# Http request node: requestTimeout is connectTimeout in reality (NR v3.0.2)

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/http-request-node-requesttimeout-is-connecttimeout-in-reality-nr-v3-0-2/80704>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [22 August 2023 08:46 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/http-request-node-requesttimeout-is-connecttimeout-in-reality-nr-v3-0-2/80704 "2023-08-22T08:46:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gregorius](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/gregorius/32/73816_2.png) [@gregorius](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/gregorius)\
**Post date:** [22 August 2023 08:46 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/http-request-node-requesttimeout-is-connecttimeout-in-reality-nr-v3-0-2/80704/1 "2023-08-22T08:46:21Z")

</div>

Hi There!

I just discovered something about the http request node and I'm wondering whether that might change with NR 3.1.x

The `requestTimeout` value is in fact the connect timeout, i.e. the limit on connecting to the server, it is _not_ the time limit for the server to respond. This means that a server can open the connection within the `requestTimeout` time but then not respond for X seconds. The http request node would hold the connection for those X seconds and longer.

This flow is a demonstration of that - `requestTimeout` is 1 second while the endpoint delays 5 seconds before sending reponse:

```auto
[{"id":"4de89aba64f6a744","type":"inject","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"set url and count","props":[{"p":"payload"},{"p":"url","v":"http://localhost:1880/end/point","vt":"str"},{"p":"count","v":"30","vt":"num"}],"repeat":"","crontab":"","once":false,"onceDelay":0.1,"topic":"","payload":"","payloadType":"date","x":428,"y":365,"wires":[["c5071dcbcf7ced38"]]},{"id":"c5071dcbcf7ced38","type":"function","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"create count number of messages \\n with requestTimeout","func":"msg.payload = [];\n\nfor ( var idx = 0 ; idx < msg.count; idx++ ) {\n msg.payload.push({\n url: msg.url,\n requestTimeout: 1000,\n })\n}\n\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"initialize":"","finalize":"","libs":[],"x":690,"y":270,"wires":[["bfb961534391079d"]]},{"id":"bfb961534391079d","type":"split","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","splt":"\\n","spltType":"str","arraySplt":1,"arraySpltType":"len","stream":false,"addname":"","x":948,"y":340,"wires":[["b17afc78fb472d40"]]},{"id":"b17afc78fb472d40","type":"http request","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","method":"GET","ret":"txt","paytoqs":"ignore","url":"","tls":"","persist":false,"proxy":"","insecureHTTPParser":false,"authType":"","senderr":false,"headers":[],"x":1116,"y":395,"wires":[["5f78cbafd3481358"]]},{"id":"e6be7a5009f301b6","type":"catch","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","scope":["b17afc78fb472d40"],"uncaught":false,"x":1143,"y":365,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"5f78cbafd3481358","type":"join","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","mode":"custom","build":"array","property":"","propertyType":"full","key":"topic","joiner":"\\n","joinerType":"str","accumulate":false,"timeout":"","count":"","reduceRight":false,"reduceExp":"","reduceInit":"","reduceInitType":"","reduceFixup":"","x":1301,"y":444,"wires":[["ebfe60187962ec1d"]]},{"id":"68b5f5cc96af4dfc","type":"http in","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","url":"/end/point","method":"get","upload":false,"swaggerDoc":"","x":564,"y":516,"wires":[["b3176bfe3e920a9a"]]},{"id":"d4f4d119f907475a","type":"http response","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","statusCode":"","headers":{},"x":980,"y":542,"wires":[]},{"id":"ebfe60187962ec1d","type":"function","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"group by statusCode","func":"var newpload = {};\n\nfor ( var idx = 0; idx < msg.payload.length; idx++ ) {\n (newpload[msg.payload[idx].statusCode] ||= []).push(msg.payload[idx])\n}\n\nmsg.payload = newpload;\n\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"initialize":"","finalize":"","libs":[],"x":1530,"y":444,"wires":[["cfd421c114b151c1"]]},{"id":"cfd421c114b151c1","type":"debug","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"debug 43","active":true,"tosidebar":true,"console":false,"tostatus":false,"complete":"true","targetType":"full","statusVal":"","statusType":"auto","x":1774,"y":389,"wires":[]},{"id":"b3176bfe3e920a9a","type":"delay","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","pauseType":"delay","timeout":"5","timeoutUnits":"seconds","rate":"1","nbRateUnits":"1","rateUnits":"second","randomFirst":"1700","randomLast":"2000","randomUnits":"milliseconds","drop":false,"allowrate":false,"outputs":1,"x":784,"y":582,"wires":[["d4f4d119f907475a"]]}]

```

I had a look at the [code](https://github.com/node-red/node-red/blob/master/packages/node_modules/%40node-red/nodes/core/network/21-httprequest.js#L224-L232) and it seems that the `timeout` opt is set for the `got` request. In newer versions of the got module [timeout](https://github.com/sindresorhus/got/blob/HEAD/documentation/6-timeout.md) is a hash allowing for fine-grained timeout specifications, i.e., connect v. response timeout which would prevent this behaviour from the client side.

