Configuration

Configuration is merged from client defaults and per-call options via mergeConfig (see merge rules below).

OpenFetchConfig (request)

URL and query

• url — Absolute or relative (with baseURL).
• baseURL — Prepended to non-absolute paths (see URL helpers in the package: buildURL, combineURLs, isAbsoluteURL).
• params — Plain object serialized to a query string (default serializer; override with paramsSerializer).
• paramsSerializer — (params: Record<string, unknown>) => string. When set, it replaces the built-in serialization for that request (merged config). Use for repeated keys, bracket notation, or custom encoding.

Method and body

• method — HTTP method; helpers set this automatically.
• data — Logical payload: after transformRequest hooks, objects (except FormData, URLSearchParams, Blob, ArrayBuffer, typed arrays) are JSON-stringified; content-type defaults to application/json if missing.
• body — Raw fetch body when you do not use data the same way; dispatch uses data if defined, else body.

Headers and auth

• headers — Record<string, string> (normalized to lowercase keys internally for the outgoing request).
• auth — { username, password } → Authorization: Basic ….
• withCredentials: true — Sets credentials: 'include' unless credentials is set explicitly.

Timeouts and cancellation

• timeout — Milliseconds; uses an internal AbortController merged with signal via mergeAbortSignals. When the internal timeout fires first (user signal not aborted), the error code is ERR_TIMEOUT. Pure user abort → ERR_CANCELED.
• signal — External AbortSignal; combined with timeout abort.

Response handling

• responseType — "json" | "text" | "arraybuffer" | "blob" | "stream".
  If omitted, dispatch infers JSON from Content-Type: application/json, otherwise reads as text. When responseType is set and accept is missing, dispatch sets a suggested Accept header (e.g. application/json for json).
• rawResponse — When true, dispatch returns an OpenFetchResponse whose data is the native Response with an unread body. Body parsing and the transformResponse chain are skipped. Request interceptors still ran earlier; response interceptors still run and see data as that Response. Middleware that expects parsed JSON in ctx.response.data will not see transforms until you call response.json() / text() yourself. Pair with cloneResponse (package export) if you need two independent reads of the same Response.
• validateStatus — (status: number) => boolean. Default: 200–299 inclusive. If false, throws OpenFetchError with code ERR_BAD_RESPONSE and attaches the response.
• throwHttpErrors — Used only when validateStatus is omitted. Ky-style control: false means never throw on HTTP status (same as validateStatus: () => true). A function (status) => boolean means throw when it returns true for that status. If validateStatus is provided, throwHttpErrors is ignored.
• jsonSchema — Optional Standard Schema (e.g. Zod 3.24+) applied to parsed JSON after a successful validateStatus. On failure throws SchemaValidationError (not OpenFetchError). Runs before the transformResponse chain.
• init — Array of synchronous (config) => void callbacks on the merged config, after mergeConfig and before request interceptors. Use to attach headers, tweak options, etc.

Request input

• Besides string | URL and a config object, client.request(nativeRequest, overrides?) accepts a Request. URL, method, headers, body, signal, and supported RequestInit fields are copied from the Request, then shallow-overridden by merged defaults + overrides.

Transforms

• transformRequest — Array of (data, headers) => unknown. Run in order before building the fetch body.
• transformResponse — Array of (data) => T. Run on successful responses after parsing.

Middleware, retry, cache hints

• middlewares — Array of middleware functions (concatenated with defaults).
• retry — Shallow-merged retry options for createRetryMiddleware (defaults + per request).
• memoryCache — Per-request overrides for cache middleware: ttlMs, staleWhileRevalidateMs, skip.

Ergonomics

• unwrapResponse — When true, get/post/… return data only instead of full OpenFetchResponse. Useful for RSC and minimal call sites.

Debugging (observability)

• debug — true, "verbose", "basic", or omit / false for off. When enabled, emits structured OpenFetchDebugEvent records for the HTTP lifecycle (merge, fetch per attempt, parse, schema, retries, final response, errors). "basic" limits events to request, response, and error.
• logger — (event) => void sink when debug is enabled; omit to log via console.debug. See Debugging & observability for stages, privacy defaults, and how this differs from the debug() plugin.

RequestInit passthrough

These RequestInit fields are typed on OpenFetchConfig and passed to fetch:

cache, credentials, integrity, keepalive, mode, redirect, referrer, referrerPolicy.

OpenFetchResponse

type OpenFetchResponse<T = unknown> = {
  data: T;
  status: number;
  statusText: string;
  headers: Record<string, string>;
  config: OpenFetchConfig;
};

Other exports (main package)

Useful when building tooling, logs, or custom middleware:

Export	Role
assertSafeHttpUrl(url)	Optional guard for untrusted URLs (see Errors & security).
maskHeaderValues(headers, options?)	Redact sensitive header values (partial / hash strategies).
cloneResponse(res)	Clone a native Response so the body can be read more than once.
generateIdempotencyKey, hasIdempotencyKeyHeader, ensureIdempotencyKeyHeader	Helpers for POST retry idempotency (see Retry & cache).
InterceptorManager	Low-level stack; normally you use client.interceptors.
SchemaValidationError, isSchemaValidationError	Standard Schema failures on jsonSchema / fluent .json(schema).
OpenFetchForceRetry, isOpenFetchForceRetry	Throw from retry.onAfterResponse to force another attempt.
isHTTPError, isTimeoutError	Narrow OpenFetchError by code / semantics.
Standard Schema types	StandardSchemaV1, StandardSchemaV1InferOutput, … (types only).
Types	OpenFetchConfig, OpenFetchResponse, Middleware, OpenFetchContext, …

Plugins and fluent client live under @hamdymohamedak/openfetch/plugins and /sugar — see Plugins & fluent API.

Merge behavior (mergeConfig)

• Top-level keys: later config wins.
• headers: shallow merge; per-call headers override defaults.
• middlewares, transformRequest, transformResponse, init: concatenated (defaults first, then call-specific).
• retry, memoryCache: shallow merge of scalar fields; retry.onBeforeRetry and retry.onAfterResponse are composed (defaults run first, then per-call).
• Prototype-pollution keys (__proto__, constructor, prototype) are stripped from merged objects and nested headers / retry / memoryCache.

Quick checklist (common options)

Goal	Config / approach
JSON API base URL	baseURL + relative url; get/post helpers
Query string	params or custom paramsSerializer
Bearer token	headers: { authorization: "Bearer …" }
Timeout	timeout (ms) or timeout(ms) plugin
Cancel	signal from AbortController
Only body value	unwrapResponse: true
Binary / file	responseType: "blob" or "arraybuffer"
Streaming	responseType: "stream"
Raw fetch Response	rawResponse: true or fluent .raw()
Retries	createRetryMiddleware or retry() plugin
GET caching	createCacheMiddleware + MemoryCacheStore
Structured lifecycle logs	debug + optional logger on defaults (see Debugging)

Next

• Debugging & observability — client debug pipeline, debug() plugin, safe logging
• Features & request pipeline — full feature list and diagrams
• Plugins & fluent API
• Interceptors & middleware