1142

How can I make an outbound HTTP POST request, with data, in node.js?

3

24 Answers 24

1234

request is now deprecated. It is recommended you use an alternative

In no particular order and dreadfully incomplete:

Stats comparision Some code examples

Original answer:

This gets a lot easier if you use the request library.

var request = require('request');

request.post(
    'http://www.yoursite.com/formpage',
    { json: { key: 'value' } },
    function (error, response, body) {
        if (!error && response.statusCode == 200) {
            console.log(body);
        }
    }
);

Aside from providing a nice syntax it makes json requests easy, handles oauth signing (for twitter, etc.), can do multi-part forms (e.g. for uploading files) and streaming.

To install request use command npm install request

11
  • 2
    My program doesn't actually send the http request post when I keep the function handling errors. Once I deleted it, it worked. Your link also doesn't include the error handling. Perhaps this is the newest version.
    – krikara
    Dec 6, 2013 at 9:43
  • 163
    { form: { key: 'value' } } should be replaced by { json: { key: 'value' } } (as the question is not specific to forms). One also have to understand 'form' and 'json' are request library keywords and not part of the custom data (as trivial as this last comment could appear, it took me some time to figure it...)
    – blacelle
    Mar 19, 2014 at 12:04
  • 1
    @bla Thanks for that comment, was struggeling to figure out why it didn't work properly since it didn't indicate that form: or json: was a keyword. Apr 9, 2014 at 9:43
  • 3
    you may need to add dependency by running this command 'npm install --save request' Jun 2, 2016 at 21:15
  • 1
    @bla, how the hell is the 'json' keyword not mentioned ANYWHERE in their documentation?! Ridiculous. Thank you so much for that comment.
    – Kyle Baker
    Feb 7, 2017 at 5:38
949

Here's an example of using node.js to make a POST request to the Google Compiler API:

// We need this to build our post string
var querystring = require('querystring');
var http = require('http');
var fs = require('fs');

function PostCode(codestring) {
  // Build the post string from an object
  var post_data = querystring.stringify({
      'compilation_level' : 'ADVANCED_OPTIMIZATIONS',
      'output_format': 'json',
      'output_info': 'compiled_code',
        'warning_level' : 'QUIET',
        'js_code' : codestring
  });

  // An object of options to indicate where to post to
  var post_options = {
      host: 'closure-compiler.appspot.com',
      port: '80',
      path: '/compile',
      method: 'POST',
      headers: {
          'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
          'Content-Length': Buffer.byteLength(post_data)
      }
  };

  // Set up the request
  var post_req = http.request(post_options, function(res) {
      res.setEncoding('utf8');
      res.on('data', function (chunk) {
          console.log('Response: ' + chunk);
      });
  });

  // post the data
  post_req.write(post_data);
  post_req.end();

}

// This is an async file read
fs.readFile('LinkedList.js', 'utf-8', function (err, data) {
  if (err) {
    // If this were just a small part of the application, you would
    // want to handle this differently, maybe throwing an exception
    // for the caller to handle. Since the file is absolutely essential
    // to the program's functionality, we're going to exit with a fatal
    // error instead.
    console.log("FATAL An error occurred trying to read in the file: " + err);
    process.exit(-2);
  }
  // Make sure there's data before we post it
  if(data) {
    PostCode(data);
  }
  else {
    console.log("No data to post");
    process.exit(-1);
  }
});

I've updated the code to show how to post data from a file, instead of the hardcoded string. It uses the async fs.readFile command to achieve this, posting the actual code after a successful read. If there's an error, it is thrown, and if there's no data the process exits with a negative value to indicate failure.

14
  • 4
    Is the content-length header calculated correctly? Supposed to be bytes, right?
    – Eric
    Aug 14, 2013 at 17:55
  • 8
    Note that querystring.stringify() doesn't support nested objects, so you might want to use qs.stringify() instead.
    – johndodo
    Dec 20, 2013 at 9:54
  • 59
    Content-Length is bytes and not necessarily string length (UTF-16 etc). Using Buffer.byteLength(data) will always be correct. Jan 15, 2014 at 10:55
  • 4
    for sending standard postdata, the object in querystring.stringify should be your own data object, not the junk that is displayed in this answer (which may be useful for file based objects?). I was stuck on that for ages... stackoverflow.com/questions/9768192/… provided my complete solution
    – RozzA
    Nov 6, 2014 at 10:55
  • 8
    Gotcha: If you are using an ssl-encrypted site, you will need the "https" library. You can't just change the port to 443. Apr 2, 2016 at 20:47
139

You can use request library. https://www.npmjs.com/package/request

var request = require('request');

To post JSON data:

var myJSONObject = { ... };
request({
    url: "http://josiahchoi.com/myjson",
    method: "POST",
    json: true,   // <--Very important!!!
    body: myJSONObject
}, function (error, response, body){
    console.log(response);
});

To post xml data:

var myXMLText = '<xml>...........</xml>'
request({
    url: "http://josiahchoi.com/myjson",
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
        "content-type": "application/xml",  // <--Very important!!!
    },
    body: myXMLText
}, function (error, response, body){
    console.log(response);
});

EDIT: As of February 2020 request has been deprecated.

