DEV Community: Ramadan Ahmed

I tried every axios alternative. None of them worked on Cloudflare Workers. So I built one.

Ramadan Ahmed — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:17:45 +0000

It started with a Cloudflare Worker.

I had a simple task, hit an external API from a Worker, return the data. I reached for axios like I always do. Deployed it. Got this:

Error: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'prototype')

axios doesn't run on Cloudflare Workers. It depends on Node.js built-ins that the edge doesn't have. Fine. I'll switch.

The search for an alternative

Got — huge ecosystem, great docs. Dropped CommonJS in v12. My project uses require(). Hard pass.

Ky — clean API, zero deps. Browser-first. No Node.js support, no proxy, can't use it on the server side of my stack.

node-fetch — a polyfill. Node.js has had native fetch since v18. Why am I installing a polyfill for something that already exists?

redaxios — tiny, but it's just a thin axios-compatible wrapper around fetch. No retries, no interceptors, no auth helpers.

ofetch — closest to what I wanted, but no request deduplication, no in-memory cache, and the TypeScript types felt incomplete.

Every option had a wall. Edge runtime. CommonJS. Missing features. Another plugin needed.

So I built @firekid/hurl

Built on native fetch. Zero dependencies. Works on Node.js 18+, Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge, Deno, and Bun — no adapters, no polyfills, no config.

npm install @firekid/hurl

That Cloudflare Worker that broke with axios? Here's what it looks like now:

import hurl from '@firekid/hurl'

export default {
  async fetch(request) {
    const res = await hurl.get('https://api.example.com/data', {
      retry: 3,
      timeout: 5000,
      auth: { type: 'bearer', token: ENV.API_TOKEN },
    })
    return new Response(JSON.stringify(res.data))
  }
}

It just works. No error. No wall.

What it ships with out of the box

Everything I kept reaching for plugins to do — built in, zero extra installs:

Retries with exponential backoff

await hurl.get('/flaky-endpoint', {
  retry: {
    count: 4,
    backoff: 'exponential',
    on: [429, 500, 502, 503],
  }
})

In-memory caching with TTL

// Won't hit the network again for 60 seconds
await hurl.get('/config', { cache: { ttl: 60000 } })

Request deduplication

// 10 components call this simultaneously — only 1 network request fires
await hurl.get('/user', { deduplicate: true })

Typed errors — no more optional chaining into error.response

import hurl, { HurlError } from '@firekid/hurl'

try {
  await hurl.get('/protected')
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof HurlError) {
    err.status    // 401
    err.data      // parsed error body
    err.retries   // how many times it retried before throwing
    err.type      // 'HTTP_ERROR' | 'TIMEOUT_ERROR' | 'ABORT_ERROR'
  }
}

Interceptors

hurl.interceptors.request.use((url, options) => ({
  url,
  options: {
    ...options,
    headers: { ...options.headers, 'x-trace-id': crypto.randomUUID() },
  },
}))

Isolated instances

const api = hurl.create({
  baseUrl: 'https://api.example.com',
  auth: { type: 'bearer', token: process.env.TOKEN },
  retry: 3,
})

const adminApi = api.extend({ headers: { 'x-role': 'admin' } })

Migration from axios is 2 lines

// Before
import axios from 'axios'
const res = await axios.get('/users')

// After
import hurl from '@firekid/hurl'
const res = await hurl.get('/users')

res.data, res.status, res.headers — same shape. It maps over cleanly.

The numbers

	hurl	axios	got	ky
Bundle size	~9KB	~35KB	~45KB	~5KB
Edge runtime	✅	❌	❌	✅
Node.js + CJS	✅	✅	❌	❌
Built-in retries	✅	❌	✅	✅
In-memory cache	✅	❌	❌	❌
Deduplication	✅	❌	❌	❌
Zero dependencies	✅	❌	❌	✅

It's live

I published it. 437 downloads in the first week, zero marketing. Just devs hitting the same walls I hit.

If you're on Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge, or just tired of the axios plugin ecosystem — give it a shot.

npm install @firekid/hurl

📦 npm
🐙 GitHub
🌐 Docs

Star it if it saves you a headache. Open an issue if it doesn't. 🔥

Built by Firekid

axios ❌ hurl ✅ — Here's Why I Stopped Using axios in 2026

Ramadan Ahmed — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:02:39 +0000

axios had a great run.

For years it was the HTTP client. You installed it without thinking. You recommended it without question. It just worked.

