requests
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What is requests
Requests is an open-source Python HTTP client library used to send HTTP/HTTPS requests and handle responses in application code. Developers use it for integrating with REST APIs, web services, and internal HTTP endpoints, including authentication, headers, cookies, and file uploads. It focuses on a simple, Pythonic interface over lower-level networking primitives while relying on underlying libraries for transport and TLS handling.
Simple, Pythonic HTTP API
Requests provides a straightforward interface for common HTTP operations (GET/POST/PUT/DELETE) with clear handling of parameters, headers, JSON bodies, and multipart uploads. Its ergonomics reduce boilerplate compared with lower-level HTTP modules. This makes it a common default choice for application developers who need to call external services from Python.
Broad ecosystem compatibility
Requests is widely used across the Python ecosystem and works well with typical tooling such as virtual environments, dependency managers, and common web frameworks. It supports standard patterns like session persistence, cookie handling, and proxy configuration. The library’s ubiquity also means many third-party examples and integrations assume Requests-style usage.
Mature core HTTP features
Requests supports TLS/SSL verification, redirects, timeouts, authentication helpers, and streaming downloads. It offers a Session object for connection reuse and shared configuration across calls. These features cover many production integration scenarios without requiring developers to build their own HTTP plumbing.
Not an async-first client
Requests is primarily synchronous, which can be limiting for high-concurrency I/O workloads. While it can be used with threads or other concurrency patterns, it does not provide native asyncio-based APIs. Teams building event-loop-based services often choose an async-native HTTP client instead.
Limited advanced transport control
Requests abstracts many transport details, which simplifies usage but can restrict fine-grained control over connection pooling, HTTP/2, and low-level tuning. Some advanced behaviors depend on underlying dependencies and are not exposed as first-class configuration. For specialized networking requirements, developers may need a different client or lower-level libraries.
Not a UI component library
Despite being categorized here as a component library, Requests is a developer networking library rather than a UI/component toolkit. It does not provide visual components, design-system primitives, or application-building widgets. Organizations evaluating it alongside UI component suites should treat it as an HTTP dependency, not a front-end component set.
Plan & Pricing
Pricing model: Open-source / free Details: Requests is distributed as free, open-source software (Apache-2.0). No paid plans, tiers, or pricing are listed on the official documentation or project repository.