5
  • After review in their documentation. it states the following: json - sets body but to JSON representation of value and adds Content-type: application/json header. Additionally, parses the response body as JSON. That means when json = true, it will set header and json and body. Otherwise, no header set, and parse as text. (Like the above XML example). That makes the request API handy and simplistic but quite hard to understand at first time. Mar 16, 2015 at 6:59
  • It is technically in their docs, but none of the examples show it--only form data. It's a needle in the haystack, and as such, it's a huge ommission, since this is the second most frequent way I use ajax in JS, ever, and certainly one of the most common on the web.
    – Kyle Baker
    Feb 7, 2017 at 19:24
  • Using request.post is IMO somewhat nicer than specifying POST as the method. Here are some examples from GitHub for using request.post
    – drorw
    Apr 18, 2019 at 20:31
  • 28
    This library has been deprecated.
    – Evorlor
    Feb 15, 2020 at 22:14
  • Thank you. Tried with different NPM packages but nothing was working for me. Thank you. You gave actual JSON vs XML code.
    – Ashok
    Jun 16, 2022 at 11:42
91

Simple and dependency-free. Uses a Promise so that you can await the result. It returns the response body and does not check the response status code.

const https = require('https');

function httpsPost({body, ...options}) {
    return new Promise((resolve,reject) => {
        const req = https.request({
            method: 'POST',
            ...options,
        }, res => {
            const chunks = [];
            res.on('data', data => chunks.push(data))
            res.on('end', () => {
                let resBody = Buffer.concat(chunks);
                switch(res.headers['content-type']) {
                    case 'application/json':
                        resBody = JSON.parse(resBody);
                        break;
                }
                resolve(resBody)
            })
        })
        req.on('error',reject);
        if(body) {
            req.write(body);
        }
        req.end();
    })
}

Usage:

async function main() {
    const res = await httpsPost({
        hostname: 'sentry.io',
        path: `/api/0/organizations/org/releases/${changesetId}/deploys/`,
        headers: {
            'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN}`,
            'Content-Type': 'application/json',
        },
        body: JSON.stringify({
            environment: isLive ? 'production' : 'demo',
        })
    })
}

main().catch(err => {
    console.log(err)
})
11
  • What is write method on req,write() is used for?
    – Ari
    Dec 29, 2019 at 14:03
  • 1
    @Ari That writes the body of the request... nodejs.org/api/…
    – mpen
    Dec 29, 2019 at 21:30
  • 1
    Thanks, this one is really suitable for aws lambda as now it always requires async await to work with. Aug 20, 2020 at 3:42
  • 1
    @mpen did you ever run this code ? It looks like the request example has wrong order of parameters. Sep 1, 2020 at 17:08
  • 1
    @MozartBrocchini Yes, you missed the curly braces :-) I'm using object destructuring.
    – mpen
    Sep 2, 2020 at 23:35
63

There are dozens of open-source libraries available that you can use to making an HTTP POST request in Node.

1. Axios (Recommended)

const axios = require('axios');

const data = {
    name: 'John Doe',
    job: 'Content Writer'
};

axios.post('https://reqres.in/api/users', data)
    .then((res) => {
        console.log(`Status: ${res.status}`);
        console.log('Body: ', res.data);
    }).catch((err) => {
        console.error(err);
    });

2. Needle

const needle = require('needle');

const data = {
    name: 'John Doe',
    job: 'Content Writer'
};

needle('post', 'https://reqres.in/api/users', data, {json: true})
    .then((res) => {
        console.log(`Status: ${res.statusCode}`);
        console.log('Body: ', res.body);
    }).catch((err) => {
        console.error(err);
    });

3. Request

const request = require('request');

const options = {
    url: 'https://reqres.in/api/users',
    json: true,
    body: {
        name: 'John Doe',
        job: 'Content Writer'
    }
};

request.post(options, (err, res, body) => {
    if (err) {
        return console.log(err);
    }
    console.log(`Status: ${res.statusCode}`);
    console.log(body);
});

4. Native HTTPS Module

const https = require('https');

const data = JSON.stringify({
    name: 'John Doe',
    job: 'Content Writer'
});

const options = {
    hostname: 'reqres.in',
    path: '/api/users',
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
        'Content-Length': data.length
    }
};


const req = https.request(options, (res) => {
    let data = '';

    console.log('Status Code:', res.statusCode);

    res.on('data', (chunk) => {
        data += chunk;
    });

    res.on('end', () => {
        console.log('Body: ', JSON.parse(data));
    });

}).on("error", (err) => {
    console.log("Error: ", err.message);
});

req.write(data);
req.end();

For details, check out this article.

