Simple synchronous client

The core module of sttp client includes a simple, synchronous client, which can be used to send requests without the need to choose or explicitly create a backend.

A simple request can be sent as follows:

import sttp.client3.{SimpleHttpClient, UriContext, basicRequest}

val client = SimpleHttpClient()
val response = client.send(basicRequest.get(uri"https://httpbin.org/get"))
println(response.body)

Creating a client allocates resources (such as selector threads / connection pools), so when it’s no longer needed, it should be closed using .close(). Typically, you should have one client instance for your entire application.

Serialising and parsing JSON

To serialize a custom type to a JSON body, or to deserialize the response body that is in the JSON format, you’ll need to add an integration with a JSON library. See json for a list of available libraries.

As an example, to integrate with the uPickle library, add the following dependency:

"com.softwaremill.sttp.client3" %% "upickle" % "3.8.9"

Your code might then look as follows:

import sttp.client3.{SimpleHttpClient, UriContext, basicRequest}
import sttp.client3.upicklejson._
import upickle.default._

val client = SimpleHttpClient()

case class MyRequest(field1: String, field2: Int)
// selected fields from the JSON that is being returned by httpbin
case class HttpBinResponse(origin: String, headers: Map[String, String])

implicit val myRequestRW: ReadWriter[MyRequest] = macroRW[MyRequest]
implicit val responseRW: ReadWriter[HttpBinResponse] = macroRW[HttpBinResponse]

val request = basicRequest
  .post(uri"https://httpbin.org/post")
  .body(MyRequest("test", 42))
  .response(asJson[HttpBinResponse])
val response = client.send(request)

response.body match {
  case Left(e)  => println(s"Got response exception:\n$e")
  case Right(r) => println(s"Origin's ip: ${r.origin}, header count: ${r.headers.size}")
}

Adding logging

Logging can be added using the logging backend wrapper. For example, if you’d like to use slf4j, you’ll need the following dependency:

"com.softwaremill.sttp.client3" %% "slf4j-backend" % "3.8.9"

Then, you’ll need to configure your client:

import sttp.client3.{SimpleHttpClient, UriContext, basicRequest}
import sttp.client3.logging.slf4j.Slf4jLoggingBackend

val client = SimpleHttpClient().wrapBackend(Slf4jLoggingBackend(_))

Relationship with backends

The SimpleHttpClient serves as a simple starting point for sending requests in a synchronous way. For more advanced use-cases, you should use an sttp backend directly. For example, if you’d like to send requests asynchronously, getting a Future as the result. Or, if you manage side effects using an IO or Task.

In fact, an instance of SimpleHttpClient is a thin wrapper on top of a backend.

Next steps

Read on how sttp client works or see some more examples.