nodeunit-api-client

Lightweight HTTP/HTTPS client with built-in testing assertions for Nodeunit.

✨ Features

• ✅ Simple API for HTTP/HTTPS requests
• ✅ Built-in assertions for Nodeunit tests
• ✅ Support for GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS, TRACE, CONNECT
• ✅ Automatic JSON parsing
• ✅ Configurable timeouts
• ✅ Basic authentication support
• ✅ Query string handling
• ✅ No external dependencies (uses native Node.js modules)

📦 Installation

npm install nodeunit-api-client

🚀 Quick Start

Basic Usage

const HttpClient = require('nodeunit-api-client');

const api = new HttpClient({
  https: true,
  host: 'api.example.com',
  port: 443,
  path: '/v1'
});

// Simple GET request
api.get(null, '/users', function(response) {
  console.log(response.statusCode); // 200
  console.log(response.data);       // Parsed JSON
});

With Nodeunit Tests

const HttpClient = require('nodeunit-api-client');

const api = new HttpClient({
  https: true,
  host: 'api.example.com'
});

exports.testAPI = {
  'should return user data': function(test) {
    api.get(test, '/user/123', {}, {
      status: 200,
      headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' }
    }, function(response) {
      test.deepEqual(response.data, { id: 123, name: 'John' });
      test.done();
    });
  }
};

POST with JSON Data

api.post(null, '/users', {
  data: { name: 'Alice', email: '[email protected]' }
}, {}, function(response) {
  console.log(response.statusCode); // 201
  console.log(response.data);
});

GET with Query Parameters

api.get(null, '/search', {
  data: { q: 'nodejs', limit: 10 }
}, {}, function(response) {
  // Request: GET /search?q=nodejs&limit=10
  console.log(response.data);
});

📖 API Documentation

Constructor Options

new HttpClient({
  https: true,       // 'http' or 'https' (default: 'http')
  host: 'localhost',       // Server hostname
  port: 80,                // Server port (default: 80 for http, 443 for https)
  path: '',                // Base path (e.g. '/api/v1')
  auth: 'user:pass',       // Basic authentication
  reqHeaders: {},          // Default request headers
  headers: {},             // Default expected response headers (for assertions)
  status: 200,             // Default expected status code (for assertions)
  timeout: 30000,          // Request timeout in ms (default: 30000)
  debug: false             // Enable debug logs (default: false)
})

Methods

All methods support multiple signatures:

// (assert, path, callback)
api.get(test, '/users', function(response) { ... });

// (assert, path, res)
api.get(test, '/users', { status: 200 });

// (assert, path, req, callback)
api.get(test, '/users', { headers: { 'x-api-key': 'secret' } }, function(response) { ... });

// (assert, path, req, res)
api.get(test, '/users', {}, { status: 200 });

// (assert, path, req, res, callback)
api.get(test, '/users', {}, { status: 200 }, function(response) { ... });

Available methods:

• get(assert, path, req, res, cb)
• post(assert, path, req, res, cb)
• put(assert, path, req, res, cb)
• del(assert, path, req, res, cb) (DELETE)
• head(assert, path, req, res, cb)
• options(assert, path, req, res, cb)
• trace(assert, path, req, res, cb)
• connect(assert, path, req, res, cb)

Request Object (req)

{
  headers: {},           // Request headers
  data: {},              // Query params (GET) or body data (POST/PUT)
  body: '',              // Raw body (alternative to data)
  auth: 'user:pass'      // Override default auth
}

Response Assertions (res)

{
  status: 200,           // Expected status code
  headers: {},           // Expected response headers
  body: '',              // Expected raw body
  data: {}               // Expected parsed JSON data
}

Response Object (in callback)

{
  statusCode: 200,       // HTTP status code
  headers: {},           // Response headers
  body: '',              // Raw response body
  data: {}               // Parsed JSON (if content-type is application/json)
}

🧪 Testing

npm test

📝 Examples

Basic Authentication

const api = new HttpClient({
  https: true,
  host: 'api.example.com',
  auth: 'username:password'
});

api.get(null, '/protected', function(response) {
  console.log(response.statusCode);
});

Custom Headers

const api = new HttpClient({
  https: true,
  host: 'api.example.com',
  reqHeaders: {
    'X-API-Key': 'your-api-key',
    'User-Agent': 'MyApp/1.0'
  }
});

api.get(null, '/data', function(response) {
  console.log(response.data);
});

Error Handling

api.get(null, '/endpoint', function(response) {
  if (response instanceof Error) {
    console.error('Request failed:', response.message);
    return;
  }
  
  console.log('Success:', response.data);
});

Complete Test Example

const HttpClient = require('nodeunit-api-client');

const api = new HttpClient({
  https: true,
  host: 'jsonplaceholder.typicode.com'
});

exports.apiTests = {
  'GET /posts/1': function(test) {
    api.get(test, '/posts/1', {}, {
      status: 200,
      headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json; charset=utf-8' }
    }, function(response) {
      test.equal(response.data.id, 1);
      test.ok(response.data.title);
      test.done();
    });
  },
  
  'POST /posts': function(test) {
    api.post(test, '/posts', {
      data: {
        title: 'foo',
        body: 'bar',
        userId: 1
      }
    }, {
      status: 201
    }, function(response) {
      test.equal(response.data.title, 'foo');
      test.done();
    });
  }
};

Copyright (c) 2026 Sabri

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