1
  • 1
    Do any of these have await options? May 9, 2023 at 19:30
48

I use Restler and Needle for production purposes. They are both much more powerful than native httprequest. It is possible to request with basic authentication, special header entry or even upload/download files.

As for post/get operation, they also are much simpler to use than raw ajax calls using httprequest.

needle.post('https://my.app.com/endpoint', {foo:'bar'}, 
    function(err, resp, body){
        console.log(body);
});
1
  • I tried request, node-form-data and superagent before needle. needle was the only one that worked correctly for me when trying to do a multipart form file upload.
    – Paul Young
    Aug 8, 2013 at 16:42
28

In Node.js 18

Fetch

The fetch() method in JavaScript is used to request data from a server. The request can be of any type of API that returns the data in JSON or XML.

Say goodbye to the node-fetch package ,axios and request ,... now the fetch API is available on the global scope by default.

app.get('/', (req, res, next) => {
    // Make a post Request.
    fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts', {
        method: 'POST',
        body: JSON.stringify({ title: 'foo', body: 'bar', userId: 1 }),
        headers: { 'Content-type': 'application/json; charset=UTF-8' },
    })
        .then((response) => response.json())
        .then((json) => console.log(json))
        .catch(error => {
            console.log(error)
        })
        
    res.send('Fetch API is available on the global scope by default')
})

With the help of async and await

app.get('/', async (req, res, next) => {
    const response = await fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts', {
        method: 'POST',
        body: JSON.stringify({ title: 'foo', body: 'bar', userId: 1, }),
        headers: { 'Content-type': 'application/json; charset=UTF-8' },
    })

    const posts = await response.json();
    res.send(posts)
})

We can make requests as we do in browsers.

For More Information

5
  • Can you please explain how this fetch approach can be used for POST requests (which was the question)? Feb 16, 2023 at 16:43
  • 1
    Can you use await? May 9, 2023 at 19:28
  • @1-21-gigawatts - Yes, We can use async and await. I updated my answer. May 9, 2023 at 21:40
  • "say goodbye" ? Jul 8, 2023 at 13:48
  • @Evandro Pomatti - I mean you do not need to install any packages to call HTTP requests. you can do it with the help of fetch. I have to say, you can still use the packages such as axios, ... Jul 8, 2023 at 14:02
24

Update 2020:

I've been really enjoying phin - The ultra-lightweight Node.js HTTP client

It can be used in two different ways. One with Promises (Async/Await) and the other with traditional callback styles.

Install via: npm i phin

Straight from it's README with await:

const p = require('phin')

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


Unpromisifed (callback) style:

const p = require('phin').unpromisified

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

As of 2015 there are now a wide variety of different libraries that can accomplish this with minimal coding. I much prefer elegant light weight libraries for HTTP requests unless you absolutely need control of the low level HTTP stuff.

One such library is Unirest

To install it, use npm.
$ npm install unirest

And onto the Hello, World! example that everyone is accustomed to.

var unirest = require('unirest');

unirest.post('http://example.com/helloworld')
.header('Accept', 'application/json')
.send({ "Hello": "World!" })
.end(function (response) {
  console.log(response.body);
});


Extra:
A lot of people are also suggesting the use of request [ 2 ]

It should be worth noting that behind the scenes Unirest uses the request library.

Unirest provides methods for accessing the request object directly.

Example:

var Request = unirest.get('http://mockbin.com/request');
4
  • 1
    Another one I found that looks pretty good is github.com/request/request which seems a bit more popular than unirest at least as of this writing
    – Lochlan
    Jul 28, 2015 at 20:26
  • I can attest to request. It is a very good library. I find that request provides more low level functionality so it's appropriate to use it for specific applications. When I don't necessarily care about the low level stuff, I find Unirest to be adequate. Aug 1, 2015 at 0:41
  • Why would unirest be considered lightweight when it depends on request? Request itself has 22 dependencies, I don't see how this is lightweight
    – sigmaxf
    Mar 18, 2018 at 1:49
  • @raphadko I'm sure that over the years feature bloat has occurred. Be sure to check the timestamp of when I posted my answer ;) Oct 7, 2019 at 9:10
22

You can also use Requestify, a really cool and simple HTTP client I wrote for nodeJS + it supports caching.

