# How to make HTTP Requests using Needle in Node.js

By Atta Ur Rehman Shah (https://attacomsian.com/about). Published May 1, 2019, updated Oct 1, 2022. Topics: Node.js.
Canonical URL: https://attacomsian.com/blog/http-requests-needle

> A detailed article to learn how to make different HTTP requests using Needle module in Node.js.

[Needle](https://github.com/tomas/needle) is a streamable HTTP client for making quick HTTP requests in a Node.js application to consume RESTful web services, uploading and downloading streams of data, etc.

In this tutorial, we'll discuss how to use Needle to send HTTP requests in the Node.js application. For all our examples, we will use dummy [Reqres](https://reqres.in/) REST API to simulate real application scenarios.

## Installation

Depending on your package manager, you can install the Needle by using either npm:

```bash
$ npm install needle --save
```

or yarn:

```bash
$ yarn add needle
```

## Needle API

Needle supports both [promises](https://attacomsian.com/blog/promises-javascript) and traditional callbacks for making HTTP requests. You can also stream the data by skipping the callback.

```javascript
const needle = require('needle')
const fs = require('fs')

// using promises
needle('get', 'https://reqres.in/api/users')
  .then(res => {
    console.log(res.body)
  })
  .catch(err => {
    console.error(err)
  })

// using traditional callback
needle.get('https://reqres.in/api/users', (err, res, body) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error(err)
  }

  console.log(res.body) // or just `body` as it is an alias of `res.body`
})

// skip callback, using streams
let out = fs.createWriteStream('got.jpg')
needle
  .get('https://i.imgur.com/7zTMFOe.jpg')
  .pipe(out)
  .on('finish', () => {
    console.log('pipe done')
  })
```

As you can see above, calling `needle()` directly returns a JavaScript promise. Just like [Axios](https://attacomsian.com/blog/http-requests-axios), Needle also provides aliases for all supported HTTP request methods: `needle.get()`, `needle.post()`, `needle.put()`, and so on. 

These aliases return a readable stream. Depending on the response's `content-type`, Needle automatically parses the response body to [JSON](https://attacomsian.com/blog/what-is-json) or XML streams.

 ## GET Request
 
The following code snippet shows how to use the `needle.get()` method to get a list of users:

```javascript
const needle = require('needle')

needle.get('https://reqres.in/api/users', (err, res, body) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error(err)
  }
  console.log(body)
})
```
 
 If you want to pass the query parameters, you can either append them to a URL like the following:
 
 ```javascript
 needle.get('https://www.google.com/search?q=needle', (err, res, body) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error(err)
  }
  console.log(body)
})
 ```
 
 or use `needle.request()` method to pass parameters as an object:
 
 ```javascript
needle.request('get', 'https://www.google.com/search', { q: 'needle' }, (err, res) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error(err)
  }
  console.log(res.body)
})
 ```
 
 ## POST Request
 
 You can send an HTTP post request using the `needle.post()` method:
 
 ```javascript
 const needle = require('needle')

needle.post(
  'https://reqres.in/api/users',
  {
    name: 'Atta',
    job: 'Freelance Developer'
  },
  (err, res) => {
    if (err) {
      console.error(err)
    }
    console.log(res.body)
  }
)
 ```
 
 By default, the request body is sent as a query string. But you can pass `json: true` in options to set the content type to `application/json`, and send the request body as a JSON string:

```javascript
const needle = require('needle')

needle.post(
  'https://reqres.in/api/users',
  {
    name: 'Atta',
    job: 'Freelance Developer'
  },
  { json: true },
  (err, res) => {
    if (err) {
      console.error(err)
    }
    console.log(res.body)
  }
)
```

## PUT Request

Use the `needle.put()` method to send an HTTP put request:

```javascript
const needle = require('needle')

needle.put(
  'https://reqres.in/api/users/2',
  {
    name: 'Atta',
    job: 'MEAN Stack Developer'
  },
  { json: true },
  (err, res) => {
    if (err) {
      console.error(err)
    }
    console.log(res.body)
  }
)
```

## DELETE Request

Needle provides `needle.delete()` method to perform an HTTP delete request:

```typescript
const needle = require('needle')

needle.delete('https://reqres.in/api/users/2', null, (err, res) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error(err)
  }
  console.log(res.statusCode)
})
```

> Interested in learning more about HTTP clients in Node.js? Check out [7 Ways to Make HTTP Requests in Node.js](https://attacomsian.com/blog/http-requests-in-nodejs) tutorial.

## Conclusion

Needle is a streamable HTTP client for Node.js that supports proxy, iconv, redirect following, cookie, deflate, and multi-part requests. With Needle, you can use promises and callbacks to perform HTTP requests.

For more configuration options, read [Needle](https://github.com/tomas/needle) docs on GitHub.