But it's 2026. Node.js has had native fetch since v18. Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge Functions, Deno, and Bun are mainstream. And axios — a 35KB library built around XMLHttpRequest — isn't built for any of that.

I built @firekid/hurl to fix that.

What's wrong with axios?

Let me be specific, because "axios is old" isn't an argument.

1. It doesn't run on edge runtimes.
Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge, and Deno don't support Node.js built-ins. axios depends on them. You hit a wall the moment you try to use it outside of a traditional Node.js server.

2. It's 35KB.
For a package that wraps HTTP requests. @firekid/hurl is under 9KB gzipped.

3. No built-in retries.
You either write your own retry logic or reach for axios-retry — another dependency, more config, more maintenance.

4. No request deduplication.
If your app fires the same GET request three times simultaneously, axios makes three network calls. Every time.

5. No in-memory caching.
Out of the box, zero cache support.

It's not that axios is broken. It's that the ecosystem has moved on and axios hasn't.

Enter hurl

npm install @firekid/hurl

Zero dependencies. Full TypeScript support. Under 3KB gzipped. Works on Node.js 18+, Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge, Deno, and Bun.

Here's what a real-world usage looks like:

import hurl from '@firekid/hurl'

// Automatic retry with exponential backoff
const res = await hurl.get('https://api.example.com/users', {
  retry: 3,
  timeout: 5000,
  auth: { type: 'bearer', token: process.env.API_TOKEN },
  cache: { ttl: 60000 },
})

console.log(res.data)    // parsed body
console.log(res.timing)  // { start, end, duration }
console.log(res.fromCache) // boolean

That's retries, timeout, auth, and caching — no plugins, no wrappers, no extra packages.

The comparison you actually want

Feature	hurl	axios	ky	got
Bundle size	~9KB	~35KB	~5KB	~45KB
Edge runtime support	✅	❌	✅	❌
Built-in retries	✅	❌	✅	✅
In-memory cache	✅	❌	❌	❌
Request deduplication	✅	❌	❌	❌
Auth helpers	✅	⚠️	❌	❌
Interceptors	✅	✅	✅	❌
CommonJS + ESM	✅	✅	❌	❌
Zero dependencies	✅	❌	✅	❌

Things hurl does that axios simply can't

Works on Cloudflare Workers and Vercel Edge

// This just works — no adapter, no polyfill
export default {
  async fetch(request) {
    const res = await hurl.get('https://api.example.com/data')
    return new Response(JSON.stringify(res.data))
  }
}

Retry with full control

await hurl.get('/unstable-endpoint', {
  retry: {
    count: 4,
    delay: 500,
    backoff: 'exponential',
    on: [500, 502, 503, 429],
  }
})

Request deduplication

// Only ONE network request is made — both get the same response
const [a, b] = await Promise.all([
  hurl.get('/users', { deduplicate: true }),
  hurl.get('/users', { deduplicate: true }),
])

In-memory caching with TTL

// Cache for 60 seconds
await hurl.get('/config', { cache: { ttl: 60000 } })

Isolated instances (like axios.create, but better)

const api = hurl.create({
  baseUrl: 'https://api.example.com',
  auth: { type: 'bearer', token: process.env.TOKEN },
  retry: 3,
  timeout: 8000,
})

const adminApi = api.extend({
  headers: { 'x-role': 'admin' }
})

Typed errors — no more `error.response?.data`

import hurl, { HurlError } from '@firekid/hurl'

try {
  await hurl.get('/protected')
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof HurlError) {
    console.log(err.status)     // 401
    console.log(err.data)       // parsed error body
    console.log(err.retries)    // how many times it retried
    console.log(err.type)       // 'HTTP_ERROR' | 'TIMEOUT_ERROR' | 'ABORT_ERROR' ...
  }
}

What about ky and got?

ky is great — but it's browser-first. No proxy support, no Node.js streaming, dropped CommonJS.

got is powerful — but dropped CommonJS in v12, making it incompatible with most existing Node.js projects, and it's 45KB.

@firekid/hurl is the only one that runs everywhere, supports both CJS and ESM, and ships everything you need without external plugins.

Migration from axios takes 5 minutes

// Before
import axios from 'axios'
const res = await axios.get('/users')
console.log(res.data)

// After
import hurl from '@firekid/hurl'
const res = await hurl.get('/users')
console.log(res.data)

The API is intentionally familiar. res.data, res.status, res.headers — it all maps over.