Just do the following:

    var requestify = require('requestify');

    requestify.post('http://example.com', {
        hello: 'world'
    })
    .then(function(response) {
        // Get the response body (JSON parsed or jQuery object for XMLs)
        response.getBody();
    });
1
20
var https = require('https');


/**
 * HOW TO Make an HTTP Call - POST
 */
// do a POST request
// create the JSON object
jsonObject = JSON.stringify({
    "message" : "The web of things is approaching, let do some tests to be ready!",
    "name" : "Test message posted with node.js",
    "caption" : "Some tests with node.js",
    "link" : "http://www.youscada.com",
    "description" : "this is a description",
    "picture" : "http://youscada.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/logo2.png",
    "actions" : [ {
        "name" : "youSCADA",
        "link" : "http://www.youscada.com"
    } ]
});

// prepare the header
var postheaders = {
    'Content-Type' : 'application/json',
    'Content-Length' : Buffer.byteLength(jsonObject, 'utf8')
};

// the post options
var optionspost = {
    host : 'graph.facebook.com',
    port : 443,
    path : '/youscada/feed?access_token=your_api_key',
    method : 'POST',
    headers : postheaders
};

console.info('Options prepared:');
console.info(optionspost);
console.info('Do the POST call');

// do the POST call
var reqPost = https.request(optionspost, function(res) {
    console.log("statusCode: ", res.statusCode);
    // uncomment it for header details
//  console.log("headers: ", res.headers);

    res.on('data', function(d) {
        console.info('POST result:\n');
        process.stdout.write(d);
        console.info('\n\nPOST completed');
    });
});

// write the json data
reqPost.write(jsonObject);
reqPost.end();
reqPost.on('error', function(e) {
    console.error(e);
});
1
  • is there a way to view the request post body either on the request or the response? Aug 7, 2017 at 16:29
16

This is the simplest way I use to make request: using 'request' module.

Command to install 'request' module :

$ npm install request

Example code:

var request = require('request')

var options = {
  method: 'post',
  body: postData, // Javascript object
  json: true, // Use,If you are sending JSON data
  url: url,
  headers: {
    // Specify headers, If any
  }
}

request(options, function (err, res, body) {
  if (err) {
    console.log('Error :', err)
    return
  }
  console.log(' Body :', body)

});

You can also use Node.js's built-in 'http' module to make request.

1
  • 4
    This library has been deprecated. Feb 27, 2020 at 12:39
14

I like the simplicity of superagent (https://github.com/visionmedia/superagent). Same API on both node and browser.

;(async function() {
  var response = await superagent.post('http://127.0.0.1:8125/', {age: 2})
  console.log(response)
})

There is also node-fetch (https://www.npmjs.com/package/node-fetch), which has an API that matches fetch from the browsers - however this requires manual query string encoding, does not automatically handle content types, or so any of the other work superagent does.

1
  • 1
    And in contrast to needle, unirest and co, it deliveres on being lightweight (superagent: 16k, unirest: 1M, needle: 530K)
    – Lars
    Jan 18, 2018 at 9:32
11

If you are looking for promise based HTTP requests, axios does its job nicely.

  const axios = require('axios');

  axios.post('/user', {firstName: 'Fred',lastName: 'Flintstone'})
      .then((response) => console.log(response))
      .catch((error) => console.log(error));

OR

await axios.post('/user', {firstName: 'Fred',lastName: 'Flintstone'})
2
  • I want to use await. Is this library still recommended? May 9, 2023 at 19:28
  • 1
    Yes axios is still one of the most popular HTTP agent
    – Pujan
    May 10, 2023 at 5:57
6

To Post Rest/JSON Request
We can simply use request package and save the values we have to send in Json variable.

First install the require package in your console by npm install request --save

var request = require('request');

    var options={
                'key':'28',
                'key1':'value',
                'key2':'value'
                }

    request({
             url:"http://dev.api.ean.com/ean-services/rs/hotel/v3/ping?                      
                 minorRev="+options.key+
                 "&cid="+options.key1+
                 "&apiKey="+options.key2,
             method:"POST",
             json:true},function(error,response,body){
                     console.log(body)
               }
    );
2
  • 3
    Never build your own query string. You're neglecting to properly encode your values. Node.js has a library for this very purpose: nodejs.org/api/querystring.html
    – Brad
    Oct 28, 2015 at 7:57
  • 1
    This library has been deprecated. Feb 27, 2020 at 12:39
6

This my solution for POST and GET.

