Fetch: POST JSON data

I'm trying to POST a JSON object using fetch.

From what I can understand, I need to attach a stringified object to the body of the request, e.g.:

fetch("/echo/json/",
{
    headers: {
      'Accept': 'application/json',
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    method: "POST",
    body: JSON.stringify({a: 1, b: 2})
})
.then(function(res){ console.log(res) })
.catch(function(res){ console.log(res) })

When using jsfiddle's JSON echo I'd expect to see the object I've sent ({a: 1, b: 2}) back, but this does not happen - chrome devtools doesn't even show the JSON as part of the request, which means that it's not being sent.

With ES2017 async/await support, this is how to POST a JSON payload:

(async () => {
  const rawResponse = await fetch('https://httpbin.org/post', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'Accept': 'application/json',
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({a: 1, b: 'Textual content'})
  });
  const content = await rawResponse.json();

  console.log(content);
})();

Can't use ES2017? See @vp_art's answer using promises

The question however is asking for an issue caused by a long since fixed chrome bug.
Original answer follows.

> chrome devtools doesn't even show the JSON as part of the request

This is the real issue here, and it's a bug with chrome devtools, fixed in Chrome 46.

That code works fine - it is POSTing the JSON correctly, it just cannot be seen.

> I'd expect to see the object I've sent back

that's not working because that is not the correct format for JSfiddle's echo.

The correct code is:

var payload = {
    a: 1,
    b: 2
};

var data = new FormData();
data.append( "json", JSON.stringify( payload ) );

fetch("/echo/json/",
{
    method: "POST",
    body: data
})
.then(function(res){ return res.json(); })
.then(function(data){ alert( JSON.stringify( data ) ) })

For endpoints accepting JSON payloads, the original code is correct

I think your issue is jsfiddle can process form-urlencoded request only.

But correct way to make json request is pass correct json as a body:

fetch('https://httpbin.org/post', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Accept': 'application/json, text/plain, */*',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({a: 7, str: 'Some string: &=&'})
}).then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res));

From search engines, I ended up on this topic for non-json posting data with fetch, so thought I would add this.

For non-json you don't have to use form data. You can simply set the Content-Type header to application/x-www-form-urlencoded and use a string:

fetch('url here', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {'Content-Type':'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'}, // this line is important, if this content-type is not set it wont work
    body: 'foo=bar&blah=1'
});

An alternative way to build that body string, rather then typing it out as I did above, is to use libraries. For instance the stringify function from query-string or qs packages. So using this it would look like:

import queryString from 'query-string'; // import the queryString class

fetch('url here', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {'Content-Type':'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'}, // this line is important, if this content-type is not set it wont work
    body: queryString.stringify({for:'bar', blah:1}) //use the stringify object of the queryString class
});

After spending some times, reverse engineering jsFiddle, trying to generate payload - there is an effect.

Please take eye (care) on line return response.json(); where response is not a response - it is promise.

var json = {
    json: JSON.stringify({
        a: 1,
        b: 2
    }),
    delay: 3
};

fetch('/echo/json/', {
    method: 'post',
    headers: {
        'Accept': 'application/json, text/plain, */*',
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    body: 'json=' + encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(json.json)) + '&delay=' + json.delay
})
.then(function (response) {
    return response.json();
})
.then(function (result) {
    alert(result);
})
.catch (function (error) {
    console.log('Request failed', error);
});

jsFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/egxt6cpz/46/ && Firefox > 39 && Chrome > 42

2021 answer: just in case you land here looking for how to make GET and POST Fetch api requests using async/await or promises as compared to axios.

I'm using jsonplaceholder fake API to demonstrate:

Fetch api GET request using async/await:

         const asyncGetCall = async () => {
            try {
                const response = await fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts');
                 const data = await response.json();
                // enter you logic when the fetch is successful
                 console.log(data);
               } catch(error) {
            // enter your logic for when there is an error (ex. error toast)
                  console.log(error)
                 } 
            }


          asyncGetCall()