Try it

npm install @firekid/hurl

📦 npm
🐙 GitHub
🌐 Docs

If this saved you from another axios-retry install, drop a ⭐ on GitHub. And if you find a bug or want a feature, issues are open.

Built by Firekid — feedback welcome.

Stop writing axios wrappers. Use this instead.

Ramadan Ahmed — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 07:20:29 +0000

**Every project. Same file. lib/http.ts, wrapping axios with retry logic, auth headers, timeout, error handling. Copy paste. Rename. Repeat.
axios is great. But it's missing everything production apps actually need. And you end up building it yourself every single time.
So I stopped copying and built @firekid/hurl.

Before:
const client = axios.create({ baseURL: 'https://api.example.com' })

client.interceptors.request.use((config) => {
config.headers.Authorization = Bearer ${token}
return config
})

try {
const res = await client.get('/users')
} catch (err) {
if (err.response) console.log(err.response.status)
}

After:
hurl.defaults.set({
baseUrl: 'https://api.example.com',
auth: { type: 'bearer', token },
retry: 3,
})

const res = await hurl.get('/users')

Same result. Half the code. Retry built in.
What you get out of the box:
Built on native fetch, runs on Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge, Deno, Bun, Node 18+. No adapters. No config.
Retry with exponential backoff. Bearer, Basic and API key auth. Upload and download progress. Request deduplication. In-memory caching. Debug mode. Full TypeScript. Zero dependencies.
Throws on 4xx and 5xx automatically. No more checking err.response manually.

Production setup:
const api = hurl.create({
baseUrl: 'https://api.example.com',
auth: { type: 'bearer', token: process.env.API_TOKEN },
retry: 3,
timeout: 8000,
})

const users = await api.get('/users')
const post = await api.post('/posts', { title: 'hello' })

If you've copy pasted that axios wrapper one too many times, give this a try.
npm: npmjs.com/package/@firekid/hurl
GitHub: github.com/Firekid-is-him/hurl**

axios has 50 million weekly downloads. I built something better.

Ramadan Ahmed — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 06:12:20 +0000

**axios is used by Spotify, Trello, and Medium. It's the default HTTP client for most Node.js projects. But it hasn't kept up with where Node.js is going.
It doesn't run on Cloudflare Workers. It doesn't run on Vercel Edge Functions. It weighs 35KB. It has no built-in retry. No request deduplication. No upload progress. And every production app ends up writing the same wrapper around it.
I got tired of writing that wrapper. So I built @firekid/hurl.

npm install @firekid/hurl

Before — axios:
const client = axios.create({ baseURL: 'https://api.example.com' })

client.interceptors.request.use((config) => {
config.headers.Authorization = Bearer ${token}
return config
})

try {
const res = await client.get('/users')
console.log(res.data)
} catch (err) {
if (err.response) console.log(err.response.status)
}
After — hurl:
hurl.defaults.set({
baseUrl: 'https://api.example.com',
auth: { type: 'bearer', token },
retry: 3,
})

const res = await hurl.get('/users')
console.log(res.data)

Same result. Half the code. Retry built in for free.
What hurl ships with that axios doesn't:
Built on native fetch, runs everywhere fetch runs. Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge, Deno, Bun, Node 18+. No adapters needed.
Retry with exponential backoff built in. Auth helpers for Bearer, Basic, and API key. Upload and download progress. Request deduplication. In-memory caching with TTL. Debug mode. Full TypeScript. Zero dependencies.
And it throws on 4xx and 5xx automatically. No more checking err.response manually.
For a production app:
const api = hurl.create({
baseUrl: 'https://api.example.com',
auth: { type: 'bearer', token: process.env.API_TOKEN },
retry: 3,
timeout: 8000,
})

const users = await api.get('/users')
const post = await api.post('/posts', { title: 'hello' })

axios isn't going anywhere. But if you're starting a new project in 2026, especially one targeting edge runtimes, there's a better option now.
npm: npmjs.com/package/@firekid/hurl
GitHub: github.com/Firekid-is-him/hurl
Docs at: https://github.com/Firekid-is-him/hurl/blob/main/README.md

ENJOY and give feedback♥️**

That inflight memory leak warning in your npm install? Here's the fix

Ramadan Ahmed — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 20:08:54 +0000

**Every npm install. Same warning.

npm warn deprecated inflight@1.0.6: This module is not supported, and leaks memory.

