# http_client

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.redpanda.com/llms.txt). Component-specific: [cloud-data-platform-full.txt](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform-full.txt)

---
title: http_client
latest-operator-version: v26.1.4
latest-console-tag: v3.7.3
latest-connect-version: 4.93.0
latest-redpanda-tag: v26.1.9
docname: connect/components/inputs/http_client
page-component-name: cloud-data-platform
page-version: master
page-component-version: master
page-component-title: Cloud
page-relative-src-path: connect/components/inputs/http_client.adoc
page-edit-url: https://github.com/redpanda-data/cloud-docs/edit/main/modules/develop/pages/connect/components/inputs/http_client.adoc
page-git-created-date: "2025-03-04"
page-git-modified-date: "2026-05-26"
---

<!-- Source: https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/components/inputs/http_client.md -->

**Type:** Input ▼

[Input](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/components/inputs/http_client/)[Output](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/components/outputs/http_client/)

**Available in:** Cloud, [Self-Managed](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/components/inputs/http_client/%20%22View%20the%20Self-Managed%20version%20of%20this%20component%22)

Connects to a server and continuously requests single messages.

#### Common

```yml
inputs:
  label: ""
  http_client:
    url: "" # No default (required)
    verb: GET
    headers: {}
    rate_limit: "" # No default (optional)
    timeout: 5s
    payload: "" # No default (optional)
    stream:
      enabled: false
      reconnect: true
      scanner:
        lines: {}
    auto_replay_nacks: true
```

#### Advanced

```yml
inputs:
  label: ""
  http_client:
    url: "" # No default (required)
    verb: GET
    headers: {}
    metadata:
      include_prefixes: []
      include_patterns: []
    dump_request_log_level: ""
    oauth:
      enabled: false
      consumer_key: ""
      consumer_secret: ""
      access_token: ""
      access_token_secret: ""
    oauth2:
      enabled: false
      client_key: ""
      client_secret: ""
      token_url: ""
      scopes: []
      endpoint_params: {}
    basic_auth:
      enabled: false
      username: ""
      password: ""
    jwt:
      enabled: false
      private_key_file: ""
      signing_method: ""
      claims: {}
      headers: {}
    tls:
      enabled: false
      skip_cert_verify: false
      enable_renegotiation: false
      root_cas: ""
      root_cas_file: ""
      client_certs: []
    extract_headers:
      include_prefixes: []
      include_patterns: []
    rate_limit: "" # No default (optional)
    timeout: 5s
    retry_period: 1s
    max_retry_backoff: 300s
    retries: 3
    follow_redirects: true
    backoff_on:
      - 429
    drop_on: []
    successful_on: []
    proxy_url: "" # No default (optional)
    disable_http2: false
    payload: "" # No default (optional)
    drop_empty_bodies: true
    stream:
      enabled: false
      reconnect: true
      scanner:
        lines: {}
    auto_replay_nacks: true
```

## [](#dynamic-url-and-header-settings)Dynamic URL and header settings

You can set the [`url`](#url) and [`headers`](#headers) values dynamically using [function interpolations](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/configuration/interpolation/#bloblang-queries).

You can also add [function interpolations](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/configuration/interpolation/#bloblang-queries) to the [`url`](#url) and [`headers`](#headers) fields to implement basic pagination, such as page numbers or tokens, where subsequent requests need to include data from previously-consumed responses.

Example:

```yaml
input:
  http_client:
    url: >-
      https://api.example.com/search?query=allmyfoos&start_time=${! (
        (timestamp_unix()-300).ts_format("2006-01-02T15:04:05Z","UTC").escape_url_query()
      ) }${! ("&next_token="+this.meta.next_token.not_null()) | "" }
    verb: GET
    rate_limit: schedule_searches
    oauth2:
      enabled: true
      token_url: https://api.example.com/oauth2/token
      client_key: "${EXAMPLE_KEY}"
      client_secret: "${EXAMPLE_SECRET}"

rate_limit_resources:
  - label: schedule_searches
    local:
      count: 1
      interval: 30s
```

> 💡 **TIP**
>
> If pagination requires more complex logic, consider using the [`http` processor](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/components/processors/http/) combined with a [`generate` input](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/components/inputs/generate/), which allows you to schedule the processor.

