# ![http.rb](https://raw.github.com/httprb/http.rb/main/logo.png) [![Gem Version][gem-image]][gem-link] [![MIT licensed][license-image]][license-link] [![Docs][docs-image]][docs-link] [![Lint][lint-image]][lint-link] [![Mutant][mutant-image]][mutant-link] [![Test][test-image]][test-link] [![Typecheck][typecheck-image]][typecheck-link] [Documentation] ## About HTTP (The Gem! a.k.a. http.rb) is an easy-to-use client library for making requests from Ruby. It uses a simple method chaining system for building requests, similar to Python's [Requests]. Under the hood, http.rb uses the [llhttp] parser, a fast HTTP parsing native extension. This library isn't just yet another wrapper around `Net::HTTP`. It implements the HTTP protocol natively and outsources the parsing to native extensions. ### Why http.rb? - **Clean API**: http.rb offers an easy-to-use API that should be a breath of fresh air after using something like Net::HTTP. - **Maturity**: http.rb is one of the most mature Ruby HTTP clients, supporting features like persistent connections and fine-grained timeouts. - **Performance**: using native parsers and a clean, lightweight implementation, http.rb achieves high performance while implementing HTTP in Ruby instead of C. ## Installation Add this line to your application's Gemfile: ```ruby gem "http" ``` And then execute: ```bash $ bundle ``` Or install it yourself as: ```bash $ gem install http ``` Inside of your Ruby program do: ```ruby require "http" ``` ...to pull it in as a dependency. ## Documentation [Please see the http.rb wiki][documentation] for more detailed documentation and usage notes. The following API documentation is also available: - [YARD API documentation](https://www.rubydoc.info/github/httprb/http) - [Chainable module (all chainable methods)](https://www.rubydoc.info/github/httprb/http/HTTP/Chainable) ### Basic Usage Here's some simple examples to get you started: ```ruby >> HTTP.get("https://github.com").to_s => "\n\n\n\n\n > HTTP.get("https://github.com") => #"GitHub.com", "Date"=>"Tue, 10 May...> ``` We can also obtain an `HTTP::Response::Body` object for this response: ```ruby >> HTTP.get("https://github.com").body => # ``` The response body can be streamed with `HTTP::Response::Body#readpartial`. In practice, you'll want to bind the `HTTP::Response::Body` to a local variable and call `#readpartial` on it repeatedly until it returns `nil`: ```ruby >> body = HTTP.get("https://github.com").body => # >> body.readpartial => "\n\n\n\n\n > body.readpartial => "\" href=\"/apple-touch-icon-72x72.png\">\n > body.readpartial => nil ``` ### Pattern Matching Response objects support Ruby's pattern matching: ```ruby case HTTP.get("https://api.example.com/users") in { status: 200..299, body: body } JSON.parse(body.to_s) in { status: 404 } nil in { status: 400.. } raise "request failed" end ``` Pattern matching is also supported on `HTTP::Response::Status`, `HTTP::Headers`, `HTTP::ContentType`, and `HTTP::URI`. ### Base URI Set a base URI to avoid repeating the scheme and host in every request: ```ruby api = HTTP.base_uri("https://api.example.com/v1") api.get("users") # GET https://api.example.com/v1/users api.get("users/1") # GET https://api.example.com/v1/users/1 ``` Relative paths are resolved per [RFC 3986](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3986#section-5). Combine with `persistent` to reuse the connection: ```ruby HTTP.base_uri("https://api.example.com/v1").persistent do |http| http.get("users") http.get("posts") end ``` ### Thread Safety Configured sessions are safe to share across threads: ```ruby # Build a session once, use it from any thread session = HTTP.headers("Accept" => "application/json") .timeout(10) .auth("Bearer token") threads = 10.times.map do Thread.new { session.get("https://example.com/api/data") } end threads.each(&:join) ``` Chainable configuration methods (`.headers`, `.timeout`, `.auth`, etc.) return an `HTTP::Session`, which creates a fresh `HTTP::Client` for every request. Persistent connections (`HTTP.persistent`) return an `HTTP::Session` that pools one `HTTP::Client` per origin. The session itself is **not** thread-safe. For thread-safe persistent connections, use the [connection_pool](https://rubygems.org/gems/connection_pool) gem: ```ruby pool = ConnectionPool.new(size: 5) { HTTP.persistent("https://example.com") } pool.with { |http| http.get("/path") } ``` Cross-origin redirects are handled transparently — the session opens a separate persistent connection for each origin encountered during a redirect chain: ```ruby HTTP.persistent("https://example.com").follow do |http| http.get("/moved-to-other-domain") # follows redirect across origins end ``` ## Supported Ruby Versions This library aims to support and is [tested against][build-link] the following Ruby versions: - Ruby 3.2 - Ruby 3.3 - Ruby 3.4 - Ruby 4.0 If something doesn't work on one of these versions, it's a bug. This library may inadvertently work (or seem to work) on other Ruby versions, however support will only be provided for the versions listed above. If you would like this library to support another Ruby version or implementation, you may volunteer to be a maintainer. Being a maintainer entails making sure all tests run and pass on that implementation. When something breaks on your implementation, you will be responsible for providing patches in a timely fashion. If critical issues for a particular implementation exist at the time of a major release, support for that Ruby version may be dropped. ## Upgrading See [UPGRADING.md] for a detailed migration guide between major versions. ## Security See [SECURITY.md] for reporting vulnerabilities. ## Contributing to http.rb See [CONTRIBUTING.md] for guidelines, or the quick version: - Fork http.rb on GitHub - Make your changes - Ensure all tests pass (`bundle exec rake`) - Send a pull request - If we like them we'll merge them - If we've accepted a patch, feel free to ask for commit access! ## Copyright Copyright © 2011-2026 Tony Arcieri, Erik Berlin, Alexey V. Zapparov, Zachary Anker. See LICENSE.txt for further details. [//]: # (badges) [gem-image]: https://img.shields.io/gem/v/http?logo=ruby [gem-link]: https://rubygems.org/gems/http [license-image]: https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue.svg [license-link]: https://github.com/httprb/http/blob/main/LICENSE.txt [docs-image]: https://github.com/httprb/http/actions/workflows/docs.yml/badge.svg [docs-link]: https://github.com/httprb/http/actions/workflows/docs.yml [lint-image]: https://github.com/httprb/http/actions/workflows/lint.yml/badge.svg [lint-link]: https://github.com/httprb/http/actions/workflows/lint.yml [mutant-image]: https://github.com/httprb/http/actions/workflows/mutant.yml/badge.svg [mutant-link]: https://github.com/httprb/http/actions/workflows/mutant.yml [test-image]: https://github.com/httprb/http/actions/workflows/test.yml/badge.svg [test-link]: https://github.com/httprb/http/actions/workflows/test.yml [typecheck-image]: https://github.com/httprb/http/actions/workflows/typecheck.yml/badge.svg [typecheck-link]: https://github.com/httprb/http/actions/workflows/typecheck.yml [//]: # (links) [contributing.md]: https://github.com/httprb/http/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md [documentation]: https://github.com/httprb/http/wiki [llhttp]: https://llhttp.org/ [requests]: https://docs.python-requests.org/en/latest/ [security.md]: https://github.com/httprb/http/blob/main/SECURITY.md [upgrading.md]: https://github.com/httprb/http/blob/main/UPGRADING.md