Instead of implementing `XMLHttpRequest` in Node.js to run browser-specific [Fetch polyfill](https://github.com/github/fetch), why not go from native `http` to `fetch` API directly? Hence, `node-fetch`, minimal code for a `window.fetch` compatible API on Node.js runtime.
See Matt Andrews' [isomorphic-fetch](https://github.com/matthew-andrews/isomorphic-fetch) or Leonardo Quixada's [cross-fetch](https://github.com/lquixada/cross-fetch) for isomorphic usage (exports `node-fetch` for server-side, `whatwg-fetch` for client-side).
## Features
- Stay consistent with `window.fetch` API.
- Make conscious trade-off when following [WHATWG fetch spec][whatwg-fetch] and [stream spec](https://streams.spec.whatwg.org/) implementation details, document known differences.
NOTE: The documentation below is up-to-date with `2.x` releases; see the [`1.x` readme](https://github.com/bitinn/node-fetch/blob/1.x/README.md), [changelog](https://github.com/bitinn/node-fetch/blob/1.x/CHANGELOG.md) and [2.x upgrade guide](UPGRADE-GUIDE.md) for the differences.
.then(res => res.json()) // expecting a json response
.then(json => console.log(json));
```
#### Post with JSON
```js
const body = { a: 1 };
fetch('https://httpbin.org/post', {
method: 'post',
body: JSON.stringify(body),
headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
})
.then(res => res.json())
.then(json => console.log(json));
```
#### Post with form parameters
`URLSearchParams` is available in Node.js as of v7.5.0. See [official documentation](https://nodejs.org/api/url.html#url_class_urlsearchparams) for more usage methods.
NOTE: The `Content-Type` header is only set automatically to `x-www-form-urlencoded` when an instance of `URLSearchParams` is given as such:
Adding a catch to the fetch promise chain will catch *all* exceptions, such as errors originating from node core libraries, network errors and operational errors, which are instances of FetchError. See the [error handling document](ERROR-HANDLING.md) for more details.
`url` should be an absolute url, such as `https://example.com/`. A path-relative URL (`/file/under/root`) or protocol-relative URL (`//can-be-http-or-https.com/`) will result in a rejected `Promise`.
In addition, the `agent` option accepts a function that returns `http`(s)`.Agent` instance given current [URL](https://nodejs.org/api/url.html), this is useful during a redirection chain across HTTP and HTTPS protocol.
An HTTP(S) request containing information about URL, method, headers, and the body. This class implements the [Body](#iface-body) interface.
Due to the nature of Node.js, the following properties are not implemented at this moment:
-`type`
-`destination`
-`referrer`
-`referrerPolicy`
-`mode`
-`credentials`
-`cache`
-`integrity`
-`keepalive`
The following node-fetch extension properties are provided:
-`follow`
-`compress`
-`counter`
-`agent`
See [options](#fetch-options) for exact meaning of these extensions.
#### new Request(input[, options])
<small>*(spec-compliant)*</small>
-`input` A string representing a URL, or another `Request` (which will be cloned)
-`options` [Options][#fetch-options] for the HTTP(S) request
Constructs a new `Request` object. The constructor is identical to that in the [browser](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Request/Request).
In most cases, directly `fetch(url, options)` is simpler than creating a `Request` object.
<aid="class-response"></a>
### Class: Response
An HTTP(S) response. This class implements the [Body](#iface-body) interface.
The following properties are not implemented in node-fetch at this moment:
-`options` A [`ResponseInit`][response-init] options dictionary
Constructs a new `Response` object. The constructor is identical to that in the [browser](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Response/Response).
Because Node.js does not implement service workers (for which this class was designed), one rarely has to construct a `Response` directly.
#### response.ok
<small>*(spec-compliant)*</small>
Convenience property representing if the request ended normally. Will evaluate to true if the response status was greater than or equal to 200 but smaller than 300.
#### response.redirected
<small>*(spec-compliant)*</small>
Convenience property representing if the request has been redirected at least once. Will evaluate to true if the internal redirect counter is greater than 0.
<aid="class-headers"></a>
### Class: Headers
This class allows manipulating and iterating over a set of HTTP headers. All methods specified in the [Fetch Standard][whatwg-fetch] are implemented.
#### new Headers([init])
<small>*(spec-compliant)*</small>
-`init` Optional argument to pre-fill the `Headers` object
Data are encapsulated in the `Body` object. Note that while the [Fetch Standard][whatwg-fetch] requires the property to always be a WHATWG `ReadableStream`, in node-fetch it is a Node.js [`Readable` stream][node-readable].
(This API requires an optional dependency of the npm package [encoding](https://www.npmjs.com/package/encoding), which you need to install manually. `webpack` users may see [a warning message](https://github.com/bitinn/node-fetch/issues/412#issuecomment-379007792) due to this optional dependency.)
An operational error in the fetching process. See [ERROR-HANDLING.md][] for more info.
<aid="class-aborterror"></a>
### Class: AbortError
<small>*(node-fetch extension)*</small>
An Error thrown when the request is aborted in response to an `AbortSignal`'s `abort` event. It has a `name` property of `AbortError`. See [ERROR-HANDLING.MD][] for more info.
## Acknowledgement
Thanks to [github/fetch](https://github.com/github/fetch) for providing a solid implementation reference.
`node-fetch` v1 was maintained by [@bitinn](https://github.com/bitinn); v2 was maintained by [@TimothyGu](https://github.com/timothygu), [@bitinn](https://github.com/bitinn) and [@jimmywarting](https://github.com/jimmywarting); v2 readme is written by [@jkantr](https://github.com/jkantr).