` is the request that generated this response
// It is the last ClientRequest instance in node.js (in redirects)
// and an XMLHttpRequest instance in the browser
request: {}
}
When using then, you will receive the response as follows:
When using catch, or passing a rejection callback as second parameter of then, the response will be available through the error object as explained in the Handling Errors section.
Config Defaults
You can specify config defaults that will be applied to every request.
Global axios defaults
axios.defaults.baseURL = 'https://api.example.com';
// Important: If axios is used with multiple domains, the AUTH_TOKEN will be sent to all of them.
// See below for an example using Custom instance defaults instead.
axios.defaults.headers.common['Authorization'] = AUTH_TOKEN;
axios.defaults.headers.post['Content-Type'] = 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded';
Custom instance defaults
// Set config defaults when creating the instance
const instance = axios.create({
baseURL: 'https://api.example.com'
});
// Alter defaults after instance has been created
instance.defaults.headers.common['Authorization'] = AUTH_TOKEN;
Config order of precedence
Config will be merged with an order of precedence. The order is library defaults found in lib/defaults/index.js, then defaults property of the instance, and finally config argument for the request. The latter will take precedence over the former. Here's an example.
// Create an instance using the config defaults provided by the library
// At this point the timeout config value is `0` as is the default for the library
const instance = axios.create();
// Override timeout default for the library
// Now all requests using this instance will wait 2.5 seconds before timing out
instance.defaults.timeout = 2500;
// Override timeout for this request as it's known to take a long time
instance.get('/longRequest', {
timeout: 5000
});
Interceptors
You can intercept requests or responses before they are handled by then or catch.
const instance = axios.create();
// Add a request interceptor
instance.interceptors.request.use(function (config) {
// Do something before request is sent
return config;
}, function (error) {
// Do something with request error
return Promise.reject(error);
});
// Add a response interceptor
instance.interceptors.response.use(function (response) {
// Any status code that lie within the range of 2xx cause this function to trigger
// Do something with response data
return response;
}, function (error) {
// Any status codes that falls outside the range of 2xx cause this function to trigger
// Do something with response error
return Promise.reject(error);
});
If you need to remove an interceptor later you can.
When you add request interceptors, they are presumed to be asynchronous by default. This can cause a delay
in the execution of your axios request when the main thread is blocked (a promise is created under the hood for
the interceptor and your request gets put on the bottom of the call stack). If your request interceptors are synchronous you can add a flag
to the options object that will tell axios to run the code synchronously and avoid any delays in request execution.
axios.interceptors.request.use(function (config) {
config.headers.test = 'I am only a header!';
return config;
}, null, { synchronous: true });
If you want to execute a particular interceptor based on a runtime check,
you can add a runWhen function to the options object. The request interceptor will not be executed if and only if the return
of runWhen is false. The function will be called with the config
object (don't forget that you can bind your own arguments to it as well.) This can be handy when you have an
asynchronous request interceptor that only needs to run at certain times.
There are many different axios error messages that can appear that can provide basic information about the specifics of the error and where opportunities may lie in debugging.
The general structure of axios errors is as follows:
| Property | Definition |
| -------- | ---------- |
| message | A quick summary of the error message and the status it failed with. |
| name | This defines where the error originated from. For axios, it will always be an 'AxiosError'. |
| stack | Provides the stack trace of the error. |
| config | An axios config object with specific instance configurations defined by the user from when the request was made |
| code | Represents an axios identified error. The table below lists out specific definitions for internal axios error. |
| status | HTTP response status code. See here for common HTTP response status code meanings.
Below is a list of potential axios identified error:
| Code | Definition |
| --- | --- |
| ERR_BAD_OPTION_VALUE | Invalid value provided in axios configuration. |
| ERR_BAD_OPTION | Invalid option provided in axios configuration. |
| ERR_NOT_SUPPORT | Feature or method not supported in the current axios environment. |
| ERR_DEPRECATED | Deprecated feature or method used in axios. |
| ERR_INVALID_URL | Invalid URL provided for axios request. |
| ECONNABORTED | Typically indicates that the request has been timed out (unless transitional.clarifyTimeoutError is set) or aborted by the browser or its plugin. |
| ERR_CANCELED | Feature or method is canceled explicitly by the user using an AbortSignal (or a CancelToken). |
| ETIMEDOUT | Request timed out due to exceeding default axios timelimit. transitional.clarifyTimeoutError must be set to true, otherwise a generic ECONNABORTED error will be thrown instead. |
| ERR_NETWORK | Network-related issue. In the browser, this error can also be caused by a CORS or Mixed Content policy violation. The browser does not allow the JS code to clarify the real reason for the error caused by security issues, so please check the console. |
| ERR_FR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS | Request is redirected too many times; exceeds max redirects specified in axios configuration. |
| ERR_BAD_RESPONSE | Response cannot be parsed properly or is in an unexpected format. Usually related to a response with 5xx status code. |
| ERR_BAD_REQUEST | The request has an unexpected format or is missing required parameters. Usually related to a response with 4xx status code. |
Handling Errors
the default behavior is to reject every response that returns with a status code that falls out of the range of 2xx and treat it as an error.
