
# Request - Simplified HTTP client

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## Super simple to use

Request is designed to be the simplest way possible to make http calls. It supports HTTPS and follows redirects by default.

```js
var request = require('request');
request('http://www.google.com', function (error, response, body) {
  if (!error && response.statusCode == 200) {
    console.log(body) // Show the HTML for the Google homepage.
  }
})
```


## Table of contents

- [Streaming](#streaming)
- [Forms](#forms)
- [HTTP Authentication](#http-authentication)
- [Custom HTTP Headers](#custom-http-headers)
- [OAuth Signing](#oauth-signing)
- [Proxies](#proxies)
- [Unix Domain Sockets](#unix-domain-sockets)
- [TLS/SSL Protocol](#tlsssl-protocol)
- [Support for HAR 1.2](#support-for-har-12)
- [**All Available Options**](#requestoptions-callback)

Request also offers [convenience methods](#convenience-methods) like
`request.defaults` and `request.post`, and there are
lots of [usage examples](#examples) and several
[debugging techniques](#debugging).


---


## Streaming

You can stream any response to a file stream.

```js
request('http://google.com/doodle.png').pipe(fs.createWriteStream('doodle.png'))
```

You can also stream a file to a PUT or POST request. This method will also check the file extension against a mapping of file extensions to content-types (in this case `application/json`) and use the proper `content-type` in the PUT request (if the headers don’t already provide one).

```js
fs.createReadStream('file.json').pipe(request.put('http://mysite.com/obj.json'))
```

Request can also `pipe` to itself. When doing so, `content-type` and `content-length` are preserved in the PUT headers.

```js
request.get('http://google.com/img.png').pipe(request.put('http://mysite.com/img.png'))
```

Request emits a "response" event when a response is received. The `response` argument will be an instance of [http.IncomingMessage](http://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_http_incomingmessage).

```js
request
  .get('http://google.com/img.png')
  .on('response', function(response) {
    console.log(response.statusCode) // 200
    console.log(response.headers['content-type']) // 'image/png'
  })
  .pipe(request.put('http://mysite.com/img.png'))
```

To easily handle errors when streaming requests, listen to the `error` event before piping:

```js
request
  .get('http://mysite.com/doodle.png')
  .on('error', function(err) {
    console.log(err)
  })
  .pipe(fs.createWriteStream('doodle.png'))
```

Now let’s get fancy.

```js
http.createServer(function (req, resp) {
  if (req.url === '/doodle.png') {
    if (req.method === 'PUT') {
      req.pipe(request.put('http://mysite.com/doodle.png'))
    } else if (req.method === 'GET' || req.method === 'HEAD') {
      request.get('http://mysite.com/doodle.png').pipe(resp)
    }
  }
})
```

You can also `pipe()` from `http.ServerRequest` instances, as well as to `http.ServerResponse` instances. The HTTP method, headers, and entity-body data will be sent. Which means that, if you don't really care about security, you can do:

```js
http.createServer(function (req, resp) {
  if (req.url === '/doodle.png') {
    var x = request('http://mysite.com/doodle.png')
    req.pipe(x)
    x.pipe(resp)
  }
})
```

And since `pipe()` returns the destination stream in ≥ Node 0.5.x you can do one line proxying. :)

```js
req.pipe(request('http://mysite.com/doodle.png')).pipe(resp)
```

Also, none of this new functionality conflicts with requests previous features, it just expands them.

```js
var r = request.defaults({'proxy':'http://localproxy.com'})

http.createServer(function (req, resp) {
  if (req.url === '/doodle.png') {
    r.get('http://google.com/doodle.png').pipe(resp)
  }
})
```

You can still use intermediate proxies, the requests will still follow HTTP forwards, etc.

[back to top](#table-of-contents)


---


## Forms

`request` supports `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` and `multipart/form-data` form uploads. For `multipart/related` refer to the `multipart` API.


