HTTPX is a fully featured HTTP client library for Python that provides both synchronous and asynchronous APIs with support for HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2.
The tool addresses the need for a modern HTTP client that improves upon the widely-used requests library while maintaining API compatibility. HTTPX builds on requests' established usability patterns but adds support for async operations, HTTP/2 protocol, and strict timeouts by default. It includes an integrated command-line client for direct HTTP requests from the terminal, and can make requests directly to WSGI or ASGI applications, enabling testing without network overhead.
Developers should choose HTTPX if they need a requests-compatible API with modern features like async support and HTTP/2. It suits projects ranging from simple synchronous scripts to complex async applications, and is particularly valuable for testing frameworks that need to interact with web applications directly. The tool includes comprehensive standard features such as connection pooling, cookie persistence, SSL verification, authentication methods, proxy support, and streaming downloads. The codebase is fully type annotated and maintains complete test coverage, making it suitable for projects where code quality and type safety matter.
The project maintains a rigorous test suite with continuous integration checks. Development activity shows consistent attention to code quality through comprehensive testing practices. The tool is fully type annotated across its codebase, indicating a commitment to developer experience and IDE support. The project achieves complete test coverage, demonstrating thoroughness in validation.