axios.get('/user/12345')
.catch(function (error) {
if (error.response) {
// The request was made and the server responded with a status code
// that falls out of the range of 2xx
console.log(error.response.data);
console.log(error.response.status);
console.log(error.response.headers);
} else if (error.request) {
// The request was made but no response was received
// `error.request` is an instance of XMLHttpRequest in the browser and an instance of
// http.ClientRequest in node.js
console.log(error.request);
} else {
// Something happened in setting up the request that triggered an Error
console.log('Error', error.message);
}
console.log(error.config);
});
Using the validateStatus config option, you can override the default condition (status >= 200 && status < 300) and define HTTP code(s) that should throw an error.
axios.get('/user/12345', {
validateStatus: function (status) {
return status < 500; // Resolve only if the status code is less than 500
}
})
Using toJSON you get an object with more information about the HTTP error.
This API is deprecated since v0.22.0 and shouldn't be used in new projects
You can create a cancel token using the CancelToken.source factory as shown below:
const CancelToken = axios.CancelToken;
const source = CancelToken.source();
axios.get('/user/12345', {
cancelToken: source.token
}).catch(function (thrown) {
if (axios.isCancel(thrown)) {
console.log('Request canceled', thrown.message);
} else {
// handle error
}
});
axios.post('/user/12345', {
name: 'new name'
}, {
cancelToken: source.token
})
// cancel the request (the message parameter is optional)
source.cancel('Operation canceled by the user.');
You can also create a cancel token by passing an executor function to the CancelToken constructor:
const CancelToken = axios.CancelToken;
let cancel;
axios.get('/user/12345', {
cancelToken: new CancelToken(function executor(c) {
// An executor function receives a cancel function as a parameter
cancel = c;
})
});
// cancel the request
cancel();
Note: you can cancel several requests with the same cancel token/abort controller.
If a cancellation token is already cancelled at the moment of starting an Axios request, then the request is cancelled immediately, without any attempts to make a real request.
During the transition period, you can use both cancellation APIs, even for the same request:
If your backend body-parser (like body-parser of express.js) supports nested objects decoding, you will get the same object on the server-side automatically
var app = express();
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true })); // support encoded bodies
app.post('/', function (req, res, next) {
// echo body as JSON
res.send(JSON.stringify(req.body));
});
server = app.listen(3000);
Using multipart/form-data format
FormData
To send the data as a multipart/formdata you need to pass a formData instance as a payload.
Setting the Content-Type header is not required as Axios guesses it based on the payload type.
const formData = new FormData();
formData.append('foo', 'bar');
axios.post('https://httpbin.org/post', formData);
In node.js, you can use the form-data library as follows:
const FormData = require('form-data');
const form = new FormData();
form.append('my_field', 'my value');
form.append('my_buffer', new Buffer(10));
form.append('my_file', fs.createReadStream('/foo/bar.jpg'));
axios.post('https://example.com', form)
🆕 Automatic serialization to FormData
Starting from v0.27.0, Axios supports automatic object serialization to a FormData object if the request Content-Type
header is set to multipart/form-data.
The following request will submit the data in a FormData format (Browser & Node.js):
Axios FormData serializer supports some special endings to perform the following operations:
{} - serialize the value with JSON.stringify
[] - unwrap the array-like object as separate fields with the same key
Note: unwrap/expand operation will be used by default on arrays and FileList objects
FormData serializer supports additional options via config.formSerializer: object property to handle rare cases:
visitor: Function - user-defined visitor function that will be called recursively to serialize the data object
to a FormData object by following custom rules.
dots: boolean = false - use dot notation instead of brackets to serialize arrays and objects;
metaTokens: boolean = true - add the special ending (e.g user{}: '{"name": "John"}') in the FormData key.
The back-end body-parser could potentially use this meta-information to automatically parse the value as JSON.
indexes: null|false|true = false - controls how indexes will be added to unwrapped keys of flat array-like objects.
Axios supports the following shortcut methods: postForm, putForm, patchForm
which are just the corresponding http methods with the Content-Type header preset to multipart/form-data.
Sending Blobs/Files as JSON (base64) is not currently supported.
🆕 Progress capturing
Axios supports both browser and node environments to capture request upload/download progress.
The frequency of progress events is forced to be limited to 3 times per second.
await axios.post(url, data, {
onUploadProgress: function (axiosProgressEvent) {
/*{
loaded: number;
total?: number;
progress?: number; // in range [0..1]
bytes: number; // how many bytes have been transferred since the last trigger (delta)
estimated?: number; // estimated time in seconds
rate?: number; // upload speed in bytes
upload: true; // upload sign
}*/
},
onDownloadProgress: function (axiosProgressEvent) {
/*{
loaded: number;
total?: number;
progress?: number;
bytes: number;
estimated?: number;
rate?: number; // download speed in bytes
download: true; // download sign
}*/
}
});
You can also track stream upload/download progress in node.js:
Note:
Capturing FormData upload progress is not currently supported in node.js environments.
