Fetch PHP

Fetch PHP is a modern HTTP client library for PHP that brings JavaScript's fetch API experience to PHP. Built on top of Guzzle, Fetch PHP allows you to write HTTP code with a clean, intuitive JavaScript-like syntax while still maintaining PHP's familiar patterns.

With support for both synchronous and asynchronous requests, a fluent chainable API, and powerful retry mechanics, Fetch PHP streamlines HTTP operations in your PHP applications.

Full documentation can be found here

Key Features

JavaScript-like Syntax: Write HTTP requests just like you would in JavaScript with the fetch() function and async/await patterns
Promise-based API: Use familiar .then(), .catch(), and .finally() methods for async operations
Fluent Interface: Build requests with a clean, chainable API
Built on Guzzle: Benefit from Guzzle's robust functionality with a more elegant API
Retry Mechanics: Automatically retry failed requests with exponential backoff
PHP-style Helper Functions: Includes traditional PHP function helpers (get(), post(), etc.) for those who prefer that style

Why Choose Fetch PHP?

Beyond Guzzle

While Guzzle is a powerful HTTP client, Fetch PHP enhances the experience by providing:

JavaScript-like API: Enjoy the familiar fetch() API and async/await patterns from JavaScript
Global client management: Configure once, use everywhere with the global client
Simplified requests: Make common HTTP requests with less code
Enhanced error handling: Reliable retry mechanics and clear error information
Type-safe enums: Use enums for HTTP methods, content types, and status codes

Feature	Fetch PHP	Guzzle
API Style	JavaScript-like fetch + async/await + PHP-style helpers	PHP-style only
Client Management	Global client + instance options	Instance-based only
Request Syntax	Clean, minimal	More verbose
Types	Modern PHP 8.3+ enums	String constants
Helper Functions	Multiple styles available	Limited

Installation

composer require jerome/fetch-php

Requirements: PHP 8.3 or higher

Basic Usage

JavaScript-style API

// Simple GET request
$response = fetch('https://api.example.com/users');
$users = $response->json();

// POST request with JSON body
$response = fetch('https://api.example.com/users', [
    'method' => 'POST',
    'json' => ['name' => 'John Doe', 'email' => 'john@example.com'],
]);

PHP-style Helpers

// GET request with query parameters
$response = get('https://api.example.com/users', ['page' => 1, 'limit' => 10]);

// POST request with JSON data
$response = post('https://api.example.com/users', [
    'name' => 'John Doe',
    'email' => 'john@example.com'
]);

Fluent API

// Chain methods to build your request
$response = fetch_client()
    ->baseUri('https://api.example.com')
    ->withHeaders(['Accept' => 'application/json'])
    ->withToken('your-auth-token')
    ->withQueryParameters(['page' => 1, 'limit' => 10])
    ->get('/users');

Async/Await Pattern

Note: The async functions (async, await, all, race, map, batch, retry) are provided by the jerome/matrix library, which is included as a dependency.

Using Async/Await

// Import async/await functions from Matrix library
use function async;
use function await;

// Wrap your fetch call in an async function
$promise = async(function() {
    return fetch('https://api.example.com/users');
});

// Await the result
$response = await($promise);
$users = $response->json();

echo "Fetched " . count($users) . " users";

Multiple Concurrent Requests with Async/Await

// These async functions are provided by the Matrix library dependency
use function async;
use function await;
use function all;

// Execute an async function
await(async(function() {
    // Create multiple requests
    $results = await(all([
        'users' => async(fn() => fetch('https://api.example.com/users')),
        'posts' => async(fn() => fetch('https://api.example.com/posts')),
        'comments' => async(fn() => fetch('https://api.example.com/comments'))
    ]));

    // Process the results
    $users = $results['users']->json();
    $posts = $results['posts']->json();
    $comments = $results['comments']->json();

    echo "Fetched " . count($users) . " users, " .
         count($posts) . " posts, and " .
         count($comments) . " comments";
}));