About the Post method:

If the body is a JSON object, so it's important to deserialize it with JSON.stringify and possibly set the Content-Lenght header accordingly:

      var bodyString=JSON.stringify(body)
      var _headers = {
        'Content-Length': Buffer.byteLength(bodyString)
      };

before writing it to the request:

request.write( bodyString );

About both Get and Post methods:

The timeout can occur as a socket disconnect, so you must register its handler like:

request.on('socket', function (socket) {
        socket.setTimeout( self.timeout );
        socket.on('timeout', function() {
            request.abort();
            if(timeout) return timeout( new Error('request timed out') );
        });
    });

while the request handler is

       request.on('timeout', function () {
          // Timeout happend. Server received request, but not handled it
          // (i.e. doesn't send any response or it took to long).
          // You don't know what happend.
          // It will emit 'error' message as well (with ECONNRESET code).
          req.abort();
          if(timeout) return timeout( new Error('request timed out') );
        });

I strongly suggest to register both the handlers.

The response body is chunked, so you must concat chunks at the data handler:

      var body = '';
      response.on('data', function(d) {
          body += d;
      });

At the end the body will contain the whole response body:

      response.on('end', function() {
        try {
            var jsonResponse=JSON.parse(body);
            if(success) return success( jsonResponse );
        } catch(ex) { // bad json
          if(error) return error(ex.toString());
        }
      });

It is safe to wrap with a try...catchtheJSON.parse` since you cannot be sure that it is a well-formatted json actually and there is no way to be sure of it at the time you do the request.

Module: SimpleAPI

/**
 * Simple POST and GET
 * @author Loreto Parisi (loretoparisi at gmail dot com)
*/
(function() {

  var SimpleAPI;

  SimpleAPI = (function() {

    var qs = require('querystring');

    /**
     * API Object model
     * @author Loreto Parisi (loretoparisi at gmail dot com)
     */
    function SimpleAPI(host,port,timeout,ssl,debug,json) {

      this.host=host;
      this.port=port;
      this.timeout=timeout;
      /** true to use ssl - defaults to true */
      this.ssl=ssl || true;
      /** true to console log */
      this.debug=debug;
      /** true to parse response as json - defaults to true */
      this.json= (typeof(json)!='undefined')?json:true;
      this.requestUrl='';
      if(ssl) { // use ssl
          this.http = require('https');
      } else { // go unsafe, debug only please
          this.http = require('http');
      }
    }

    /**
     * HTTP GET
     * @author Loreto Parisi (loretoparisi at gmail dot com)
     */
    SimpleAPI.prototype.Get = function(path, headers, params, success, error, timeout) {

      var self=this;
      if(params) {
        var queryString=qs.stringify(params);
        if( queryString ) {
          path+="?"+queryString;
        }
      }
      var options = {
        headers : headers,
        hostname: this.host,
        path: path,
        method: 'GET'
      };
      if(this.port && this.port!='80') { // port only if ! 80
        options['port']=this.port;
      }
      if(self.debug) {
        console.log( "SimpleAPI.Get", headers, params, options );
      }
      var request=this.http.get(options, function(response) {

          if(self.debug) { // debug
            console.log( JSON.stringify(response.headers) );
          }

          // Continuously update stream with data
          var body = '';
          response.on('data', function(d) {
              body += d;
          });
          response.on('end', function() {
            try {
              if(self.json) {
                var jsonResponse=JSON.parse(body);
                if(success) return success( jsonResponse );
              }
              else {
                if(success) return success( body );
              }
            } catch(ex) { // bad json
              if(error) return error( ex.toString() );
            }
          });
        });
        request.on('socket', function (socket) {
            socket.setTimeout( self.timeout );
            socket.on('timeout', function() {
                request.abort();
                if(timeout) return timeout( new Error('request timed out') );
            });
        });
        request.on('error', function (e) {
          // General error, i.e.
          //  - ECONNRESET - server closed the socket unexpectedly
          //  - ECONNREFUSED - server did not listen
          //  - HPE_INVALID_VERSION
          //  - HPE_INVALID_STATUS
          //  - ... (other HPE_* codes) - server returned garbage
          console.log(e);
          if(error) return error(e);
        });
        request.on('timeout', function () {
          // Timeout happend. Server received request, but not handled it
          // (i.e. doesn't send any response or it took to long).
          // You don't know what happend.
          // It will emit 'error' message as well (with ECONNRESET code).
          req.abort();
          if(timeout) return timeout( new Error('request timed out') );
        });

        self.requestUrl = (this.ssl?'https':'http') + '://' + request._headers['host'] + request.path;
        if(self.debug) {
          console.log("SimpleAPI.Post",self.requestUrl);
        }
        request.end();
    } //RequestGet