#### application/x-www-form-urlencoded (URL-Encoded Forms)

URL-encoded forms are simple.

```js
request.post('http://service.com/upload', {form:{key:'value'}})
// or
request.post('http://service.com/upload').form({key:'value'})
// or
request.post({url:'http://service.com/upload', form: {key:'value'}}, function(err,httpResponse,body){ /* ... */ })
```


#### multipart/form-data (Multipart Form Uploads)

For `multipart/form-data` we use the [form-data](https://github.com/felixge/node-form-data) library by [@felixge](https://github.com/felixge). For the most cases, you can pass your upload form data via the `formData` option.


```js
var formData = {
  // Pass a simple key-value pair
  my_field: 'my_value',
  // Pass data via Buffers
  my_buffer: new Buffer([1, 2, 3]),
  // Pass data via Streams
  my_file: fs.createReadStream(__dirname + '/unicycle.jpg'),
  // Pass multiple values /w an Array
  attachments: [
    fs.createReadStream(__dirname + '/attachment1.jpg'),
    fs.createReadStream(__dirname + '/attachment2.jpg')
  ],
  // Pass optional meta-data with an 'options' object with style: {value: DATA, options: OPTIONS}
  // Use case: for some types of streams, you'll need to provide "file"-related information manually.
  // See the `form-data` README for more information about options: https://github.com/felixge/node-form-data
  custom_file: {
    value:  fs.createReadStream('/dev/urandom'),
    options: {
      filename: 'topsecret.jpg',
      contentType: 'image/jpg'
    }
  }
};
request.post({url:'http://service.com/upload', formData: formData}, function optionalCallback(err, httpResponse, body) {
  if (err) {
    return console.error('upload failed:', err);
  }
  console.log('Upload successful!  Server responded with:', body);
});
```

For advanced cases, you can access the form-data object itself via `r.form()`. This can be modified until the request is fired on the next cycle of the event-loop. (Note that this calling `form()` will clear the currently set form data for that request.)

```js
// NOTE: Advanced use-case, for normal use see 'formData' usage above
var r = request.post('http://service.com/upload', function optionalCallback(err, httpResponse, body) {...})
var form = r.form();
form.append('my_field', 'my_value');
form.append('my_buffer', new Buffer([1, 2, 3]));
form.append('custom_file', fs.createReadStream(__dirname + '/unicycle.jpg'), {filename: 'unicycle.jpg'});
```
See the [form-data README](https://github.com/felixge/node-form-data) for more information & examples.


#### multipart/related

Some variations in different HTTP implementations require a newline/CRLF before, after, or both before and after the boundary of a `multipart/related` request (using the multipart option). This has been observed in the .NET WebAPI version 4.0. You can turn on a boundary preambleCRLF or postamble by passing them as `true` to your request options.

```js
  request({
    method: 'PUT',
    preambleCRLF: true,
    postambleCRLF: true,
    uri: 'http://service.com/upload',
    multipart: [
      {
        'content-type': 'application/json'
        body: JSON.stringify({foo: 'bar', _attachments: {'message.txt': {follows: true, length: 18, 'content_type': 'text/plain' }}})
      },
      { body: 'I am an attachment' },
      { body: fs.createReadStream('image.png') }
    ],
    // alternatively pass an object containing additional options
    multipart: {
      chunked: false,
      data: [
        {
          'content-type': 'application/json',
          body: JSON.stringify({foo: 'bar', _attachments: {'message.txt': {follows: true, length: 18, 'content_type': 'text/plain' }}})
        },
        { body: 'I am an attachment' }
      ]
    }
  },
  function (error, response, body) {
    if (error) {
      return console.error('upload failed:', error);
    }
    console.log('Upload successful!  Server responded with:', body);
  })
```

[back to top](#table-of-contents)


---


## HTTP Authentication

```js
request.get('http://some.server.com/').auth('username', 'password', false);
// or
request.get('http://some.server.com/', {
  'auth': {
    'user': 'username',
    'pass': 'password',
    'sendImmediately': false
  }
});
// or
request.get('http://some.server.com/').auth(null, null, true, 'bearerToken');
// or
request.get('http://some.server.com/', {
  'auth': {
    'bearer': 'bearerToken'
  }
});
```

If passed as an option, `auth` should be a hash containing values:

- `user` || `username`
- `pass` || `password`
- `sendImmediately` (optional)
- `bearer` (optional)

The method form takes parameters
`auth(username, password, sendImmediately, bearer)`.

`sendImmediately` defaults to `true`, which causes a basic or bearer
authentication header to be sent.  If `sendImmediately` is `false`, then
`request` will retry with a proper authentication header after receiving a
`401` response from the server (which must contain a `WWW-Authenticate` header
indicating the required authentication method).