## [](#streaming-messages)Streaming messages

If you [enable streaming](#stream-enabled), Redpanda Connect consumes the body of the server response as a continuous stream of data, and breaks the stream down into smaller, logical messages using the [specified scanner](#stream-scanner). This functionality allows you to consume APIs that provide long-lived streamed data feeds, such as stock market feeds.

## [](#fields)Fields

### [](#auto_replay_nacks)`auto_replay_nacks`

Whether to automatically replay rejected messages (negative acknowledgements) at the output level. If the cause of rejections persists, leaving this option enabled can result in back pressure.

Set `auto_replay_nacks` to `false` to delete rejected messages. Disabling auto replays can greatly improve memory efficiency of high throughput streams as the original shape of the data is discarded immediately upon consumption and mutation.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `true`

### [](#backoff_on)`backoff_on[]`

A list of status codes that indicate a request failure, and trigger retries with an increasing backoff period between attempts.

**Type**: `int`

**Default**:

```yaml
- 429
```

### [](#basic_auth)`basic_auth`

Allows you to specify basic authentication.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#basic_auth-enabled)`basic_auth.enabled`

Whether to use basic authentication in requests.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#basic_auth-password)`basic_auth.password`

A password to authenticate with.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Manage Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/configuration/secret-management/) before adding it to your configuration.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#basic_auth-username)`basic_auth.username`

A username to authenticate as.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#disable_http2)`disable_http2`

Whether to disable HTTP/2. By default, HTTP/2 is enabled.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#drop_empty_bodies)`drop_empty_bodies`

Whether to drop empty payloads received from the target server.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `true`

### [](#drop_on)`drop_on[]`

A list of status codes that indicate a request failure, where the input should not attempt retries. This helps avoid unnecessary retries for requests that are unlikely to succeed.

> 📝 **NOTE**
>
> In these cases, the _request_ is dropped, but the _message_ that triggered the request is retained.

**Type**: `int`

**Default**: `[]`

### [](#dump_request_log_level)`dump_request_log_level`

EXPERIMENTAL: Set the logging level for the request and response payloads of each HTTP request.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

**Options**: `TRACE`, `DEBUG`, `INFO`, `WARN`, `ERROR`, `FATAL`, \`\`

### [](#extract_headers)`extract_headers`

Specify which response headers to add to the resulting messages as metadata. Header keys are automatically converted to lowercase before matching, so make sure that your patterns target the lowercase versions of the expected header keys.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#extract_headers-include_patterns)`extract_headers.include_patterns[]`

Provide a list of explicit metadata key regular expression (re2) patterns to match against.

**Type**: `array`

**Default**: `[]`

```yaml
# Examples:
include_patterns:
  - .*

# ---

include_patterns:
  - _timestamp_unix$
```

### [](#extract_headers-include_prefixes)`extract_headers.include_prefixes[]`

Provide a list of explicit metadata key prefixes to match against.

**Type**: `array`

**Default**: `[]`

```yaml
# Examples:
include_prefixes:
  - foo_
  - bar_

# ---

include_prefixes:
  - kafka_

# ---

include_prefixes:
  - content-
```

### [](#follow_redirects)`follow_redirects`

Whether or not to transparently follow redirects, i.e. responses with 300-399 status codes. If disabled, the response message will contain the body, status, and headers from the redirect response and the processor will not make a request to the URL set in the Location header of the response.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `true`

### [](#headers)`headers`

A map of headers to add to the request. This field supports [interpolation functions](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/configuration/interpolation/#bloblang-queries).

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `{}`

```yaml
# Examples:
headers:
  Content-Type: application/octet-stream
  traceparent: ${! tracing_span().traceparent }
```

### [](#jwt)`jwt`

Beta

Configure JSON Web Token (JWT) authentication. This feature is in beta and may change in future releases. JWT tokens provide secure, stateless authentication between services.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#jwt-claims)`jwt.claims`

A value used to identify the claims that issued the JWT.

**Type**: `object`

**Default**: `{}`

### [](#jwt-enabled)`jwt.enabled`

Whether to use JWT authentication in requests.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#jwt-headers)`jwt.headers`

Additional key-value pairs to include in the JWT header (optional). These headers provide extra metadata for JWT processing.