Fetch api POST request using async/await:

    const asyncPostCall = async () => {
            try {
                const response = await fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts', {
                 method: 'POST',
                 headers: {
                   'Content-Type': 'application/json'
                   },
                   body: JSON.stringify({
             // your expected POST request payload goes here
                     title: "My post title",
                     body: "My post content."
                    })
                 });
                 const data = await response.json();
              // enter you logic when the fetch is successful
                 console.log(data);
               } catch(error) {
             // enter your logic for when there is an error (ex. error toast)

                  console.log(error)
                 } 
            }

asyncPostCall()

GET request using Promises:

  fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts')
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(data => {
   // enter you logic when the fetch is successful
    console.log(data)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    // enter your logic for when there is an error (ex. error toast)
   console.log(error)
  })

POST request using Promises:

fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
   body: JSON.stringify({
     // your expected POST request payload goes here
      title: "My post title",
      body: "My post content."
      })
})
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(data => {
   // enter you logic when the fetch is successful
    console.log(data)
  })
  .catch(error => {
  // enter your logic for when there is an error (ex. error toast)
   console.log(error)
  })  

GET request using Axios:

        const axiosGetCall = async () => {
            try {
              const { data } = await axios.get('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts')
    // enter you logic when the fetch is successful
              console.log(`data: `, data)
           
            } catch (error) {
    // enter your logic for when there is an error (ex. error toast)
              console.log(`error: `, error)
            }
          }
    
    axiosGetCall()

POST request using Axios:

const axiosPostCall = async () => {
    try {
      const { data } = await axios.post('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts',  {
      // your expected POST request payload goes here
      title: "My post title",
      body: "My post content."
      })
   // enter you logic when the fetch is successful
      console.log(`data: `, data)
   
    } catch (error) {
  // enter your logic for when there is an error (ex. error toast)
      console.log(`error: `, error)
    }
  }


axiosPostCall()

I have created a thin wrapper around fetch() with many improvements if you are using a purely json REST API:

// Small library to improve on fetch() usage
const api = function(method, url, data, headers = {}){
  return fetch(url, {
    method: method.toUpperCase(),
    body: JSON.stringify(data),  // send it as stringified json
    credentials: api.credentials,  // to keep the session on the request
    headers: Object.assign({}, api.headers, headers)  // extend the headers
  }).then(res => res.ok ? res.json() : Promise.reject(res));
};

// Defaults that can be globally overwritten
api.credentials = 'include';
api.headers = {
  'csrf-token': window.csrf || '',    // only if globally set, otherwise ignored
  'Accept': 'application/json',       // receive json
  'Content-Type': 'application/json'  // send json
};

// Convenient methods
['get', 'post', 'put', 'delete'].forEach(method => {
  api[method] = api.bind(null, method);
});

To use it you have the variable api and 4 methods:

api.get('/todo').then(all => { /* ... */ });

And within an async function:

const all = await api.get('/todo');
// ...

Example with jQuery:

$('.like').on('click', async e => {
  const id = 123;  // Get it however it is better suited

  await api.put(`/like/${id}`, { like: true });

  // Whatever:
  $(e.target).addClass('active dislike').removeClass('like');
});

This is related to Content-Type. As you might have noticed from other discussions and answers to this question some people were able to solve it by setting Content-Type: 'application/json'. Unfortunately in my case it didn't work, my POST request was still empty on the server side.

However, if you try with jQuery's $.post() and it's working, the reason is probably because of jQuery using Content-Type: 'x-www-form-urlencoded' instead of application/json.

data = Object.keys(data).map(key => encodeURIComponent(key) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(data[key])).join('&')
fetch('/api/', {
    method: 'post', 
    credentials: "include", 
    body: data, 
    headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'}
})

Had the same issue - no body was sent from a client to a server.

Adding Content-Type header solved it for me:

var headers = new Headers();

headers.append('Accept', 'application/json'); // This one is enough for GET requests
headers.append('Content-Type', 'application/json'); // This one sends body

return fetch('/some/endpoint', {
    method: 'POST',
    mode: 'same-origin',
    credentials: 'include',
    redirect: 'follow',
    headers: headers,
    body: JSON.stringify({
        name: 'John',
        surname: 'Doe'
    }),
}).then(resp => {
    ...
}).catch(err => {
   ...
})