Sequential Requests with Async/Await

use function async;
use function await;

await(async(function() {
    // First request: get auth token
    $authResponse = await(async(fn() =>
        fetch('https://api.example.com/auth/login', [
            'method' => 'POST',
            'json' => [
                'username' => 'user',
                'password' => 'pass'
            ]
        ])
    ));

    $token = $authResponse->json()['token'];

    // Second request: use token to get user data
    $userResponse = await(async(fn() =>
        fetch('https://api.example.com/me', [
            'token' => $token
        ])
    ));

    return $userResponse->json();
}));

Error Handling with Async/Await

use function async;
use function await;

try {
    $data = await(async(function() {
        $response = await(async(fn() =>
            fetch('https://api.example.com/users/999')
        ));

        if ($response->isNotFound()) {
            throw new \Exception("User not found");
        }

        return $response->json();
    }));

    // Process the data

} catch (\Exception $e) {
    echo "Error: " . $e->getMessage();
}

Traditional Promise-based Pattern

// Set up an async request
// Get the handler for async operations
$handler = fetch_client()->getHandler();
$handler->async();

// Make the async request
$promise = $handler->get('https://api.example.com/users');

// Handle the result with callbacks
$promise->then(
    function ($response) {
        // Process successful response
        $users = $response->json();
        foreach ($users as $user) {
            echo $user['name'] . PHP_EOL;
        }
    },
    function ($exception) {
        // Handle errors
        echo "Error: " . $exception->getMessage();
    }
);

Advanced Async Usage

Concurrent Requests with Promise Utilities

use function race;

// Create promises for redundant endpoints
$promises = [
    async(fn() => fetch('https://api1.example.com/data')),
    async(fn() => fetch('https://api2.example.com/data')),
    async(fn() => fetch('https://api3.example.com/data'))
];

// Get the result from whichever completes first
$response = await(race($promises));
$data = $response->json();
echo "Got data from the fastest source";

Controlled Concurrency with Map

use function map;

// List of user IDs to fetch
$userIds = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10];

// Process at most 3 requests at a time
$responses = await(map($userIds, function($id) {
    return async(function() use ($id) {
        return fetch("https://api.example.com/users/{$id}");
    });
}, 3));

// Process the responses
foreach ($responses as $index => $response) {
    $user = $response->json();
    echo "Processed user {$user['name']}\n";
}

Batch Processing

use function batch;

// Array of items to process
$items = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10];

// Process in batches of 3 with max 2 concurrent batches
$results = await(batch(
    $items,
    function($batch) {
        // Process a batch
        return async(function() use ($batch) {
            $batchResults = [];
            foreach ($batch as $id) {
                $response = await(async(fn() =>
                    fetch("https://api.example.com/users/{$id}")
                ));
                $batchResults[] = $response->json();
            }
            return $batchResults;
        });
    },
    3, // batch size
    2  // concurrency
));

With Retries

use function retry;

// Retry a flaky request up to 3 times with exponential backoff
$data = await(retry(
    function() {
        return async(function() {
            return fetch('https://api.example.com/unstable-endpoint');
        });
    },
    3, // max attempts
    function($attempt) {
        // Exponential backoff strategy
        return min(pow(2, $attempt) * 100, 1000);
    }
));

Advanced Configuration

Automatic Retries

Fetch PHP automatically retries transient failures with exponential backoff and jitter.

Default attempts: initial try + 1 retry (configurable)
Default delay: 100ms base with exponential backoff and jitter
Retry triggers:
- Network/connect errors (e.g., timeouts, DNS, connection refused)
- HTTP status codes such as 408, 429, 500, 502, 503, 504 (customizable)

Configure per-request:

$response = fetch_client()
    ->retry(3, 200)                // 3 retries, 200ms base delay
    ->retryStatusCodes([429, 503]) // optional: customize which statuses retry
    ->get('https://api.example.com/unstable');

Notes:

HTTP error statuses do not throw; you receive the response. Retries happen internally when configured.
Network failures are retried and, if all attempts fail, throw a Fetch\\Exceptions\\RequestException.