Note that you can also specify basic authentication using the URL itself, as
detailed in [RFC 1738](http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1738.txt).  Simply pass the
`user:password` before the host with an `@` sign:

```js
var username = 'username',
    password = 'password',
    url = 'http://' + username + ':' + password + '@some.server.com';

request({url: url}, function (error, response, body) {
   // Do more stuff with 'body' here
});
```

Digest authentication is supported, but it only works with `sendImmediately`
set to `false`; otherwise `request` will send basic authentication on the
initial request, which will probably cause the request to fail.

Bearer authentication is supported, and is activated when the `bearer` value is
available. The value may be either a `String` or a `Function` returning a
`String`. Using a function to supply the bearer token is particularly useful if
used in conjuction with `defaults` to allow a single function to supply the
last known token at the time of sending a request, or to compute one on the fly.

[back to top](#table-of-contents)


---


## Custom HTTP Headers

HTTP Headers, such as `User-Agent`, can be set in the `options` object.
In the example below, we call the github API to find out the number
of stars and forks for the request repository. This requires a
custom `User-Agent` header as well as https.

```js
var request = require('request');

var options = {
  url: 'https://api.github.com/repos/request/request',
  headers: {
    'User-Agent': 'request'
  }
};

function callback(error, response, body) {
  if (!error && response.statusCode == 200) {
    var info = JSON.parse(body);
    console.log(info.stargazers_count + " Stars");
    console.log(info.forks_count + " Forks");
  }
}

request(options, callback);
```

[back to top](#table-of-contents)


---


## OAuth Signing

[OAuth version 1.0](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5849) is supported.  The
default signing algorithm is
[HMAC-SHA1](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5849#section-3.4.2):

```js
// OAuth1.0 - 3-legged server side flow (Twitter example)
// step 1
var qs = require('querystring')
  , oauth =
    { callback: 'http://mysite.com/callback/'
    , consumer_key: CONSUMER_KEY
    , consumer_secret: CONSUMER_SECRET
    }
  , url = 'https://api.twitter.com/oauth/request_token'
  ;
request.post({url:url, oauth:oauth}, function (e, r, body) {
  // Ideally, you would take the body in the response
  // and construct a URL that a user clicks on (like a sign in button).
  // The verifier is only available in the response after a user has
  // verified with twitter that they are authorizing your app.

  // step 2
  var req_data = qs.parse(body)
  var uri = 'https://api.twitter.com/oauth/authenticate'
    + '?' + qs.stringify({oauth_token: req_data.oauth_token})
  // redirect the user to the authorize uri

  // step 3
  // after the user is redirected back to your server
  var auth_data = qs.parse(body)
    , oauth =
      { consumer_key: CONSUMER_KEY
      , consumer_secret: CONSUMER_SECRET
      , token: auth_data.oauth_token
      , token_secret: req_data.oauth_token_secret
      , verifier: auth_data.oauth_verifier
      }
    , url = 'https://api.twitter.com/oauth/access_token'
    ;
  request.post({url:url, oauth:oauth}, function (e, r, body) {
    // ready to make signed requests on behalf of the user
    var perm_data = qs.parse(body)
      , oauth =
        { consumer_key: CONSUMER_KEY
        , consumer_secret: CONSUMER_SECRET
        , token: perm_data.oauth_token
        , token_secret: perm_data.oauth_token_secret
        }
      , url = 'https://api.twitter.com/1.1/users/show.json'
      , qs =
        { screen_name: perm_data.screen_name
        , user_id: perm_data.user_id
        }
      ;
    request.get({url:url, oauth:oauth, qs:qs, json:true}, function (e, r, user) {
      console.log(user)
    })
  })
})
```

For [RSA-SHA1 signing](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5849#section-3.4.3), make
the following changes to the OAuth options object:
* Pass `signature_method : 'RSA-SHA1'`
* Instead of `consumer_secret`, specify a `private_key` string in
  [PEM format](http://how2ssl.com/articles/working_with_pem_files/)

For [PLAINTEXT signing](http://oauth.net/core/1.0/#anchor22), make
the following changes to the OAuth options object:
* Pass `signature_method : 'PLAINTEXT'`

To send OAuth parameters via query params or in a post body as described in The
[Consumer Request Parameters](http://oauth.net/core/1.0/#consumer_req_param)
section of the oauth1 spec:
* Pass `transport_method : 'query'` or `transport_method : 'body'` in the OAuth
  options object.
* `transport_method` defaults to `'header'`

To use [Request Body Hash](https://oauth.googlecode.com/svn/spec/ext/body_hash/1.0/oauth-bodyhash.html) you can either
* Manually generate the body hash and pass it as a string `body_hash: '...'`
* Automatically generate the body hash by passing `body_hash: true`

[back to top](#table-of-contents)


---


## Proxies

If you specify a `proxy` option, then the request (and any subsequent
redirects) will be sent via a connection to the proxy server.