    /**
     * HTTP POST
     * @author Loreto Parisi (loretoparisi at gmail dot com)
     */
    SimpleAPI.prototype.Post = function(path, headers, params, body, success, error, timeout) {
      var self=this;

      if(params) {
        var queryString=qs.stringify(params);
        if( queryString ) {
          path+="?"+queryString;
        }
      }
      var bodyString=JSON.stringify(body)
      var _headers = {
        'Content-Length': Buffer.byteLength(bodyString)
      };
      for (var attrname in headers) { _headers[attrname] = headers[attrname]; }

      var options = {
        headers : _headers,
        hostname: this.host,
        path: path,
        method: 'POST',
        qs : qs.stringify(params)
      };
      if(this.port && this.port!='80') { // port only if ! 80
        options['port']=this.port;
      }
      if(self.debug) {
        console.log( "SimpleAPI.Post\n%s\n%s", JSON.stringify(_headers,null,2), JSON.stringify(options,null,2) );
      }
      if(self.debug) {
        console.log("SimpleAPI.Post body\n%s", JSON.stringify(body,null,2) );
      }
      var request=this.http.request(options, function(response) {

          if(self.debug) { // debug
            console.log( JSON.stringify(response.headers) );
          }

          // Continuously update stream with data
          var body = '';
          response.on('data', function(d) {
              body += d;
          });
          response.on('end', function() {
            try {
                console.log("END", body);
                var jsonResponse=JSON.parse(body);
                if(success) return success( jsonResponse );
            } catch(ex) { // bad json
              if(error) return error(ex.toString());
            }
          });

        });

        request.on('socket', function (socket) {
            socket.setTimeout( self.timeout );
            socket.on('timeout', function() {
                request.abort();
                if(timeout) return timeout( new Error('request timed out') );
            });
        });
        request.on('error', function (e) {
          // General error, i.e.
          //  - ECONNRESET - server closed the socket unexpectedly
          //  - ECONNREFUSED - server did not listen
          //  - HPE_INVALID_VERSION
          //  - HPE_INVALID_STATUS
          //  - ... (other HPE_* codes) - server returned garbage
          console.log(e);
          if(error) return error(e);
        });
        request.on('timeout', function () {
          // Timeout happend. Server received request, but not handled it
          // (i.e. doesn't send any response or it took to long).
          // You don't know what happend.
          // It will emit 'error' message as well (with ECONNRESET code).
          req.abort();
          if(timeout) return timeout( new Error('request timed out') );
        });

        self.requestUrl = (this.ssl?'https':'http') + '://' + request._headers['host'] + request.path;
        if(self.debug) {
          console.log("SimpleAPI.Post",self.requestUrl);
        }

        request.write( bodyString );
        request.end();

    } //RequestPost

    return SimpleAPI;

  })();

  module.exports = SimpleAPI

}).call(this);

Usage:

// Parameters
// domain: example.com
// ssl:true, port:80
// timeout: 30 secs
// debug: true
// json response:true
var api = new SimpleAPI('posttestserver.com', 80, 1000 * 10, true, true, true); 

var headers = {
    'Content-Type' : 'application/json',
    'Accept' : 'application/json' 
};
var params = {
  "dir" : "post-test"
};
var method = 'post.php';

api.Post(method, headers, params, body
    , function(response) { // success
       console.log( response );
    }
    , function(error) { // error
      console.log( error.toString() );
    }
    , function(error) { // timeout
       console.log( new Error('timeout error') );
    });
5

I found a video which explains on how to achieve this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuw48-u3Yrg

It uses default "http" module together with "querystring" and "stringbuilder" modules. The application takes two numbers (using two textboxes) from a web page and upon submit, returns sum of those two (along with persisting the values in the textboxes). This is the best example I could find anywhere else.

var http = require("http");
var qs = require("querystring");
var StringBuilder = require("stringbuilder");

var port = 9000;

function getCalcHtml(req, resp, data) {
    var sb = new StringBuilder({ newline: "\r\n" });
    sb.appendLine("<html>");
    sb.appendLine(" <body>");
    sb.appendLine("     <form method='post'>");
    sb.appendLine("         <table>");
    sb.appendLine("             <tr>");
    sb.appendLine("                 <td>Enter First No: </td>");

    if (data && data.txtFirstNo) {
        sb.appendLine("                 <td><input type='text' id='txtFirstNo' name='txtFirstNo' value='{0}'/></td>", data.txtFirstNo);
    }
    else {
        sb.appendLine("                 <td><input type='text' id='txtFirstNo' name='txtFirstNo' /></td>");
    }

    sb.appendLine("             </tr>");
    sb.appendLine("             <tr>");
    sb.appendLine("                 <td>Enter Second No: </td>");

    if (data && data.txtSecondNo) {
        sb.appendLine("                 <td><input type='text' id='txtSecondNo' name='txtSecondNo' value='{0}'/></td>", data.txtSecondNo);
    }
    else {
        sb.appendLine("                 <td><input type='text' id='txtSecondNo' name='txtSecondNo' /></td>");
    }