Authentication

// Basic auth
$response = fetch('https://api.example.com/secure', [
    'auth' => ['username', 'password']
]);

// Bearer token
$response = fetch_client()
    ->withToken('your-oauth-token')
    ->get('https://api.example.com/secure');

Proxies

$response = fetch('https://api.example.com', [
    'proxy' => 'http://proxy.example.com:8080'
]);

// Or with fluent API
$response = fetch_client()
    ->withProxy('http://proxy.example.com:8080')
    ->get('https://api.example.com');

Global Client Configuration

// Configure once at application bootstrap
fetch_client([
    'base_uri' => 'https://api.example.com',
    'headers' => [
        'User-Agent' => 'MyApp/1.0',
        'Accept' => 'application/json',
    ],
    'timeout' => 10,
]);

// Use the configured client throughout your application
function getUserData($userId) {
    return fetch_client()->get("/users/{$userId}")->json();
}

function createUser($userData) {
    return fetch_client()->post('/users', $userData)->json();
}

Working with Responses

$response = fetch('https://api.example.com/users/1');

// Check if request was successful
if ($response->successful()) {
    // HTTP status code
    echo $response->getStatusCode(); // 200

    // Response body as JSON
    $user = $response->json();

    // Response body as string
    $body = $response->getBody()->getContents();

    // Get a specific header
    $contentType = $response->getHeaderLine('Content-Type');

    // Check status code categories
    if ($response->statusEnum()->isSuccess()) {
        echo "Request succeeded";
    }
}

// Inspect retry-related statuses explicitly if needed if ($response->getStatusCode() === 429) { // Handle rate limit response }

Working with Type-Safe Enums

use Fetch\Enum\Method;
use Fetch\Enum\ContentType;
use Fetch\Enum\Status;

// Use enums for HTTP methods
$client = fetch_client();
$response = $client->request(Method::POST, '/users', $userData);

// Check HTTP status with enums
if ($response->getStatus() === Status::OK) {
    // Process successful response
}

// Content type handling
$response = $client->withBody($data, ContentType::JSON)->post('/users');

Error Handling

// Synchronous error handling
try {
    $response = fetch('https://api.example.com/nonexistent');

    if (!$response->successful()) {
        echo "Request failed with status: " . $response->getStatusCode();
    }
} catch (\Throwable $e) {
    echo "Exception: " . $e->getMessage();
}

// Asynchronous error handling
$handler = fetch_client()->getHandler();
$handler->async();

$promise = $handler->get('https://api.example.com/nonexistent')
    ->then(function ($response) {
        if ($response->successful()) {
            return $response->json();
        }
        throw new \Exception("Request failed with status: " . $response->getStatusCode());
    })
    ->catch(function (\Throwable $e) {
        echo "Error: " . $e->getMessage();
    });

Timeouts

Control both total request timeout and connection timeout:

$response = fetch('https://api.example.com/data', [
    'timeout' => 15,          // total request timeout (seconds)
    'connect_timeout' => 5,   // connection timeout (seconds)
]);

If connect_timeout is not provided, it defaults to the timeout value.

Logging and Redaction

When request/response logging is enabled via a logger, sensitive values are redacted:

Headers: Authorization, X-API-Key, API-Key, X-Auth-Token, Cookie, Set-Cookie
Options: auth credentials

Logged context includes method, URI, selected options (sanitized), status code, duration, and content length.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License – see the LICENSE file for full terms.

The MIT License allows you to:

Use the software for any purpose, including commercial applications
Modify and distribute the software
Include it in proprietary software
Use it without warranty or liability concerns

This permissive license encourages adoption while maintaining attribution requirements.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! We're currently looking for help with:

Expanding test coverage
Improving documentation
Adding support for additional HTTP features

To contribute:

Fork the Project
Create your Feature Branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit your Changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing-feature')
Push to the Branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Guzzle HTTP for providing the underlying HTTP client
Thanks to all contributors who have helped improve this package
Special thanks to the PHP community for their support and feedback

Thavarshan/fetch-php