# Requests — Python HTTP for Humans

> Elegant HTTP library for Python with automatic content decoding, connection pooling, and session persistence.

## Install

Save as a script file and run:

# Requests — Python HTTP for Humans

## Quick Use
```bash
pip install requests
```
```python
import requests
r = requests.get('https://api.github.com/repos/psf/requests')
print(r.status_code, r.json()['name'])
```

## Introduction
Requests is the most downloaded Python package for making HTTP calls. It provides an intuitive API that abstracts away the complexity of urllib3, connection pooling, and content negotiation so developers can focus on interacting with web services rather than managing sockets.

## What Requests Does
- Sends GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, and HEAD requests with a single function call
- Handles JSON encoding and decoding automatically via `r.json()`
- Manages sessions with cookies, headers, and auth persisted across requests
- Supports file uploads, streaming downloads, and multipart form data
- Provides built-in authentication helpers for Basic, Digest, and token-based auth

## Architecture Overview
Requests is a thin ergonomic layer on top of urllib3. Each call creates a PreparedRequest, passes it through a session (which applies default headers, cookies, and auth), sends it via an HTTPAdapter backed by a urllib3 PoolManager, and returns a Response object with decoded content. Connection pooling and keep-alive are handled transparently.

## Setup & Configuration
- Install from PyPI: `pip install requests`
- Use `requests.Session()` to persist settings across multiple calls
- Configure retries via `HTTPAdapter(max_retries=Retry(total=3))`
- Set timeouts globally with `session.request(..., timeout=(3.05, 27))`
- Use environment variables `HTTP_PROXY` / `HTTPS_PROXY` for proxy configuration

## Key Features
- Automatic content decoding with charset detection
- Connection pooling and keep-alive by default
- International domain name and URL support
- Streaming request and response bodies for large payloads
- Hook system for request and response inspection

## Comparison with Similar Tools
- **httpx** — async-first with HTTP/2, Requests stays sync-only but simpler
- **urllib3** — lower-level with more control, Requests wraps it for convenience
- **aiohttp** — async client and server, Requests is sync and client-only
- **curl / pycurl** — C-based with broader protocol support, Requests is pure Python

## FAQ
**Q: Does Requests support async?**
A: No. For async HTTP use httpx or aiohttp. Requests is designed for synchronous workflows.

**Q: How do I handle rate limiting?**
A: Attach a retry strategy via `HTTPAdapter` with `Retry(status_forcelist=[429], backoff_factor=1)`.

**Q: Is Requests thread-safe?**
A: Session objects are not thread-safe. Use one Session per thread or protect access with a lock.

**Q: How do I verify SSL certificates?**
A: Requests verifies SSL by default using certifi. Pass `verify=False` to disable or `verify='/path/to/ca-bundle'` for custom CAs.

## Sources
- https://github.com/psf/requests
- https://docs.python-requests.org

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Source: https://tokrepo.com/en/workflows/asset-33752715
Author: Script Depot