If your endpoint is an `https` url, and you are using a proxy, then
request will send a `CONNECT` request to the proxy server *first*, and
then use the supplied connection to connect to the endpoint.

That is, first it will make a request like:

```
HTTP/1.1 CONNECT endpoint-server.com:80
Host: proxy-server.com
User-Agent: whatever user agent you specify
```

and then the proxy server make a TCP connection to `endpoint-server`
on port `80`, and return a response that looks like:

```
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
```

At this point, the connection is left open, and the client is
communicating directly with the `endpoint-server.com` machine.

See [the wikipedia page on HTTP Tunneling](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_tunnel)
for more information.

By default, when proxying `http` traffic, request will simply make a
standard proxied `http` request.  This is done by making the `url`
section of the initial line of the request a fully qualified url to
the endpoint.

For example, it will make a single request that looks like:

```
HTTP/1.1 GET http://endpoint-server.com/some-url
Host: proxy-server.com
Other-Headers: all go here

request body or whatever
```

Because a pure "http over http" tunnel offers no additional security
or other features, it is generally simpler to go with a
straightforward HTTP proxy in this case.  However, if you would like
to force a tunneling proxy, you may set the `tunnel` option to `true`.

You can also make a standard proxied `http` request by explicitly setting
`tunnel : false`, but **note that this will allow the proxy to see the traffic
to/from the destination server**.

If you are using a tunneling proxy, you may set the
`proxyHeaderWhiteList` to share certain headers with the proxy.

You can also set the `proxyHeaderExclusiveList` to share certain
headers only with the proxy and not with destination host.

By default, this set is:

```
accept
accept-charset
accept-encoding
accept-language
accept-ranges
cache-control
content-encoding
content-language
content-length
content-location
content-md5
content-range
content-type
connection
date
expect
max-forwards
pragma
proxy-authorization
referer
te
transfer-encoding
user-agent
via
```

Note that, when using a tunneling proxy, the `proxy-authorization`
header and any headers from custom `proxyHeaderExclusiveList` are
*never* sent to the endpoint server, but only to the proxy server.


### Controlling proxy behaviour using environment variables

The following environment variables are respected by `request`:

 * `HTTP_PROXY` / `http_proxy`
 * `HTTPS_PROXY` / `https_proxy`
 * `NO_PROXY` / `no_proxy`

When `HTTP_PROXY` / `http_proxy` are set, they will be used to proxy non-SSL requests that do not have an explicit `proxy` configuration option present. Similarly, `HTTPS_PROXY` / `https_proxy` will be respected for SSL requests that do not have an explicit `proxy` configuration option. It is valid to define a proxy in one of the environment variables, but then override it for a specific request, using the `proxy` configuration option. Furthermore, the `proxy` configuration option can be explicitly set to false / null to opt out of proxying altogether for that request.

`request` is also aware of the `NO_PROXY`/`no_proxy` environment variables. These variables provide a granular way to opt out of proxying, on a per-host basis. It should contain a comma separated list of hosts to opt out of proxying. It is also possible to opt of proxying when a particular destination port is used. Finally, the variable may be set to `*` to opt out of the implicit proxy configuration of the other environment variables.

Here's some examples of valid `no_proxy` values:

 * `google.com` - don't proxy HTTP/HTTPS requests to Google.
 * `google.com:443` - don't proxy HTTPS requests to Google, but *do* proxy HTTP requests to Google.
 * `google.com:443, yahoo.com:80` - don't proxy HTTPS requests to Google, and don't proxy HTTP requests to Yahoo!
 * `*` - ignore `https_proxy`/`http_proxy` environment variables altogether.

[back to top](#table-of-contents)


---


## UNIX Domain Sockets

`request` supports making requests to [UNIX Domain Sockets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_domain_socket). To make one, use the following URL scheme:

```js
/* Pattern */ 'http://unix:SOCKET:PATH'
/* Example */ request.get('http://unix:/absolute/path/to/unix.socket:/request/path')
```

Note: The `SOCKET` path is assumed to be absolute to the root of the host file system.