**Type**: `object`

**Default**: `{}`

### [](#jwt-private_key_file)`jwt.private_key_file`

Path to a file containing the PEM-encoded private key using PKCS#1 or PKCS#8 format. The private key must be compatible with the algorithm specified in the `signing_method` field.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#jwt-signing_method)`jwt.signing_method`

The cryptographic algorithm used to sign the JWT token. Supported algorithms include RS256, RS384, RS512, and EdDSA. This algorithm must be compatible with the private key specified in the `private_key_file` field.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#max_retry_backoff)`max_retry_backoff`

The maximum period to wait between failed requests.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `300s`

### [](#metadata)`metadata`

Specify matching rules that determine which metadata keys to add to the HTTP request as headers (optional).

**Type**: `object`

### [](#metadata-include_patterns)`metadata.include_patterns[]`

Provide a list of explicit metadata key regular expression (re2) patterns to match against.

**Type**: `array`

**Default**: `[]`

```yaml
# Examples:
include_patterns:
  - .*

# ---

include_patterns:
  - _timestamp_unix$
```

### [](#metadata-include_prefixes)`metadata.include_prefixes[]`

Provide a list of explicit metadata key prefixes to match against.

**Type**: `array`

**Default**: `[]`

```yaml
# Examples:
include_prefixes:
  - foo_
  - bar_

# ---

include_prefixes:
  - kafka_

# ---

include_prefixes:
  - content-
```

### [](#oauth)`oauth`

Configure OAuth version 1.0 authentication for secure API access.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#oauth-access_token)`oauth.access_token`

The value used to gain access to the protected resources on behalf of the user.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#oauth-access_token_secret)`oauth.access_token_secret`

The secret that establishes ownership of the `oauth.access_token` in OAuth 1.0 authentication.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Manage Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/configuration/secret-management/) before adding it to your configuration.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#oauth-consumer_key)`oauth.consumer_key`

A value used to identify the client to the service provider.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#oauth-consumer_secret)`oauth.consumer_secret`

The secret that establishes ownership of the consumer key in OAuth 1.0 authentication.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Manage Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/configuration/secret-management/) before adding it to your configuration.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#oauth-enabled)`oauth.enabled`

Whether to use OAuth version 1 in requests.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#oauth2)`oauth2`

Allows you to specify open authentication using OAuth version 2 and the client credentials token flow.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#oauth2-client_key)`oauth2.client_key`

A value used to identify the client to the token provider.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#oauth2-client_secret)`oauth2.client_secret`

The secret used to establish ownership of the client key.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Manage Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/configuration/secret-management/) before adding it to your configuration.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#oauth2-enabled)`oauth2.enabled`

Whether to use OAuth version 2 in requests.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#oauth2-endpoint_params)`oauth2.endpoint_params`

A list of endpoint parameters specified as arrays of strings (optional).

**Type**: `object`

**Default**: `{}`

```yaml
# Examples:
endpoint_params:
  bar:
    - woof
  foo:
    - meow
    - quack
```

### [](#oauth2-scopes)`oauth2.scopes[]`

A list of requested permissions (optional).

**Type**: `array`

**Default**: `[]`

### [](#oauth2-token_url)`oauth2.token_url`

The URL of the token provider.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#payload)`payload`

A payload to deliver for each request (optional). This field supports [interpolation functions](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/configuration/interpolation/#bloblang-queries).

**Type**: `string`

### [](#proxy_url)`proxy_url`

A HTTP proxy URL (optional).

**Type**: `string`

### [](#rate_limit)`rate_limit`

A [rate limit](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/components/rate_limits/about/) to throttle requests by (optional).

**Type**: `string`

### [](#retries)`retries`

The maximum number of retry attempts to make.

**Type**: `int`

**Default**: `3`

### [](#retry_period)`retry_period`

The initial period to wait between failed requests before retrying.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `1s`

### [](#stream)`stream`

Enables streaming mode, where the HTTP connection remains open and messages are processed line-by-line.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#stream-enabled)`stream.enabled`

Enables streaming mode.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#stream-reconnect)`stream.reconnect`

Whether to automatically reestablish the HTTP connection if it is lost.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `true`

### [](#stream-scanner)`stream.scanner`

The [scanner](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/components/scanners/about/) used to split the stream of bytes into individual messages. Scanners are useful for processing large data sources efficiently without holding the entire data set in memory. For example, the `csv` scanner processes individual rows in a CSV file without loading the entire file in memory.

**Type**: `scanner`

**Default**:

```yaml
lines: {}
```

### [](#successful_on)`successful_on[]`

A list of HTTP status codes that should be considered as successful, even if they are not 2XX codes. This is useful for handling cases where non-2XX codes indicate that the request was processed successfully, such as `303 See Other` or `409 Conflict`.