Next.js. Jest. Angular. All of them. You've seen it. You've ignored it.
Here's what inflight actually does, it deduplicates async calls. Same function called 10 times simultaneously? Only one runs, all 10 get the result. Useful. But it never cleans up. Keys stay in memory forever. That's the leak.
I built the replacement.

npm install @firekid/once
import { once } from '@firekid/once'

const getUser = once(async (id: string) => {
return await db.users.findUnique({ where: { id } })
})

// 10 requests hit at once — 1 DB query fires
const user = await getUser('123')
Auto cleanup. Full TypeScript. Works in Node, Edge, Bun, browser. Zero dependencies.
One line to stop the warning and fix the leak.

GitHub: github.com/Firekid-is-him/once
npm: npmjs.com/package/@firekid/once**

I got tired of writing the same axios wrapper on every project, so I built this

Ramadan Ahmed — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 07:59:18 +0000

**Every project I worked on had the same file. Some version of lib/http.ts or utils/api.ts that did the exact same thing, wrap axios, add retry logic, handle auth, set a base URL, catch errors properly. Copy paste. Rename. Repeat.
After doing this for the fifth time I thought, why am I still doing this?
The problem isn't axios itself. Axios is fine. But it's missing things that every production app needs, and you end up building them yourself every single time:
You want retries? Write it yourself.
You want timeout that actually works? Write it yourself.
You want upload progress? Axios doesn't even support it.
You want request deduplication? Good luck.
And then there's request, deprecated since 2020, still getting millions of downloads a week because nothing properly replaced it.
So I built @firekid/hurl.
Before
import axios from 'axios'

const client = axios.create({ baseURL: 'https://api.example.com' })

client.interceptors.request.use((config) => {
config.headers.Authorization = Bearer ${token}
return config
})

try {
const res = await client.get('/users')
console.log(res.data)
} catch (err) {
if (err.response) {
console.log(err.response.status)
}
}
After
import hurl from '@firekid/hurl'

hurl.defaults.set({
baseUrl: 'https://api.example.com',
auth: { type: 'bearer', token },
retry: 3,
})

const res = await hurl.get('/users')
console.log(res.data)

Same result. Half the code. Retry built in.
What hurl ships with out of the box
Everything you'd normally write yourself, retries with exponential backoff, timeout and abort controller support, request and response interceptors, Bearer, Basic and API key auth, upload and download progress tracking, in-memory caching with TTL, request deduplication, proxy support, and full TypeScript types with zero config.
It also throws on 4xx and 5xx automatically. No more checking err.response manually. If something goes wrong you get a proper HurlError with the status, the response body, and how many retries were attempted.
It works everywhere fetch works
Node.js 18+, Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge Functions, Deno, Bun. Same code, no adapter needed. Axios doesn't run on edge runtimes. hurl does.

Getting started
npm install @firekid/hurl
import hurl from '@firekid/hurl'

const res = await hurl.get('https://api.example.com/users')
console.log(res.data)
For a real app:
const api = hurl.create({
baseUrl: 'https://api.example.com',
auth: { type: 'bearer', token: process.env.API_TOKEN },
retry: 3,
timeout: 8000,
})

const users = await api.get('/users')
const post = await api.post('/posts', { title: 'hello' })
That's it. No configuration files, no adapters, no extra packages.
If you've ever found yourself writing the same HTTP wrapper for the fifth time, give it a try.
GitHub: github.com/Firekid-is-him/hurl
npm: npmjs.com/package/@firekid/hurl**

DEV Community: Ramadan Ahmed

I tried every axios alternative. None of them worked on Cloudflare Workers. So I built one.

The search for an alternative

So I built @firekid/hurl

What it ships with out of the box

Migration from axios is 2 lines

The numbers

It's live

axios ❌ hurl ✅ — Here's Why I Stopped Using axios in 2026

What's wrong with axios?

Enter hurl

The comparison you actually want

Things hurl does that axios simply can't

Works on Cloudflare Workers and Vercel Edge

Retry with full control

Request deduplication

In-memory caching with TTL

Isolated instances (like axios.create, but better)

Typed errors — no more error.response?.data

What about ky and got?

Migration from axios takes 5 minutes

Try it

Stop writing axios wrappers. Use this instead.

axios has 50 million weekly downloads. I built something better.

That inflight memory leak warning in your npm install? Here's the fix

I got tired of writing the same axios wrapper on every project, so I built this

Typed errors — no more `error.response?.data`