    sb.appendLine("             </tr>");
    sb.appendLine("             <tr>");
    sb.appendLine("                 <td><input type='submit' value='Calculate' /></td>");
    sb.appendLine("             </tr>");

    if (data && data.txtFirstNo && data.txtSecondNo) {
        var sum = parseInt(data.txtFirstNo) + parseInt(data.txtSecondNo);
        sb.appendLine("             <tr>");
        sb.appendLine("                 <td>Sum: {0}</td>", sum);
        sb.appendLine("             </tr>");
    }

    sb.appendLine("         </table>");
    sb.appendLine("     </form>")
    sb.appendLine(" </body>");
    sb.appendLine("</html>");
    sb.build(function (err, result) {
        resp.write(result);
        resp.end();
    });
}

function getCalcForm(req, resp, data) {
    resp.writeHead(200, { "Content-Type": "text/html" });
    getCalcHtml(req, resp, data);
}

function getHome(req, resp) {
    resp.writeHead(200, { "Content-Type": "text/html" });
    resp.write("<html><html><head><title>Home</title></head><body>Want to some calculation? Click <a href='/calc'>here</a></body></html>");
    resp.end();
}

function get404(req, resp) {
    resp.writeHead(404, "Resource Not Found", { "Content-Type": "text/html" });
    resp.write("<html><html><head><title>404</title></head><body>404: Resource not found. Go to <a href='/'>Home</a></body></html>");
    resp.end();
}

function get405(req, resp) {
    resp.writeHead(405, "Method not supported", { "Content-Type": "text/html" });
    resp.write("<html><html><head><title>405</title></head><body>405: Method not supported</body></html>");
    resp.end();
}

http.createServer(function (req, resp) {
    switch (req.method) {
        case "GET":
            if (req.url === "/") {
                getHome(req, resp);
            }
            else if (req.url === "/calc") {
                getCalcForm(req, resp);
            }
            else {
                get404(req, resp);
            }
            break;
        case "POST":
            if (req.url === "/calc") {
                var reqBody = '';
                req.on('data', function (data) {
                    reqBody += data;
                    if (reqBody.length > 1e7) { //10MB
                        resp.writeHead(413, 'Request Entity Too Large', { 'Content-Type': 'text/html' });
                        resp.end('<!doctype html><html><head><title>413</title></head><body>413: Request Entity Too Large</body></html>');
                    }
                });
                req.on('end', function () {
                    var formData = qs.parse(reqBody);
                    getCalcForm(req, resp, formData);
                });
            }
            else {
                get404(req, resp);
            }
            break;
        default:
            get405(req, resp);
            break;
    }
}).listen(port);
0
5

After struggling a lot while creating a low level utility to handle the post and get requests for my project, I decided to post my effort here. Much on the lines of accepted answer, here is a snippet for making http and https POST requests for sending JSON data.

const http = require("http")
const https = require("https")

// Request handler function
let postJSON = (options, postData, callback) => {

    // Serializing JSON
    post_data = JSON.stringify(postData)

    let port = options.port == 443 ? https : http

    // Callback function for the request
    let req = port.request(options, (res) => {
        let output = ''
        res.setEncoding('utf8')

        // Listener to receive data
        res.on('data', (chunk) => {
            output += chunk
        });

        // Listener for intializing callback after receiving complete response
        res.on('end', () => {
            let obj = JSON.parse(output)
            callback(res.statusCode, obj)
        });
    });

   // Handle any errors occurred while making request
    req.on('error', (err) => {
        //res.send('error: ' + err.message)
    });

    // Request is made here, with data as string or buffer
    req.write(post_data)
    // Ending the request
    req.end()
};

let callPost = () => {

    let data = {
        'name': 'Jon',
        'message': 'hello, world'
    }

    let options = {
        host: 'domain.name',       // Your domain name
        port: 443,                 // 443 for https and 80 for http
        path: '/path/to/resource', // Path for the request
        method: 'POST',            
        headers: {
            'Content-Type': 'application/json',
            'Content-Length': Buffer.byteLength(data)
        }
    }

    postJSON(options, data, (statusCode, result) => {
        // Handle response
        // Process the received data
    });

}
1
  • 2
    You never use the serialized post_data ? does writing as js object convert to buffer by default? Oct 16, 2017 at 20:28
5

Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. Axios makes it easy to send asynchronous HTTP requests to REST endpoints and perform CRUD operations. It can be used in plain JavaScript or with a library such as Vue or React.