The top answer doesn't work for PHP7, because it has wrong encoding, but I could figure the right encoding out with the other answers. This code also sends authentication cookies, which you probably want when dealing with e.g. PHP forums:

julia = function(juliacode) {
	fetch('julia.php', {
		method: "POST",
		credentials: "include", // send cookies
		headers: {
			'Accept': 'application/json, text/plain, */*',
			//'Content-Type': 'application/json'
			"Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8" // otherwise $_POST is empty
		},
		body: "juliacode=" + encodeURIComponent(juliacode)
	})
	.then(function(response) {
		return response.json(); // .text();
	})
	.then(function(myJson) {
		console.log(myJson);
	});
}

It might be useful to somebody:

I was having the issue that formdata was not being sent for my request

In my case it was a combination of following headers that were also causing the issue and the wrong Content-Type.

So I was sending these two headers with the request and it wasn't sending the formdata when I removed the headers that worked.

> "X-Prototype-Version" : "1.6.1", > "X-Requested-With" : "XMLHttpRequest"

Also as other answers suggest that the Content-Type header needs to be correct.

For my request the correct Content-Type header was:

> "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8"

So bottom line if your formdata is not being attached to the Request then it could potentially be your headers. Try bringing your headers to a minimum and then try adding them one by one to see if your problem is resolved.

I think that, we don't need parse the JSON object into a string, if the remote server accepts json into they request, just run:

const request = await fetch ('/echo/json', {
  headers: {
    'Content-type': 'application/json'
  },
  method: 'POST',
  body: { a: 1, b: 2 }
});

Such as the curl request

curl -v -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '@data.json' '/echo/json'

In case to the remote serve not accept a json file as the body, just send a dataForm:

const data =  new FormData ();
data.append ('a', 1);
data.append ('b', 2);

const request = await fetch ('/echo/form', {
  headers: {
    'Content-type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
  },
  method: 'POST',
  body: data
});

Such as the curl request

curl -v -X POST -H 'Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' -d '@data.txt' '/echo/form'

If your JSON payload contains arrays and nested objects, I would use URLSearchParams and jQuery's param() method.

fetch('/somewhere', {
  method: 'POST',
  body: new URLSearchParams($.param(payload))
})

To your server, this will look like a standard HTML <form> being POSTed.

You could do it even better with await/async.

The parameters of http request:

const _url = 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts';
let _body = JSON.stringify({
  title: 'foo',
  body: 'bar',
  userId: 1,
});
  const _headers = {
  'Content-type': 'application/json; charset=UTF-8',
};
const _options = { method: 'POST', headers: _headers, body: _body };

With clean async/await syntax:

const response = await fetch(_url, _options);
if (response.status >= 200 && response.status <= 204) {
  let data = await response.json();
  console.log(data);
} else {
  console.log(`something wrong, the server code: ${response.status}`);
}

With old fashion fetch().then().then():

fetch(_url, _options)
  .then((res) => res.json())
  .then((json) => console.log(json));

You only need to check if response is ok coz the call not returning anything.

var json = {
    json: JSON.stringify({
        a: 1,
        b: 2
    }),
    delay: 3
};

fetch('/echo/json/', {
    method: 'post',
    headers: {
        'Accept': 'application/json, text/plain, */*',
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    body: 'json=' + encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(json.json)) + '&delay=' + json.delay
})
.then((response) => {if(response.ok){alert("the call works ok")}})
.catch (function (error) {
    console.log('Request failed', error);
});    

my simple goal is js object ->-> php $_POST

Object.defineProperties(FormData.prototype, { // extend FormData for direct use of js objects
    load: {
       value: function (d) {
                   for (var v in d) {
                      this.append(v, typeof d[v] === 'string' ? d[v] : JSON.stringify(d[v]));
                   }
               }
           }
   })

var F = new FormData;
F.load({A:1,B:2});

fetch('url_target?C=3&D=blabla', {
        method: "POST", 
          body: F
     }).then( response_handler )

you can use fill-fetch, which is an extension of fetch. Simply, you can post data as below:

import { fill } from 'fill-fetch';

const fetcher = fill();

fetcher.config.timeout = 3000;
fetcher.config.maxConcurrence = 10;
fetcher.config.baseURL = 'http://www.github.com';

const res = await fetcher.post('/', { a: 1 }, {
    headers: {
        'bearer': '1234'
    }
});