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In this article, we will learn how to use Node.js to make a post request using a third-party package.

HTTP Post Request in Node.js

The HTTP POST method creates or adds resources on the server. The key difference between POST and PUT requests is that new resources are added/created to the server through POST request whereas existing resources are updated/replaced through PUT request.

For example, a browser uses the HTTP POST request method when sending HTML form data to a server or sending data through a jQuery/AJAX request . Unlike GET and HEAD requests, HTTP POST requests can change the state of the server.

Different ways to make HTTP requests in Node.js

Using the Axios library

We can use Axios to send asynchronous HTTP requests to REST endpoints. It becomes easy to perform CRUD operations using Axios.

Install Axios library using the following command.

$ npm i axios

POSTpost() requests are made using the method. post()Axios automatically serializes the JavaScript object into JSON when it is passed as the second argument to the function.

We don't need to serialize the POST body into JSON.

Full source code:

const axios = require('axios');
async function submitRequest() {
  const payload = { title: 'Hello World', body: 'Welcome to Node tutorial' };
  const res = await axios.post('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts', payload);
  const data = res.data;
  console.log(data);
}
submitRequest();

In the above example, once the user submits the form, a POST call is sent to the node server with the specified URL (fictitious in this article) and parameters. If the server processes this data without interruption, it returns a success message.

Depending on the output of the server response, you can print a message on the console or notify the user through a message.

Output:

{
  title: 'Hello World',
  body: 'Welcome to Node tutorial',
  id: 101
}

Get the library using Node

We can use the node-fetch library to send asynchronous HTTP requests to a REST endpoint. We can find more information about node-fetch here.

Install the node-get library using the following command.

$ npm i node-fetch

Full source code:

const fetch = require('node-fetch');
async function getTodoData() {
  const payload = { title: 'Hello World', body: 'Welcome to Node tutorial' };
  const response = await fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts', {
    method: 'post',
    body: JSON.stringify(payload),
    headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
  });
  const data = await response.json();
  console.log(data);
}
getTodoData();

The output is as follows:

{
  title: 'Hello World',
  body: 'Welcome to Node tutorial',
  id: 101
}

Using the SuperAgent library

Let's use the SuperAgent library to make an HTTP post request in Node.js. We can find more information about the SuperAgent library here.

Install the superagent library using the following command.

$ npm i superagent

Full source code:

const superagent = require('superagent');
async function getTodoData() {
  const payload = { title: 'Hello World', body: 'Welcome to Node tutorial' };
  const res = await superagent.post('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts').send(payload);
  console.log(res.body);
}
getTodoData();

The output is as follows:

{
  title: 'Hello World',
  body: 'Welcome to Node tutorial',
  id: 101
}