Web Client in Ruby

Make HTTP requests from Ruby using the built-in Net::HTTP library and the Faraday gem.

Net::HTTP — Built-in HTTP Client

Ruby ships with Net::HTTP in its standard library — no gem required. It covers GET, POST, headers, HTTPS, and response inspection.

1. Basic GET Request

Fetch a JSON resource over HTTPS.

2. POST Request with JSON Body

Send a JSON payload and read the created resource ID.

3. Inspecting the Response

Read status code, headers, and body.

4. URL Query Parameters

Safely append query parameters using URI.

5. Streaming Large Responses

Read a response body in chunks to avoid loading it all into memory.

6. Server-Sent Events (SSE) — Client

Consume a live SSE stream from a server as a client.

Faraday — HTTP Client Gem

Faraday is the most popular Ruby HTTP gem. It provides a clean builder API, middleware pipeline, adapters (Net::HTTP, Typhoeus, etc.), and built-in JSON support.

1. GET Request with Faraday

Fetch JSON with a reusable connection.

2. POST with JSON Middleware

Send and receive JSON automatically.

3. Timeouts & Error Handling

Configure timeouts and raise on HTTP errors.

Headers & Authentication

Real-world clients must set custom headers, handle authentication tokens, and send form or multipart data.

1. Bearer Token Authentication

Authenticate with an Authorization header.

2. Form-Encoded POST

Submit HTML-style form fields.

Timeouts, Retries & Concurrency

Networks fail. Production clients must time out fast, retry transient errors, and control concurrency to avoid overwhelming upstream services.

1. Timeouts with Net::HTTP

Avoid hanging on slow servers.

2. Retry with Exponential Back-off

Retry transient failures with a limit.

3. Concurrent Requests with Threads

Fire multiple HTTP requests in parallel.

Best Practices

A few rules separate fragile one-liners from production-grade clients.

1. Guidelines

Rules for every production HTTP client.