[back to top](#table-of-contents)


---


## TLS/SSL Protocol

TLS/SSL Protocol options, such as `cert`, `key` and `passphrase`, can be
set directly in `options` object, in the `agentOptions` property of the `options` object, or even in `https.globalAgent.options`. Keep in mind that, although `agentOptions` allows for a slightly wider range of configurations, the recommendend way is via `options` object directly, as using `agentOptions` or `https.globalAgent.options` would not be applied in the same way in proxied environments (as data travels through a TLS connection instead of an http/https agent).

```js
var fs = require('fs')
    , path = require('path')
    , certFile = path.resolve(__dirname, 'ssl/client.crt')
    , keyFile = path.resolve(__dirname, 'ssl/client.key')
    , caFile = path.resolve(__dirname, 'ssl/ca.cert.pem')
    , request = require('request');

var options = {
    url: 'https://api.some-server.com/',
    cert: fs.readFileSync(certFile),
    key: fs.readFileSync(keyFile),
    passphrase: 'password',
    ca: fs.readFileSync(caFile)
    }
};

request.get(options);
```

### Using `options.agentOptions`

In the example below, we call an API requires client side SSL certificate
(in PEM format) with passphrase protected private key (in PEM format) and disable the SSLv3 protocol:

```js
var fs = require('fs')
    , path = require('path')
    , certFile = path.resolve(__dirname, 'ssl/client.crt')
    , keyFile = path.resolve(__dirname, 'ssl/client.key')
    , request = require('request');

var options = {
    url: 'https://api.some-server.com/',
    agentOptions: {
        cert: fs.readFileSync(certFile),
        key: fs.readFileSync(keyFile),
        // Or use `pfx` property replacing `cert` and `key` when using private key, certificate and CA certs in PFX or PKCS12 format:
        // pfx: fs.readFileSync(pfxFilePath),
        passphrase: 'password',
        securityOptions: 'SSL_OP_NO_SSLv3'
    }
};

request.get(options);
```

It is able to force using SSLv3 only by specifying `secureProtocol`:

```js
request.get({
    url: 'https://api.some-server.com/',
    agentOptions: {
        secureProtocol: 'SSLv3_method'
    }
});
```

It is possible to accept other certificates than those signed by generally allowed Certificate Authorities (CAs).
This can be useful, for example,  when using self-signed certificates.
To allow a different certificate, you can specify the signing CA by adding the contents of the CA's certificate file to the `agentOptions`:

```js
request.get({
    url: 'https://api.some-server.com/',
    agentOptions: {
        ca: fs.readFileSync('ca.cert.pem')
    }
});
```

[back to top](#table-of-contents)


---

## Support for HAR 1.2

The `options.har` property will override the values: `url`, `method`, `qs`, `headers`, `form`, `formData`, `body`, `json`, as well as construct multipart data and read files from disk when `request.postData.params[].fileName` is present without a matching `value`.

a validation step will check if the HAR Request format matches the latest spec (v1.2) and will skip parsing if not matching.

```js
  var request = require('request')
  request({
    // will be ignored
    method: 'GET'
    uri: 'http://www.google.com',

    // HTTP Archive Request Object
    har: {
      url: 'http://www.mockbin.com/har'
      method: 'POST',
      headers: [
        {
          name: 'content-type',
          value: 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
        }
      ],
      postData: {
        mimeType: 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
        params: [
          {
            name: 'foo',
            value: 'bar'
          },
          {
            name: 'hello',
            value: 'world'
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  })

  // a POST request will be sent to http://www.mockbin.com
  // with body an application/x-www-form-urlencoded body:
  // foo=bar&hello=world
```

[back to top](#table-of-contents)


---

## request(options, callback)

The first argument can be either a `url` or an `options` object. The only required option is `uri`; all others are optional.

- `uri` || `url` - fully qualified uri or a parsed url object from `url.parse()`
- `baseUrl` - fully qualified uri string used as the base url. Most useful with `request.defaults`, for example when you want to do many requests to the same domain.  If `baseUrl` is `https://example.com/api/`, then requesting `/end/point?test=true` will fetch `https://example.com/api/end/point?test=true`. When `baseUrl` is given, `uri` must also be a string.
- `method` - http method (default: `"GET"`)
- `headers` - http headers (default: `{}`)

