Akka backend

This backend is based on akka-http. To use, add the following dependency to your project:

"com.softwaremill.sttp.client" %% "akka-http-backend" % "2.1.2"

A fully asynchronous backend. Sending a request returns a response wrapped in a Future. There are also other Future-based backends, which don’t depend on Akka.

Note that you’ll also need an explicit dependency on akka-streams, as akka-http doesn’t depend on any specific akka-streams version. So you’ll also need to add, for example:

"com.typesafe.akka" %% "akka-stream" % "2.5.28"

Next you’ll need to add an implicit value:

import sttp.client.akkahttp._

implicit val sttpBackend = AkkaHttpBackend()

// or, if you'd like to use an existing actor system:
implicit val sttpBackend = AkkaHttpBackend.usingActorSystem(actorSystem)

This backend supports sending and receiving akka-streams streams of type akka.stream.scaladsl.Source[ByteString, Any].

To set the request body as a stream:

import sttp.client._
import sttp.client.akkahttp._

import akka.stream.scaladsl.Source
import akka.util.ByteString

val source: Source[ByteString, Any] =   ...

basicRequest
  .streamBody(source)
  .post(uri"...")

To receive the response body as a stream:

import sttp.client._
import sttp.client.akkahttp._

import akka.stream.scaladsl.Source
import akka.util.ByteString

implicit val sttpBackend = AkkaHttpBackend()

val response: Future[Response[Either[String, Source[ByteString, Any]]]] =
  basicRequest
    .post(uri"...")
    .response(asStream[Source[ByteString, Any]])
    .send()           

Testing

Apart from testing using the stub, you can create a backend using any HttpRequest => Future[HttpResponse] function, or an akka-http Route.

That way, you can “mock” a server that the backend will talk to, without starting any actual server or making any HTTP calls.

If your application provides a client library for its dependants to use, this is a great way to ensure that the client actually matches the routes exposed by your application:

val backend: SttpBackend[Future, Nothing, Flow[Message, Message, *]] = {
  AkkaHttpBackend.usingClient(system, http = AkkaHttpClient.stubFromRoute(Routes.route))
}

Websockets

The Akka backend supports websockets, where the websocket handler is of type akka.stream.scaladsl.Flow[Message, Message, _]. That is, when opening a websocket connection, you need to provide the description of a stream, which will consume incoming websocket messages, and produce outgoing websocket messages. For example:

import akka.Done
import akka.stream.scaladsl.Flow
import akka.http.scaladsl.model.ws.Message

import sttp.client._
import sttp.client.ws.WebSocketResponse

import scala.concurrent.Future

val flow: Flow[Message, Message, Future[Done]] = ...
val response: Future[WebSocketResponse[Future[Done]]] =
    basicRequest.get(uri"wss://echo.websocket.org").openWebsocket(flow)

In this example, the given flow materialises to a Future[Done], however this value can be arbitrary and depends on the shape and definition of the message-processing stream. The Future[WebSocketResponse] will complete once the websocket is established and contain the materialised value.