How to set a timeout on a http request in Node

Question

I m trying to set a timeout on an HTTP client that uses http request with no luck  So far what I did is this   var options           var req   http request options  function res         Usual stuff  on data   on end   chunks  etc          This does not work TOO MUCH    sometimes the socket is not ready  undefined  expecially on rapid sequences of requests    req socket setTimeout myTimeout     req socket on  timeout   function       req abort         req write  something    req end      Any hints

User · Accepted Answer

Just to clarify the answer above   Now it is possible to use timeout option and the corresponding request event      set the desired timeout in options const options                   timeout  3000         create a request const request   http request options  response   gt           your callback here         use its  timeout  event to abort the request request on  timeout        gt        request abort

User · Answer

Elaborating on the answer  douwe here is where you would put a timeout on a http request      TYPICAL REQUEST var req   https get http options  function  res                                                                                                                     var data                                                                                                                                                         res on  data   function  chunk    data    chunk                                                                                                                                                                          res on  end   function              if  res statusCode     200       do stuff with your data             else      Do other codes                        req on  error   function  err       More serious connection problems              TIMEOUT PART req setTimeout 1000  function                                                                                                                                       console log  Server connection timeout  after 1 second                                                                                                                           req abort                                                                                                                                                         this abort   is also fine

User · Answer

At this moment there is a method to do this directly on the request object   request setTimeout timeout  function         request abort          This is a shortcut method that binds to the socket event and then creates the timeout   Reference  Node js v0 8 8 Manual  amp  Documentation

User · Answer

The Rob Evans anwser works correctly for me but when I use request abort    it occurs to throw a socket hang up error which stays unhandled   I had to add an error handler for the request object    var options           var req   http request options  function res         Usual stuff  on data   on end   chunks  etc       req on  socket   function  socket        socket setTimeout myTimeout         socket on  timeout   function             req abort               req on  error   function err        if  err code      ECONNRESET             console log  Timeout occurs              specific error treatment             other error treatment      req write  something    req end

User · Answer

Curious  what happens if you use straight net sockets instead  Here s some sample code I put together for testing purposes   var net   require  net     function HttpRequest host  port  path  method      return       headers          port  80      path           method   GET       socket  null       setDefaultHeaders  function            this headers push this method         this path     HTTP 1 1          this headers push  Host      this host              SetHeaders  function headers          for  var i   0  i  lt  headers length  i              this headers push headers i                       WriteHeaders  function           if this socket            this socket write this headers join   r n             this socket write   r n r n       to signal headers are complete                    MakeRequest  function data          if data            this socket write data                  this socket end               SetupRequest  function           this host   host         if path            this path   path                if port            this port   port                if method            this method   method                 this  setDefaultHeaders           this socket   net createConnection this port  this host                 var request   HttpRequest  www somesite com    request SetupRequest     request socket setTimeout 30000  function      console error  Connection timed out          request socket on  data   function data      console log data toString  utf8          request WriteHeaders    request MakeRequest

User · Answer

For me - here is a less confusing way of doing the socket setTimeout  var request require  https   get      url     function response           var r             response on  data  function chunk               r  chunk                          response on  end  function                console dir r                end up here if everything is good                             on  error  function e               console dir e message        end up here if the result returns an error                 request on  error  function e       console dir e                        end up here if a timeout         request on  socket  function socket       socket setTimeout 1000 function            request abort                     causes error event

User · Answer

There is simpler method   Instead of using setTimeout or working with socket directly  We can use  timeout  in the  options  in client uses   Below is code of both server and client  in 3 parts   Module and options part    use strict       Source  https   github com nodejs node blob master test parallel test-http-client-timeout-option js  const assert   require  assert    const http   require  http     const options         host   127 0 0 1      server uses this     port  3000     server uses this      method   GET      client uses this     path          client uses this     timeout  2000    client uses this  timesout in 2 seconds if server does not respond in time      Server part   function startServer         console log  startServer         const server   http createServer        server              listen options port  options host  function                      console log  Server listening on http       options host         options port                   console log                          server is listening now                    so  let s start the client                  startClient                        Client part   function startClient         console log  startClient         const req   http request options        req on  close   function              console log  got closed                  req on  timeout   function              console log  timeout       options timeout   1000      seconds expired                Source  https   github com nodejs node blob master test parallel test-http-client-timeout-option js L27         req destroy                 req on  error   function  e               Source  https   github com nodejs node blob master lib  http outgoing js L248         if  req connection destroyed                console log  got error  req destroy   was called                 return                     console log  got error     e                   Finish sending the request     req end        startServer      If you put all the above 3 parts in one file   a js   and then run   node a js   then  output will be   startServer Server listening on http   127 0 0 1 3000  startClient timeout  2 seconds expired got closed  got error  req destroy   was called    Hope that helps

User · Answer

2019 Update  There are various ways to handle this more elegantly now  Please see some other answers on this thread  Tech moves fast so answers can often become out of date fairly quickly  My answer will still work but it s worth looking at alternatives as well   2012 Answer  Using your code  the issue is that you haven t waited for a socket to be assigned to the request before attempting to set stuff on the socket object  It s all async so   var options           var req   http request options  function res         Usual stuff  on data   on end   chunks  etc         req on  socket   function  socket        socket setTimeout myTimeout         socket on  timeout   function             req abort                 req on  error   function err        if  err code      ECONNRESET             console log  Timeout occurs              specific error treatment             other error treatment      req write  something    req end      The  socket  event is fired when the request is assigned a socket object

User · Answer

You should pass the reference to request like below   x000D   x000D  var options           x000D  var req   http request options  function res    x000D       Usual stuff  on data   on end   chunks  etc    x000D      x000D   x000D  req setTimeout 60000  function    x000D      this abort    x000D     bind req   x000D  req write  something    x000D  req end    x000D   x000D   x000D    Request error event will get triggered   x000D   x000D  req on  error   function e   x000D         console log  Request Error     JSON stringify e    x000D        x000D   x000D   x000D

[http] How to set a timeout on a http.request() in Node?

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