---

- `qs` - object containing querystring values to be appended to the `uri`
- `qsParseOptions` - object containing options to pass to the [qs.parse](https://github.com/hapijs/qs#parsing-objects) method. Alternatively pass options to the [querystring.parse](https://nodejs.org/docs/v0.12.0/api/querystring.html#querystring_querystring_parse_str_sep_eq_options) method using this format `{sep:';', eq:':', options:{}}`
- `qsStringifyOptions` - object containing options to pass to the [qs.stringify](https://github.com/hapijs/qs#stringifying) method. Alternatively pass options to the  [querystring.stringify](https://nodejs.org/docs/v0.12.0/api/querystring.html#querystring_querystring_stringify_obj_sep_eq_options) method using this format `{sep:';', eq:':', options:{}}`. For example, to change the way arrays are converted to query strings using the `qs` module pass the `arrayFormat` option with one of `indices|brackets|repeat`
- `useQuerystring` - If true, use `querystring` to stringify and parse
  querystrings, otherwise use `qs` (default: `false`).  Set this option to
  `true` if you need arrays to be serialized as `foo=bar&foo=baz` instead of the
  default `foo[0]=bar&foo[1]=baz`.

---

- `body` - entity body for PATCH, POST and PUT requests. Must be a `Buffer` or `String`, unless `json` is `true`. If `json` is `true`, then `body` must be a JSON-serializable object.
- `form` - when passed an object or a querystring, this sets `body` to a querystring representation of value, and adds `Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded` header. When passed no options, a `FormData` instance is returned (and is piped to request). See "Forms" section above.
- `formData` - Data to pass for a `multipart/form-data` request. See
  [Forms](#forms) section above.
- `multipart` - array of objects which contain their own headers and `body`
  attributes. Sends a `multipart/related` request. See [Forms](#forms) section
  above.
  - Alternatively you can pass in an object `{chunked: false, data: []}` where
    `chunked` is used to specify whether the request is sent in
    [chunked transfer encoding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunked_transfer_encoding)
    In non-chunked requests, data items with body streams are not allowed.
- `preambleCRLF` - append a newline/CRLF before the boundary of your `multipart/form-data` request.
- `postambleCRLF` - append a newline/CRLF at the end of the boundary of your `multipart/form-data` request.
- `json` - sets `body` but to JSON representation of value and adds `Content-type: application/json` header.  Additionally, parses the response body as JSON.
- `jsonReviver` - a [reviver function](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/JSON/parse) that will be passed to `JSON.parse()` when parsing a JSON response body.

---

- `auth` - A hash containing values `user` || `username`, `pass` || `password`, and `sendImmediately` (optional).  See documentation above.
- `oauth` - Options for OAuth HMAC-SHA1 signing. See documentation above.
- `hawk` - Options for [Hawk signing](https://github.com/hueniverse/hawk). The `credentials` key must contain the necessary signing info, [see hawk docs for details](https://github.com/hueniverse/hawk#usage-example).
- `aws` - `object` containing AWS signing information. Should have the properties `key`, `secret`. Also requires the property `bucket`, unless you’re specifying your `bucket` as part of the path, or the request doesn’t use a bucket (i.e. GET Services)
- `httpSignature` - Options for the [HTTP Signature Scheme](https://github.com/joyent/node-http-signature/blob/master/http_signing.md) using [Joyent's library](https://github.com/joyent/node-http-signature). The `keyId` and `key` properties must be specified. See the docs for other options.

---

- `followRedirect` - follow HTTP 3xx responses as redirects (default: `true`). This property can also be implemented as function which gets `response` object as a single argument and should return `true` if redirects should continue or `false` otherwise.
- `followAllRedirects` - follow non-GET HTTP 3xx responses as redirects (default: `false`)
- `maxRedirects` - the maximum number of redirects to follow (default: `10`)
- `removeRefererHeader` - removes the referer header when a redirect happens (default: `false`).

---

- `encoding` - Encoding to be used on `setEncoding` of response data. If `null`, the `body` is returned as a `Buffer`. Anything else **(including the default value of `undefined`)** will be passed as the [encoding](http://nodejs.org/api/buffer.html#buffer_buffer) parameter to `toString()` (meaning this is effectively `utf8` by default).
- `gzip` - If `true`, add an `Accept-Encoding` header to request compressed content encodings from the server (if not already present) and decode supported content encodings in the response.  **Note:** Automatic decoding of the response content is performed on the body data returned through `request` (both through the `request` stream and passed to the callback function) but is not performed on the `response` stream (available from the `response` event) which is the unmodified `http.IncomingMessage` object which may contain compressed data. See example below.
- `jar` - If `true` and `tough-cookie` is installed, remember cookies for future use (or define your custom cookie jar; see examples section)

