`fetch()`

The global WHATWG Fetch API for making HTTP requests.

Since Node 21 (stable) Spec ↗

Syntax

await fetch(input[, init])

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`input`	`string \| URL \| Request`	Yes	The resource to fetch.
`init`	`object`	No	Options: `method`, `headers`, `body`, `signal`, `redirect`.

Returns

Promise<Response> — Resolves with a Response object.

Examples

const res = await fetch('https://api.example.com/users/1');
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`HTTP ${res.status}`);
const user = await res.json();
console.log(user.name);

Output

Ada Lovelace

const res = await fetch('https://api.example.com/items', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  body: JSON.stringify({ name: 'widget' }),
  signal: AbortSignal.timeout(5000),
});
console.log(res.status);

Output

Notes

Stable since Node 21 (experimental from 18). It does NOT reject on HTTP error status - check `res.ok`/`res.status` yourself. Use `AbortSignal.timeout()` to avoid hanging requests. The body can be read only once.