I was wondering whether new version of NR would support that?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![knolleary](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/knolleary/32/3_2.png) [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)\
**Post date:** [22 August 2023 09:19 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/http-request-node-requesttimeout-is-connecttimeout-in-reality-nr-v3-0-2/80704/2 "2023-08-22T09:19:51Z")

</div>

> [@gregorius](#):
>
> I was wondering whether new version of NR would support that?

No one has proposed any changes in this area, so the behaviour will be the same as it is now.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [22 August 2023 09:23 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/http-request-node-requesttimeout-is-connecttimeout-in-reality-nr-v3-0-2/80704/3 "2023-08-22T09:23:08Z")

</div>

Additionally, I suspect those options were added after they dropped support for CommonJS from v12 (now fully esm).

And while it may be possible to upgrade via dynamic import, for now, Node-RED is sticking with `got` V11.x as we use node `require`.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gregorius](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/gregorius/32/73816_2.png) [@gregorius](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/gregorius)\
**Post date:** [22 August 2023 09:39 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/http-request-node-requesttimeout-is-connecttimeout-in-reality-nr-v3-0-2/80704/4 "2023-08-22T09:39:47Z")

</div>

I have to admit that I only came across of this because I was trying to create a benchmarking flow similar to [apache bench (ab)](https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/programs/ab.html), perhaps that makes this a bit of an edge case.

I created a work around using another delay (on the client side) - for benchmarking this solution is ok I guess, no idea whether it should be used for production.

