A Breakdown of HTTP Clients in Elixir

2023/07/25

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In this blog post by Andrea Leopardi, the author provides a breakdown of various HTTP clients available in the Elixir ecosystem. The article aims to help developers choose the best HTTP client for different use cases.

The author starts by introducing Mint, which is considered the lowest-level HTTP client in Elixir. Mint acts as a wrapper around raw TCP or SSL sockets, making them aware of the network protocol. It provides a connection data structure that handles the semantics of the HTTP protocol. Mint supports HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, and WebSocket through mint_web_socket.

However, the author advises against using Mint for most use cases, even though they are one of its maintainers. They suggest that Mint is suitable for specific scenarios where developers require low-level control over the HTTP communication.

The article also mentions other well-known HTTP clients in the Elixir ecosystem, such as HTTPoison, Tesla, and Finch. Each client has its own strengths and weaknesses, making them suitable for different use cases.

For developers looking to choose an HTTP client in Elixir, this breakdown provides valuable insights into the available options and their recommended use cases.