'Node.js - get raw request body using Express

When I use Express, and my code is:

app.use(express.bodyParser());

How would I get the raw request body?

node.jsexpressrequest


Solution 1:[1]

I got a solution that plays nice with bodyParser, using the verify callback in bodyParser. In this code, I am using it to get a sha1 of the content and also getting the raw body.

app.use(bodyParser.json({
    verify: function(req, res, buf, encoding) {

        // sha1 content
        var hash = crypto.createHash('sha1');
        hash.update(buf);
        req.hasha = hash.digest('hex');
        console.log("hash", req.hasha);

        // get rawBody        
        req.rawBody = buf.toString();
        console.log("rawBody", req.rawBody);

    }
}));

I am new in Node.js and express.js (started yesterday, literally!) so I'd like to hear comments on this solution.

Solution 2:[2]

This solution worked for me:

var rawBodySaver = function (req, res, buf, encoding) {
  if (buf && buf.length) {
    req.rawBody = buf.toString(encoding || 'utf8');
  }
}

app.use(bodyParser.json({ verify: rawBodySaver }));
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ verify: rawBodySaver, extended: true }));
app.use(bodyParser.raw({ verify: rawBodySaver, type: '*/*' }));

When I use solution with req.on('data', function(chunk) { }); it not working on chunked request body.

Solution 3:[3]

BE CAREFUL with those other answers as they will not play properly with bodyParser if you're looking to also support json, urlencoded, etc. To get it to work with bodyParser you should condition your handler to only register on the Content-Type header(s) you care about, just like bodyParser itself does.

To get the raw body content of a request with Content-Type: "text/plain" into req.rawBody you can do:

app.use(function(req, res, next) {
  var contentType = req.headers['content-type'] || ''
    , mime = contentType.split(';')[0];

  if (mime != 'text/plain') {
    return next();
  }

  var data = '';
  req.setEncoding('utf8');
  req.on('data', function(chunk) {
    data += chunk;
  });
  req.on('end', function() {
    req.rawBody = data;
    next();
  });
});

Solution 4:[4]

This is a variation on hexacyanide's answer above. This middleware also handles the 'data' event but does not wait for the data to be consumed before calling 'next'. This way both this middleware and bodyParser may coexist, consuming the stream in parallel.

app.use(function(req, res, next) {
  req.rawBody = '';
  req.setEncoding('utf8');

  req.on('data', function(chunk) { 
    req.rawBody += chunk;
  });

  next();
});
app.use(express.bodyParser());

Solution 5:[5]

// Change the way body-parser is used
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');

var rawBodySaver = function (req, res, buf, encoding) {
  if (buf && buf.length) {
    req.rawBody = buf.toString(encoding || 'utf8');
  }
}
app.use(bodyParser.json({ verify: rawBodySaver, extended: true }));




// Now we can access raw-body any where in out application as follows
request.rawBody;

Solution 6:[6]

In 2022

The best way to get raw body in every API is to convert buffer into a string.

enter image description here

app.use(
  express.json({
    limit: '5mb',
    verify: (req, res, buf) => {
      req.rawBody = buf.toString();
    },
  })
);

Solution 7:[7]

Use

app.use(express.json());

or

app.use(express.text());

or

app.use(express.urlencoded());

Depending upon your raw format

Solution 8:[8]

Use body-parser Parse the body with what it will be:

app.use(bodyParser.text());

app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded());

app.use(bodyParser.raw());

app.use(bodyParser.json());

ie. If you are supposed to get raw text file, run .text().

Thats what body-parser currently supports

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution Source
Solution 1 Tiago A.
Solution 2 Pavel Evstigneev
Solution 3 nortron
Solution 4 oferei
Solution 5 Detroit Charan
Solution 6 Nisharg Shah
Solution 7 Juan Sturla
Solution 8 mewc

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