Hack-around flow:

```auto
[{"id":"4de89aba64f6a744","type":"inject","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"set url and count","props":[{"p":"payload"},{"p":"url","v":"http://localhost:1880/end/point","vt":"str"},{"p":"count","v":"300","vt":"num"}],"repeat":"","crontab":"","once":false,"onceDelay":0.1,"topic":"","payload":"","payloadType":"date","x":370,"y":255,"wires":[["c5071dcbcf7ced38"]]},{"id":"c5071dcbcf7ced38","type":"function","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"create count number of messages \\n with requestTimeout","func":"msg.payload = [];\n\nfor ( var idx = 0 ; idx < msg.count; idx++ ) {\n msg.payload.push({\n url: msg.url,\n requestTimeout: 1000,\n })\n}\n\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"initialize":"","finalize":"","libs":[],"x":421,"y":358,"wires":[["bfb961534391079d"]]},{"id":"bfb961534391079d","type":"split","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","splt":"\\n","spltType":"str","arraySplt":1,"arraySpltType":"len","stream":false,"addname":"","x":637,"y":226,"wires":[["9c39e4c08eb3d981"]]},{"id":"b17afc78fb472d40","type":"http request","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","method":"GET","ret":"txt","paytoqs":"ignore","url":"","tls":"","persist":false,"proxy":"","insecureHTTPParser":false,"authType":"","senderr":false,"headers":[],"x":1194,"y":322,"wires":[["5f78cbafd3481358"]]},{"id":"e6be7a5009f301b6","type":"catch","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","scope":["b17afc78fb472d40"],"uncaught":false,"x":1221,"y":292,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"5f78cbafd3481358","type":"join","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","mode":"custom","build":"array","property":"","propertyType":"full","key":"topic","joiner":"\\n","joinerType":"str","accumulate":false,"timeout":"","count":"","reduceRight":false,"reduceExp":"","reduceInit":"","reduceInitType":"","reduceFixup":"","x":1518,"y":323,"wires":[["5c72a477a083347e"]]},{"id":"68b5f5cc96af4dfc","type":"http in","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","url":"/end/point","method":"get","upload":false,"swaggerDoc":"","x":500,"y":814,"wires":[["b3176bfe3e920a9a"]]},{"id":"d4f4d119f907475a","type":"http response","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","statusCode":"","headers":{},"x":977,"y":628,"wires":[]},{"id":"ebfe60187962ec1d","type":"function","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"group by statusCode","func":"var newpload = {};\n\nfor ( var idx = 0; idx < msg.payload.length; idx++ ) {\n (newpload[msg.payload[idx].statusCode] ||= []).push(msg.payload[idx])\n}\n\nmsg.payload = newpload;\n\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"initialize":"","finalize":"","libs":[],"x":1692,"y":585,"wires":[["1de2adbf5b60cbba"]]},{"id":"b3176bfe3e920a9a","type":"delay","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"Random delay between 1.5 and 4 seconds","pauseType":"random","timeout":"5","timeoutUnits":"seconds","rate":"1","nbRateUnits":"1","rateUnits":"second","randomFirst":"1500","randomLast":"4000","randomUnits":"milliseconds","drop":false,"allowrate":false,"outputs":1,"x":884,"y":814,"wires":[["f569c0f5674297ed"]]},{"id":"df6c6a244431f5a9","type":"delay","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","pauseType":"delay","timeout":"2500","timeoutUnits":"milliseconds","rate":"1","nbRateUnits":"1","rateUnits":"second","randomFirst":"1","randomLast":"5","randomUnits":"seconds","drop":false,"allowrate":false,"outputs":1,"x":1075,"y":188,"wires":[["175c314a82388d54"]]},{"id":"9c39e4c08eb3d981","type":"function","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"ready, set, go","func":"\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"initialize":"","finalize":"","libs":[],"x":865,"y":323,"wires":[["b17afc78fb472d40","df6c6a244431f5a9"]]},{"id":"175c314a82388d54","type":"change","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","rules":[{"t":"set","p":"statusCode","pt":"msg","to":"TIMDOUT","tot":"str"}],"action":"","property":"","from":"","to":"","reg":false,"x":1309,"y":188,"wires":[["5f78cbafd3481358"]]},{"id":"f569c0f5674297ed","type":"change","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","rules":[{"t":"set","p":"statusCode","pt":"msg","to":"$random() > 0.5 ? 404 : 200","tot":"jsonata"}],"action":"","property":"","from":"","to":"","reg":false,"x":883,"y":719,"wires":[["d4f4d119f907475a"]]},{"id":"5c72a477a083347e","type":"join","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"wait for 2 messages","mode":"custom","build":"array","property":"","propertyType":"full","key":"topic","joiner":"\\n","joinerType":"str","accumulate":false,"timeout":"0.5","count":"2","reduceRight":false,"reduceExp":"","reduceInit":"","reduceInitType":"","reduceFixup":"","x":1498,"y":442,"wires":[["c746c66762c1d0aa"]]},{"id":"c746c66762c1d0aa","type":"change","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"","rules":[{"t":"set","p":"payload","pt":"msg","to":"payload[0].payload","tot":"msg"}],"action":"","property":"","from":"","to":"","reg":false,"x":1532,"y":517,"wires":[["ebfe60187962ec1d"]]},{"id":"1de2adbf5b60cbba","type":"debug","z":"e46be6066ea2231c","name":"results of first resultset","active":true,"tosidebar":true,"console":false,"tostatus":false,"complete":"payload","targetType":"msg","statusVal":"","statusType":"auto","x":1872,"y":492,"wires":[]}]

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gregorius](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/gregorius/32/73816_2.png) [@gregorius](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/gregorius)\
**Post date:** [22 August 2023 10:09 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/http-request-node-requesttimeout-is-connecttimeout-in-reality-nr-v3-0-2/80704/5 "2023-08-22T10:09:58Z")

</div>

Sorry eating humble pie over here - I just realised that the flow I created had a subtle error. The http request node works as expected _if_ I set the `requestTimeout` on the `msg` and not on the `msg.payload` - doh!

That was my mistake in the original flow example, if set correctly, the timeout will work as expected and kill the request if the server delays in responding.

I apologise for the confusion... mea culpa!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![knolleary](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/knolleary/32/3_2.png) [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)\
**Post date:** [22 August 2023 11:49 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/http-request-node-requesttimeout-is-connecttimeout-in-reality-nr-v3-0-2/80704/6 "2023-08-22T11:49:08Z")

</div>

> [@Steve-Mcl](#):
>
> And while it may be possible to upgrade via dynamic import, for now, Node-RED is sticking with `got` V11.x as we use node `require`.

Not so - Node-RED 3.1 updates to the latest version of `got` using dynamic imports.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [22 August 2023 11:53 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/http-request-node-requesttimeout-is-connecttimeout-in-reality-nr-v3-0-2/80704/7 "2023-08-22T11:53:36Z")

</div>

Oh, odd. I checked the Dev branch imports and seen it was still 11.x

Using my eyes properly I checked again and [see it is 12.x](https://github.com/node-red/node-red/blob/2478a7194ede810023bd8a270bcff645a6030426/package.json#L48)

Still unsure if the timeouts object is a 12.x or 13.x thing - though it is moot at this point anyhow

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![knolleary](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/knolleary/32/3_2.png) [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)\
**Post date:** [22 August 2023 11:55 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/http-request-node-requesttimeout-is-connecttimeout-in-reality-nr-v3-0-2/80704/8 "2023-08-22T11:55:18Z")

</div>

Moving to a timeout object was one of the tasks of updating to got 12

> <https://github.com/node-red/node-red/commit/20abe4a40cfd4d24b71e5bda69c433bf57155448#diff-9d6f9b1b8dc52042eea0e71ac78e33b3ddf46224dda07a042384f8650d0614ffR213>

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gregorius](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/gregorius/32/73816_2.png) [@gregorius](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/gregorius)\
**Post date:** [22 August 2023 14:44 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/http-request-node-requesttimeout-is-connecttimeout-in-reality-nr-v3-0-2/80704/9 "2023-08-22T14:44:04Z")

</div>

So I documented my thoughts on [requestTimeout](https://flowhub.org/f/60871bf5eadd6d7f). In doing so I realised that the global setting `httpRequestTimeout` is probably sufficient for most use-cases and that explicitly setting requestTimeout might just be an edge-case.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/1X/d073cd938eafa2e558d7c2cd59003b3ef4963033.png) [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [5 September 2023 14:44 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/http-request-node-requesttimeout-is-connecttimeout-in-reality-nr-v3-0-2/80704/10 "2023-09-05T14:44:19Z")

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