Simple-get NPM

simple-get

Simplest way to make http get requests

features

This module is the lightest possible wrapper on top of node.js http, but supporting these essential features:

follows redirects
automatically handles gzip/deflate responses
supports HTTPS
supports specifying a timeout
supports convenience url key so there's no need to use url.parse on the url when specifying options
composes well with npm packages for features like cookies, proxies, form data, & OAuth

All this in < 120 lines of code.

install

npm install simple-get

usage

Note, all these examples also work in the browser with browserify.

simple GET request

Doesn't get easier than this:

const get = require('simple-get')

get('http://example.com', function (err, res) {
  if (err) throw err
  console.log(res.statusCode) // 200
  res.pipe(process.stdout) // `res` is a stream
})

even simpler GET request

If you just want the data, and don't want to deal with streams:

const get = require('simple-get')

get.concat('http://example.com', function (err, res, data) {
  if (err) throw err
  console.log(res.statusCode) // 200
  console.log(data) // Buffer('this is the server response')
})

POST, PUT, PATCH, HEAD, DELETE support

For POST, call get.post or use option { method: 'POST' }.

const get = require('simple-get')

const opts = {
  url: 'http://example.com',
  body: 'this is the POST body'
}
get.post(opts, function (err, res) {
  if (err) throw err
  res.pipe(process.stdout) // `res` is a stream
})

A more complex example:

const get = require('simple-get')

get({
  url: 'http://example.com',
  method: 'POST',
  body: 'this is the POST body',

  // simple-get accepts all options that node.js `http` accepts
  // See: http://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_http_request_options_callback
  headers: {
    'user-agent': 'my cool app'
  }
}, function (err, res) {
  if (err) throw err

  // All properties/methods from http.IncomingResponse are available,
  // even if a gunzip/inflate transform stream was returned.
  // See: http://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_http_incomingmessage
  res.setTimeout(10000)
  console.log(res.headers)

  res.on('data', function (chunk) {
    // `chunk` is the decoded response, after it's been gunzipped or inflated
    // (if applicable)
    console.log('got a chunk of the response: ' + chunk)
  }))

})

JSON

You can serialize/deserialize request and response with JSON:

const get = require('simple-get')

const opts = {
  method: 'POST',
  url: 'http://example.com',
  body: {
    key: 'value'
  },
  json: true
}
get.concat(opts, function (err, res, data) {
  if (err) throw err
  console.log(data.key) // `data` is an object
})

Timeout

You can set a timeout (in milliseconds) on the request with the timeout option. If the request takes longer than timeout to complete, then the entire request will fail with an Error.

const get = require('simple-get')

const opts = {
  url: 'http://example.com',
  timeout: 2000 // 2 second timeout
}

get(opts, function (err, res) {})

One Quick Tip

It's a good idea to set the 'user-agent' header so the provider can more easily see how their resource is used.

const get = require('simple-get')
const pkg = require('./package.json')

get('http://example.com', {
  headers: {
    'user-agent': `my-module/${pkg.version} (https://github.com/username/my-module)`
  }
})

Proxies

You can use the tunnel module with the agent option to work with proxies:

const get = require('simple-get')
const tunnel = require('tunnel')

const opts = {
  url: 'http://example.com',
  agent: tunnel.httpOverHttp({
    proxy: {
      host: 'localhost'
    }
  })
}

get(opts, function (err, res) {})

Cookies

You can use the cookie module to include cookies in a request:

const get = require('simple-get')
const cookie = require('cookie')

const opts = {
  url: 'http://example.com',
  headers: {
    cookie: cookie.serialize('foo', 'bar')
  }
}

get(opts, function (err, res) {})

Form data

You can use the form-data module to create POST request with form data:

const fs = require('fs')
const get = require('simple-get')
const FormData = require('form-data')
const form = new FormData()

form.append('my_file', fs.createReadStream('/foo/bar.jpg'))

const opts = {
  url: 'http://example.com',
  body: form
}

get.post(opts, function (err, res) {})

Or, include `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` form data manually:

const get = require('simple-get')

const opts = {
  url: 'http://example.com',
  form: {
    key: 'value'
  }
}
get.post(opts, function (err, res) {})

OAuth

You can use the oauth-1.0a module to create a signed OAuth request:

const get = require('simple-get')
const crypto  = require('crypto')
const OAuth = require('oauth-1.0a')

const oauth = OAuth({
  consumer: {
    key: process.env.CONSUMER_KEY,
    secret: process.env.CONSUMER_SECRET
  },
  signature_method: 'HMAC-SHA1',
  hash_function: (baseString, key) => crypto.createHmac('sha1', key).update(baseString).digest('base64')
})

const token = {
  key: process.env.ACCESS_TOKEN,
  secret: process.env.ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET
}

const url = 'https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/home_timeline.json'

const opts = {
  url: url,
  headers: oauth.toHeader(oauth.authorize({url, method: 'GET'}, token)),
  json: true
}

get(opts, function (err, res) {})

Throttle requests

You can use limiter to throttle requests. This is useful when calling an API that is rate limited.

const simpleGet = require('simple-get')
const RateLimiter = require('limiter').RateLimiter
const limiter = new RateLimiter(1, 'second')

const get = (opts, cb) => limiter.removeTokens(1, () => simpleGet(opts, cb))
get.concat = (opts, cb) => limiter.removeTokens(1, () => simpleGet.concat(opts, cb))

var opts = {
  url: 'http://example.com'
}

get.concat(opts, processResult)
get.concat(opts, processResult)

function processResult (err, res, data) {
  if (err) throw err
  console.log(data.toString())
}