httpx-defaults

Production-ready httpx client with secure defaults: timeouts, retries, connection limits.

The Problem

httpx is great, but it requires you to configure timeouts, connection limits, and other production settings manually. Most developers skip this, leading to hanging requests and resource exhaustion in production.

import httpx

# This can hang forever! 😱
response = httpx.get("https://slow-api.example.com")

# You need to remember all this boilerplate 😤
client = httpx.Client(
    timeout=httpx.Timeout(connect=5.0, read=30.0, write=30.0, pool=10.0),
    limits=httpx.Limits(max_connections=100, max_keepalive_connections=20),
    follow_redirects=True,
    verify=True
)

The Solution

from httpx_defaults import Client, AsyncClient

# Production-ready defaults out of the box! 🎉
with Client() as client:
    response = client.get("https://api.example.com")  # Safe timeouts included

# Async version
async with AsyncClient() as client:
    response = await client.get("https://api.example.com")

Installation

pip install httpx-defaults

Features

• Production-ready timeouts: 5s connect, 30s read/write, 10s pool
• Connection limits: 100 max connections, 20 keepalive connections
• Security warnings: Alerts when using HTTP for non-localhost URLs
• Secure by default: HTTPS preferred, redirects followed, certificates verified
• Drop-in replacement: Same API as httpx.Client and httpx.AsyncClient

Quick Start

Basic Usage

from httpx_defaults import Client, AsyncClient

# Synchronous client
with Client() as client:
    response = client.get("https://api.example.com/users")
    users = response.json()

# Asynchronous client  
async with AsyncClient() as client:
    response = await client.get("https://api.example.com/users")
    users = response.json()

With Base URL and Headers

from httpx_defaults import Client

with Client(
    base_url="https://api.example.com",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer your-token"}
) as client:
    # All requests use the base URL and headers
    response = client.get("/users")  # → https://api.example.com/users
    response = client.post("/users", json={"name": "Alice"})

Convenience Functions

from httpx_defaults import safe_get, safe_post

# One-shot requests with secure defaults
response = safe_get("https://api.example.com/status")
response = safe_post("https://api.example.com/webhook", json={"event": "test"})

Configuration

Custom Timeouts

import httpx
from httpx_defaults import Client

# Override default timeouts
custom_timeout = httpx.Timeout(connect=2.0, read=60.0)
with Client(timeout=custom_timeout) as client:
    response = client.get("https://slow-api.example.com")

Custom Connection Limits

import httpx
from httpx_defaults import Client

# Override default limits
custom_limits = httpx.Limits(max_connections=50, max_keepalive_connections=10)
with Client(limits=custom_limits) as client:
    response = client.get("https://api.example.com")

HTTP/2 Support

from httpx_defaults import Client

# Enable HTTP/2 (requires h2 package)
with Client(http2=True) as client:
    response = client.get("https://api.example.com")

Default Configuration

Setting	Value	Reason
Connect timeout	5 seconds	Prevents hanging on slow DNS/connection
Read timeout	30 seconds	Reasonable for most API responses
Write timeout	30 seconds	Reasonable for most API requests
Pool timeout	10 seconds	Prevents connection pool exhaustion
Max connections	100	Good balance for most applications
Keepalive connections	20	Efficient connection reuse
Follow redirects	True	Handle redirects automatically
Verify certificates	True	Security by default
HTTP/2	False	Avoid h2 dependency by default

Security Features

HTTPS Enforcement

httpx-defaults warns when you use HTTP for non-localhost URLs:

from httpx_defaults import Client

with Client() as client:
    # This will show a warning ⚠️
    response = client.get("http://api.example.com")
    
    # This is fine ✅
    response = client.get("http://localhost:8000")
    response = client.get("https://api.example.com")

Certificate Verification

Certificate verification is enabled by default and cannot be accidentally disabled:

from httpx_defaults import Client

# Certificates are always verified ✅
with Client() as client:
    response = client.get("https://api.example.com")

# To disable verification, you must be explicit
with Client(verify=False) as client:  # Not recommended!
    response = client.get("https://self-signed.example.com")

Comparison with httpx

Feature	httpx	httpx-defaults
Timeouts	Manual configuration	✅ Secure defaults
Connection limits	Manual configuration	✅ Production-ready limits
Security warnings	None	✅ HTTP usage warnings
Certificate verification	Default on	✅ Always on by default
Redirect handling	Manual	✅ Automatic
Dependencies	httpx only	httpx only

Migration from httpx

httpx-defaults is a drop-in replacement for httpx:

# Before
import httpx
client = httpx.Client()

# After  
from httpx_defaults import Client
client = Client()  # Now with secure defaults!

All httpx.Client and httpx.AsyncClient methods work exactly the same.

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• httpx >= 0.25.0

License

MIT License - Free for commercial use

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please see our Contributing Guide.

Related Projects

• httpx - The underlying HTTP client
• asyncbridge - Async/sync conversion utilities
• devkitx - Security-first Python utilities