By default, all 2XX codes are considered successful unless they are specified in `backoff_on` or `drop_on` fields.

**Type**: `int`

**Default**: `[]`

### [](#timeout)`timeout`

A static timeout to apply to requests.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `5s`

### [](#tls)`tls`

Configure Transport Layer Security (TLS) settings to secure network connections. This includes options for standard TLS as well as mutual TLS (mTLS) authentication where both client and server authenticate each other using certificates. Key configuration options include `enabled` to enable TLS, `client_certs` for mTLS authentication, `root_cas`/`root_cas_file` for custom certificate authorities, and `skip_cert_verify` for development environments.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#tls-client_certs)`tls.client_certs[]`

A list of client certificates for mutual TLS (mTLS) authentication. Configure this field to enable mTLS, authenticating the client to the server with these certificates.

You must set `tls.enabled: true` for the client certificates to take effect.

**Certificate pairing rules**: For each certificate item, provide either:

-   Inline PEM data using both `cert` **and** `key` or

-   File paths using both `cert_file` **and** `key_file`.


Mixing inline and file-based values within the same item is not supported.

**Type**: `object`

**Default**: `[]`

```yaml
# Examples:
client_certs:
  - cert: foo
    key: bar

# ---

client_certs:
  - cert_file: ./example.pem
    key_file: ./example.key
```

### [](#tls-client_certs-cert)`tls.client_certs[].cert`

A plain text certificate to use.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#tls-client_certs-cert_file)`tls.client_certs[].cert_file`

The path of a certificate to use.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#tls-client_certs-key)`tls.client_certs[].key`

A plain text certificate key to use.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Manage Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/configuration/secret-management/) before adding it to your configuration.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#tls-client_certs-key_file)`tls.client_certs[].key_file`

The path of a certificate key to use.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#tls-client_certs-password)`tls.client_certs[].password`

A plain text password for when the private key is password encrypted in PKCS#1 or PKCS#8 format. The obsolete `pbeWithMD5AndDES-CBC` algorithm is not supported for the PKCS#8 format.

Because the obsolete pbeWithMD5AndDES-CBC algorithm does not authenticate the ciphertext, it is vulnerable to padding oracle attacks that can let an attacker recover the plaintext.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Manage Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/configuration/secret-management/) before adding it to your configuration.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

```yaml
# Examples:
password: foo

# ---

password: ${KEY_PASSWORD}
```

### [](#tls-enable_renegotiation)`tls.enable_renegotiation`

Whether to allow the remote server to repeatedly request renegotiation. Enable this option if you’re seeing the error message `local error: tls: no renegotiation`.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#tls-enabled)`tls.enabled`

Whether custom TLS settings are enabled.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#tls-root_cas)`tls.root_cas`

Specify a root certificate authority to use (optional). This is a string that represents a certificate chain from the parent-trusted root certificate, through possible intermediate signing certificates, to the host certificate. Use either this field for inline certificate data or `root_cas_file` for file-based certificate loading.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Manage Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/configuration/secret-management/) before adding it to your configuration.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

```yaml
# Examples:
root_cas: |-
  -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
  ...
  -----END CERTIFICATE-----
```

### [](#tls-root_cas_file)`tls.root_cas_file`

Specify the path to a root certificate authority file (optional). This is a file, often with a `.pem` extension, which contains a certificate chain from the parent-trusted root certificate, through possible intermediate signing certificates, to the host certificate. Use either this field for file-based certificate loading or `root_cas` for inline certificate data.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

```yaml
# Examples:
root_cas_file: ./root_cas.pem
```

### [](#tls-skip_cert_verify)`tls.skip_cert_verify`

Whether to skip server-side certificate verification. Set to `true` only for testing environments as this reduces security by disabling certificate validation. When using self-signed certificates or in development, this may be necessary, but should never be used in production. Consider using `root_cas` or `root_cas_file` to specify trusted certificates instead of disabling verification entirely.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#url)`url`

The URL to connect to. This field supports [interpolation functions](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/configuration/interpolation/#bloblang-queries).

**Type**: `string`

### [](#verb)`verb`

A verb to connect with.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `GET`

```yaml
# Examples:
verb: POST

# ---

verb: GET

# ---

verb: DELETE
```