Got — Human-Friendly HTTP Client for Node.js

Introduction

Got is a Node.js HTTP client designed as a modern, developer-friendly alternative to the built-in http module. It covers common needs like automatic retries, redirect following, streaming, and JSON parsing with a clean promise-based API.

What Got Does

• Sends HTTP requests with a simple promise and stream interface
• Retries failed requests automatically with configurable backoff
• Follows redirects and handles cookies transparently
• Supports pagination through built-in link-header traversal
• Provides lifecycle hooks for request and response transformation

Architecture Overview

Got wraps Node.js native http/https modules and adds a layered middleware pipeline. Each request passes through normalizers, hooks (beforeRequest, afterResponse, beforeRetry), and response handlers. Options cascade from defaults to instance-level to per-request, and the client can be extended with got.extend() to create pre-configured instances.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Install via npm: npm install got
• ESM-only since v12; use import got from "got"
• Create custom instances with got.extend({ prefixUrl, headers })
• Configure retry count, methods, and status codes via the retry option
• Set timeouts per phase (lookup, connect, socket, response) for fine-grained control

Key Features

• Automatic retries with exponential backoff on network errors and 5xx responses
• First-class TypeScript types ship with the package
• Stream and promise APIs available for every request
• RFC-compliant caching via a pluggable cache adapter
• Hooks system enables logging, auth token injection, and response transforms

Comparison with Similar Tools

• Axios — Works in both browser and Node; Got is Node-only but lighter and ESM-native
• node-fetch — Minimal Fetch API polyfill; Got adds retries, hooks, and pagination
• undici — Lower-level HTTP/1.1 client from the Node.js team; faster but less ergonomic
• ky — Browser-focused Fetch wrapper by the same author; Got is the Node.js counterpart

FAQ

Q: Does Got work in the browser? A: No. Got is Node.js-only. For browsers, use ky or native Fetch.

Q: How do I migrate from Axios to Got? A: Replace axios.get(url) with got(url).json(). Most options map directly; see the migration guide in the repo.

Q: Can I use Got with HTTP/2? A: Yes. Pass http2: true in the options to enable HTTP/2 with automatic ALPN negotiation.

Q: Is Got actively maintained? A: Yes. The project is maintained by Sindre Sorhus and receives regular releases.

Sources

• https://github.com/sindresorhus/got
• https://github.com/sindresorhus/got/blob/main/documentation/README.md