---

- `pool` - An object describing which agents to use for the request. If this option is omitted the request will use the global agent (as long as [your options allow for it](request.js#L747)). Otherwise, request will search the pool for your custom agent. If no custom agent is found, a new agent will be created and added to the pool.
  - A `maxSockets` property can also be provided on the `pool` object to set the max number of sockets for all agents created (ex: `pool: {maxSockets: Infinity}`).
  - Note that if you are sending multiple requests in a loop and creating
    multiple new `pool` objects, `maxSockets` will not work as intended.  To
    work around this, either use [`request.defaults`](#requestdefaultsoptions)
    with your pool options or create the pool object with the `maxSockets`
    property outside of the loop.
- `timeout` - Integer containing the number of milliseconds to wait for a
  request to respond before aborting the request.  Note that if the underlying
  TCP connection cannot be established, the OS-wide TCP connection timeout will
  overrule the `timeout` option ([the default in Linux is around 20 seconds](http://www.sekuda.com/overriding_the_default_linux_kernel_20_second_tcp_socket_connect_timeout)).
- `localAddress` - Local interface to bind for network connections.
- `proxy` - An HTTP proxy to be used. Supports proxy Auth with Basic Auth, identical to support for the `url` parameter (by embedding the auth info in the `uri`)
- `strictSSL` - If `true`, requires SSL certificates be valid. **Note:** to use your own certificate authority, you need to specify an agent that was created with that CA as an option.
- `agentOptions` - Object containing user agent options. See documentation above. **Note:** [see tls API doc for TLS/SSL options](http://nodejs.org/api/tls.html#tls_tls_connect_options_callback).
- `tunnel` - controls the behavior of
  [HTTP `CONNECT` tunneling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_tunnel#HTTP_CONNECT_tunneling)
  as follows:
   - `undefined` (default) - `true` if the destination is `https` or a previous
     request in the redirect chain used a tunneling proxy, `false` otherwise
   - `true` - always tunnel to the destination by making a `CONNECT` request to
     the proxy
   - `false` - request the destination as a `GET` request.
- `proxyHeaderWhiteList` - A whitelist of headers to send to a
  tunneling proxy.
- `proxyHeaderExclusiveList` - A whitelist of headers to send
  exclusively to a tunneling proxy and not to destination.

---

- `time` - If `true`, the request-response cycle (including all redirects) is timed at millisecond resolution, and the result provided on the response's `elapsedTime` property.

---

- `har` - A [HAR 1.2 Request Object](http://www.softwareishard.com/blog/har-12-spec/#request), will be processed from HAR format into options overwriting matching values *(see the [HAR 1.2 section](#support-for-har-1.2) for details)*

The callback argument gets 3 arguments:

1. An `error` when applicable (usually from [`http.ClientRequest`](http://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_class_http_clientrequest) object)
2. An [`http.IncomingMessage`](http://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_http_incomingmessage) object
3. The third is the `response` body (`String` or `Buffer`, or JSON object if the `json` option is supplied)

[back to top](#table-of-contents)


---

## Convenience methods

There are also shorthand methods for different HTTP METHODs and some other conveniences.


### request.defaults(options)

This method **returns a wrapper** around the normal request API that defaults
to whatever options you pass to it.

**Note:** `request.defaults()` **does not** modify the global request API;
instead, it **returns a wrapper** that has your default settings applied to it.

**Note:** You can call `.defaults()` on the wrapper that is returned from
`request.defaults` to add/override defaults that were previously defaulted.

For example:
```js
//requests using baseRequest() will set the 'x-token' header
var baseRequest = request.defaults({
  headers: {x-token: 'my-token'}
})

//requests using specialRequest() will include the 'x-token' header set in
//baseRequest and will also include the 'special' header
var specialRequest = baseRequest.defaults({
  headers: {special: 'special value'}
})
```

### request.put

Same as `request()`, but defaults to `method: "PUT"`.

```js
request.put(url)
```

### request.patch

Same as `request()`, but defaults to `method: "PATCH"`.

```js
request.patch(url)
```

### request.post

Same as `request()`, but defaults to `method: "POST"`.

```js
request.post(url)
```

### request.head

Same as `request()`, but defaults to `method: "HEAD"`.

```js
request.head(url)
```