⚠️ Warning
It is recommended to disable redirects by setting maxRedirects: 0 to upload the stream in the node.js environment,
as follow-redirects package will buffer the entire stream in RAM without following the "backpressure" algorithm.
🆕 Rate limiting
Download and upload rate limits can only be set for the http adapter (node.js):
Axios has its own AxiosHeaders class to manipulate headers using a Map-like API that guarantees caseless work.
Although HTTP is case-insensitive in headers, Axios will retain the case of the original header for stylistic reasons
and for a workaround when servers mistakenly consider the header's case.
The old approach of directly manipulating headers object is still available, but deprecated and not recommended for future usage.
Working with headers
An AxiosHeaders object instance can contain different types of internal values. that control setting and merging logic.
The final headers object with string values is obtained by Axios by calling the toJSON method.
Note: By JSON here we mean an object consisting only of string values intended to be sent over the network.
The header value can be one of the following types:
string - normal string value that will be sent to the server
null - skip header when rendering to JSON
false - skip header when rendering to JSON, additionally indicates that set method must be called with rewrite option set to true
to overwrite this value (Axios uses this internally to allow users to opt out of installing certain headers like User-Agent or Content-Type)
undefined - value is not set
Note: The header value is considered set if it is not equal to undefined.
The headers object is always initialized inside interceptors and transformers:
axios.interceptors.request.use((request: InternalAxiosRequestConfig) => {
request.headers.set('My-header', 'value');
request.headers.set({
"My-set-header1": "my-set-value1",
"My-set-header2": "my-set-value2"
});
request.headers.set('User-Agent', false); // disable subsequent setting the header by Axios
request.headers.setContentType('text/plain');
request.headers['My-set-header2'] = 'newValue' // direct access is deprecated
return request;
}
);
You can iterate over an AxiosHeaders instance using a for...of statement:
const headers = new AxiosHeaders({
foo: '1',
bar: '2',
baz: '3'
});
for(const [header, value] of headers) {
console.log(header, value);
}
// foo 1
// bar 2
// baz 3
Returns the internal value of the header. It can take an extra argument to parse the header's value with RegExp.exec,
matcher function or internal key-value parser.
Returns true if at least one header has been cleared.
AxiosHeaders#normalize(format);
If the headers object was changed directly, it can have duplicates with the same name but in different cases.
This method normalizes the headers object by combining duplicate keys into one.
Axios uses this method internally after calling each interceptor.
Set format to true for converting headers name to lowercase and capitalize the initial letters (cOntEnt-type => Content-Type)
Merges the instance with targets into a new AxiosHeaders instance. If the target is a string, it will be parsed as RAW HTTP headers.
Returns a new AxiosHeaders instance.
AxiosHeaders#toJSON(asStrings?)
toJSON(asStrings?: boolean): RawAxiosHeaders;
Resolve all internal headers values into a new null prototype object.
Set asStrings to true to resolve arrays as a string containing all elements, separated by commas.
Returns a new AxiosHeaders instance created from the raw headers passed in,
or simply returns the given headers object if it's an AxiosHeaders instance.
Fetch adapter was introduced in v1.7.0. By default, it will be used if xhr and http adapters are not available in the build,
or not supported by the environment.
To use it by default, it must be selected explicitly:
The adapter supports the same functionality as xhr adapter, including upload and download progress capturing.
Also, it supports additional response types such as stream and formdata (if supported by the environment).
Semver
Until axios reaches a 1.0 release, breaking changes will be released with a new minor version. For example 0.5.1, and 0.5.4 will have the same API, but 0.6.0 will have breaking changes.
Promises
axios depends on a native ES6 Promise implementation to be supported.
If your environment doesn't support ES6 Promises, you can polyfill.
TypeScript
axios includes TypeScript definitions and a type guard for axios errors.
let user: User = null;
try {
const { data } = await axios.get('/user?ID=12345');
user = data.userDetails;
} catch (error) {
if (axios.isAxiosError(error)) {
handleAxiosError(error);
} else {
handleUnexpectedError(error);
}
}
Because axios dual publishes with an ESM default export and a CJS module.exports, there are some caveats.
The recommended setting is to use "moduleResolution": "node16" (this is implied by "module": "node16"). Note that this requires TypeScript 4.7 or greater.
If use ESM, your settings should be fine.
If you compile TypeScript to CJS and you can’t use "moduleResolution": "node 16", you have to enable esModuleInterop.
If you use TypeScript to type check CJS JavaScript code, your only option is to use "moduleResolution": "node16".
Online one-click setup
You can use Gitpod, an online IDE(which is free for Open Source) for contributing or running the examples online.
axios is heavily inspired by the $http service provided in AngularJS. Ultimately axios is an effort to provide a standalone $http-like service for use outside of AngularJS.