const axios = require('axios');

        var dataToPost = {
          email: "your email",
          password: "your password"
        };

        let axiosConfiguration = {
          headers: {
              'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8',
              "Access-Control-Allow-Origin": "*",
          }
        };

        axios.post('endpoint or url', dataToPost, axiosConfiguration)
        .then((res) => {
          console.log("Response: ", res);
        })
        .catch((err) => {
          console.log("error: ", err);
        })
4
let request = require('request');
let jsonObj = {};
request({
    url: "https://myapii.com/sendJsonData",
    method: "POST",
    json: true,
    body: jsonObj
    }, function (error, resp, body){
       console.log(resp);
});

Or you could use this library:

let axios = require("axios");
let jsonObj = {};

const myJsonAPI = axios.create({
   baseURL: 'https://myapii.com',
   timeout: 120*1000
});

let response = await myJsonAPI.post("sendJsonData",jsonobj).catch(e=>{
    res.json(e);
});
console.log(response);
1
  • request library has been deprecated. Feb 27, 2020 at 12:40
3

Posting another axios example of an axios.post request that uses additional configuration options and custom headers.

var postData = {
  email: "[email protected]",
  password: "password"
};

let axiosConfig = {
  headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8',
      "Access-Control-Allow-Origin": "*",
  }
};

axios.post('http://<host>:<port>/<path>', postData, axiosConfig)
.then((res) => {
  console.log("RESPONSE RECEIVED: ", res);
})
.catch((err) => {
  console.log("AXIOS ERROR: ", err);
})

1

If you want, you can make arbitrary HTTP requests with the Node.js http library - you don't have to use third-party packages that don't provide any new functionality.

If you want, you can use the Node.js built-ins like in the example below.

https://nodejs.org/api/http.html#httprequesturl-options-callback

The example from the documentation for http.request shows you how to make a "hello world" POST request.

Here is the example. Ask questions in the comments, e.g., if you are learning Node.js and want more resources.

const http = require('node:http');

const postData = JSON.stringify({
    'msg': 'Hello World!',
});

const options = { 
    hostname: 'www.google.com',
    port: 80, 
    path: '/upload',
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
        'Content-Length': Buffer.byteLength(postData),
    },  
};

const req = http.request(options, (res) => {
    console.log(`STATUS: ${res.statusCode}`);
    console.log(`HEADERS: ${JSON.stringify(res.headers)}`);
    res.setEncoding('utf8');
    res.on('data', (chunk) => {
        console.log(`BODY: ${chunk}`);
    }); 
    res.on('end', () => {
        console.log('No more data in response.');
    }); 
});

req.on('error', (e) => {
    console.error(`problem with request: ${e.message}`);
});

// Write data to request body
req.write(postData);
req.end();
~                                                                                                   
~                                                                                                   
~                                 
2
  • You recommend not using third-party modules because they don't provide any functionality not provided by the built-in HTTP module … but I count 5 different things you've had to reimplement in your code that Axios does for you.
    – Quentin
    Dec 12, 2022 at 11:00
  • 2
    I haven't implemented anything new though - I just used the API provided by the Node.js standard library for doing HTTP communication. The Node.js docs are loaded with examples on how to use the API - they are all pretty short, like this one. You can take an example and play with it to make something custom. Third party libraries like Axios may have an API you like better, but you really don't need them, because you have nodejs:http. Node.js built-in libraries are full of useful stuff. They just aren't always the first Google search result.
    – angstyloop
    Mar 30, 2023 at 7:16
0

By using request dependency.

Simple solution :

 import request from 'request'
 var data = {
        "host":"127.1.1.1",
        "port":9008
    }

request.post( baseUrl + '/peers/connect',
        {
            json: data,  // your payload data placed here
            headers: {
                'X-Api-Key': 'dajzmj6gfuzmbfnhamsbuxivc', // if authentication needed
                'Content-Type': 'application/json' 
            }
        }, function (error, response, body) {
            if (error) {
                callback(error, null)
            } else {
                callback(error, response.body)
            }
        });
2
  • 3
    where does request come from? Feb 21, 2018 at 18:59
  • This library has been deprecated. Feb 27, 2020 at 12:40
0

Request-Promise Provides promise based response. http response codes other than 2xx will cause the promise to be rejected. This can be overwritten by setting options.simple = false

var options = {
  method: 'POST',
  uri: 'http://api.posttestserver.com/post',
  body: {
  some: 'payload'
 },
  json: true // Automatically stringifies the body to JSON
};

rp(options)
.then(function (parsedBody) {
    // POST succeeded...
})
.catch(function (err) {
    // POST failed...
});
0

In case you need an XML request I'll share my codes with axios library.

const {default: axios} = require('axios');

let xmlString = '<XML>...</XML>';

axios.post('yourURL', xmlString)
 .then((res) => {
   console.log("Status: ", res.status);
   console.log("Body: ", res.data);
 })
 .catch((err) => {
   console.error("Error: ", err);
 });

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