### request.del

Same as `request()`, but defaults to `method: "DELETE"`.

```js
request.del(url)
```

### request.get

Same as `request()` (for uniformity).

```js
request.get(url)
```
### request.cookie

Function that creates a new cookie.

```js
request.cookie('key1=value1')
```
### request.jar()

Function that creates a new cookie jar.

```js
request.jar()
```

[back to top](#table-of-contents)


---


## Debugging

There are at least three ways to debug the operation of `request`:

1. Launch the node process like `NODE_DEBUG=request node script.js`
   (`lib,request,otherlib` works too).

2. Set `require('request').debug = true` at any time (this does the same thing
   as #1).

3. Use the [request-debug module](https://github.com/nylen/request-debug) to
   view request and response headers and bodies.

[back to top](#table-of-contents)


---


## Examples:

```js
  var request = require('request')
    , rand = Math.floor(Math.random()*100000000).toString()
    ;
  request(
    { method: 'PUT'
    , uri: 'http://mikeal.iriscouch.com/testjs/' + rand
    , multipart:
      [ { 'content-type': 'application/json'
        ,  body: JSON.stringify({foo: 'bar', _attachments: {'message.txt': {follows: true, length: 18, 'content_type': 'text/plain' }}})
        }
      , { body: 'I am an attachment' }
      ]
    }
  , function (error, response, body) {
      if(response.statusCode == 201){
        console.log('document saved as: http://mikeal.iriscouch.com/testjs/'+ rand)
      } else {
        console.log('error: '+ response.statusCode)
        console.log(body)
      }
    }
  )
```

For backwards-compatibility, response compression is not supported by default.
To accept gzip-compressed responses, set the `gzip` option to `true`.  Note
that the body data passed through `request` is automatically decompressed
while the response object is unmodified and will contain compressed data if
the server sent a compressed response.

```js
  var request = require('request')
  request(
    { method: 'GET'
    , uri: 'http://www.google.com'
    , gzip: true
    }
  , function (error, response, body) {
      // body is the decompressed response body
      console.log('server encoded the data as: ' + (response.headers['content-encoding'] || 'identity'))
      console.log('the decoded data is: ' + body)
    }
  ).on('data', function(data) {
    // decompressed data as it is received
    console.log('decoded chunk: ' + data)
  })
  .on('response', function(response) {
    // unmodified http.IncomingMessage object
    response.on('data', function(data) {
      // compressed data as it is received
      console.log('received ' + data.length + ' bytes of compressed data')
    })
  })
```

Cookies are disabled by default (else, they would be used in subsequent requests). To enable cookies, set `jar` to `true` (either in `defaults` or `options`) and install `tough-cookie`.

```js
var request = request.defaults({jar: true})
request('http://www.google.com', function () {
  request('http://images.google.com')
})
```

To use a custom cookie jar (instead of `request`’s global cookie jar), set `jar` to an instance of `request.jar()` (either in `defaults` or `options`)

```js
var j = request.jar()
var request = request.defaults({jar:j})
request('http://www.google.com', function () {
  request('http://images.google.com')
})
```

OR

```js
var j = request.jar();
var cookie = request.cookie('key1=value1');
var url = 'http://www.google.com';
j.setCookie(cookie, url);
request({url: url, jar: j}, function () {
  request('http://images.google.com')
})
```

To use a custom cookie store (such as a
[`FileCookieStore`](https://github.com/mitsuru/tough-cookie-filestore)
which supports saving to and restoring from JSON files), pass it as a parameter
to `request.jar()`:

```js
var FileCookieStore = require('tough-cookie-filestore');
// NOTE - currently the 'cookies.json' file must already exist!
var j = request.jar(new FileCookieStore('cookies.json'));
request = request.defaults({ jar : j })
request('http://www.google.com', function() {
  request('http://images.google.com')
})
```

The cookie store must be a
[`tough-cookie`](https://github.com/goinstant/tough-cookie)
store and it must support synchronous operations; see the
[`CookieStore` API docs](https://github.com/goinstant/tough-cookie/#cookiestore-api)
for details.

To inspect your cookie jar after a request:

```js
var j = request.jar()
request({url: 'http://www.google.com', jar: j}, function () {
  var cookie_string = j.getCookieString(uri); // "key1=value1; key2=value2; ..."
  var cookies = j.getCookies(uri);
  // [{key: 'key1', value: 'value1', domain: "www.google.com", ...}, ...]
})
```

[back to top](#table-of-contents)
