HTTP Request

Sends workflow data to an HTTP endpoint.

Finding it in the library

Search the builder's node library for HTTP Request (it lives under Output). A single click opens the in-editor docs panel shown here — description, ports, and every property, without leaving the canvas. Double-click (or drag) to add it to the workflow.

Wired up in the builder

HTTP Request in a real, runnable flow — captured live from the Studio editor, exactly as it looks on your canvas. This is the same workflow used for the example input & output below.

How it’s configured

The node’s settings as the builder shows them — every field laid out with real values. In the Studio these are edited on the node: click the chevron on the divider under its ports to open them.

Ports

Ports are the node’s contract with its neighbours. In the editor a port label renders bold when wired and italic when optional; ◈ ports accept attachment carriers rather than data wires.

How data flows through it

HTTP Request consumes the content of the incoming envelope — when it is fed directly by a trigger, the trigger’s wrapper is unwrapped at the node boundary so the node sees the actual data, not the metadata shell. Its output becomes the payload for the next node, while the envelope (trace ids, correlation, binary refs) rides along untouched. In the Runs view you always see the whole envelope for both sides of this node.

Expressions in the config

String-typed properties accept {{ }} expressions evaluated against the incoming item at run time — e.g. {{ $json.customer.email }}. On this node that’s url, authUser, authPassword, authToken, authName, authValue, authConsumerKey, authConsumerSecret, authTokenSecret, userAgent. JSON- and code-typed fields never interpolate — they are passed through literally.

Build it with AI

Every node in this reference is reachable through Flowdrome’s AI Copilot and the MCP tools — say what you want, and the graph surgery happens server-side. Node types resolve fuzzily, so the catalog label (HTTP Request) works as well as the exact type id (output.http-request).

In the Copilot panel (or any connected AI):

add a http request node after the trigger

As a step in a create_chain_workflow call:

{"type":"HTTP Request","config":{}}

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:4800/mcp -H "content-type: application/json" -d '{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": "1", "method": "tools/call", "params": { "name": "add_node", "arguments": { "workflowId": "<id>", "type": "HTTP Request" } } }'

Example input & output

Captured from a real test run of the workflow above — this is what the Runs view shows after pressing Test workflow.

On this run the node emitted on ports success, output.

Input — what the node received

Output — what the node produced

Property reference

Every setting, with its type and default — the same fields shown configured above.

Using it

Fetch and use a JSON API — no glue code

Set Method and URL — the URL field takes {{ }} expressions, so https://api.example.com/orders/{{ $json.orderId }} builds the path from the incoming data. With Parse JSON responses on (the default for new nodes), the response body arrives as a parsed value: the next node reads {{ $json.body.status }} or {{ $json.body.items.length }} directly — no script node, no JSON.parse.

The example capture above shows the result shape: status code, headers, and the parsed body side by side on the output envelope.

Scrape, then shape (the shipped Scrape Headlines demo)

A plain GET against a page feeds HTML Extract (CSS selectors) → Split Out → Sort → Limit. The whole pipeline is list nodes; the request node just delivers body.

Body path — send one value, and fail fast when it isn’t there

By default a POST/PUT/PATCH sends the node’s whole incoming payload as the body (GET and DELETE send none). Set Body path to a dotted path and two things change: the body becomes just that value, and a path that is not present throws HTTP_REQUEST_BODY_MISSING — body path is missing: customer — before the request is built or sent. No network call, no half-finished write downstream, and the run’s error names the field.

That makes it the cheapest way to reject a webhook that arrived without the field you were about to forward, since nothing validates a request body by default:

# the workflow's HTTP Request node has Body path = customer
curl -i -X POST http://your-host:4801/signup-api/signup \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' -H 'Prefer: wait=5' \
  -d '{"source":"web"}'

HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error

{ "runId": "run_9f3c1a", "status": "failed", "error": "body path is missing: customer" }

Two limits worth knowing. Present-but-null counts as present — the check is whether the path exists, so {"customer": null} passes it. And it only guards the value you are sending; to check a shape you are not forwarding, use Validate JSON Schema after the trigger instead. See making a bad request fail properly.

Tips

• Parse JSON responses keeps the raw string in bodyText alongside the parsed body; malformed JSON sets parseFailed instead of failing the node. Workflows saved before this option keep their original string-body behavior.
• The URL, headers and body fields all take {{ }} expressions.
• Client (User-Agent): pick a browser, phone, or crawler to appear as — or Custom for your own string. Some APIs (e.g. weather.gov) reject requests that arrive without a User-Agent; an explicit User-Agent in Headers always wins over the preset.
• Outbound requests pass an SSRF guard — private-range targets are refused unless the engine is configured to allow them.
• Binary responses (images, PDFs) become first-class binary items that S3 / Write File / Telegram media operations consume directly.
• A rejected request keeps the rejection. With Expect 2xx on (the default), a non-2xx fails the node with HTTP_REQUEST_FAILED / HTTP request returned 400 — and the upstream’s own response body travels with it as structured detail on the failed node, so the run record says “name is required” and not just the status line. The run’s top-level error (the string a webhook caller collects) is the message; open the run to read the detail.

Related nodes

The rest of the Output group — the same folder you’d scan in the editor’s library.

• Play Audio Plays binary audio (e.g
• Show Image Shows a binary image (e.g
• Send Message Sends a normalized message to Gmail, Slack, Telegram, Discord, or a generic webhook endpoint.
• Respond to Webhook Answers the HTTP trigger's request mid-flow with a status, headers, and body — the run continues afterwards
• Send Email Sends an email over SMTP (STARTTLS/TLS/none, AUTH PLAIN/LOGIN)
• Slack Sends a Slack message (text or Block Kit blocks) to a channel via chat.postMessage with a bot token
• Discord Sends a Discord message through a webhook or as a bot (token + channel)
• Telegram Works with the Telegram Bot API: send/edit/delete/pin messages, chat actions, media uploads (photo, document,

This page is generated from the node registry by gen-node-docs.mjs on every site build — ports, properties, defaults and visibility rules cannot drift from the code. The screenshots and example data are captured from a live Flowdrome by npm run shots:nodes and npm run gen:examples. The hand-authored notes above are merged in.