Axios

Axios is a promise-based HTTP client for JavaScript that runs in both the browser and Node.js. It provides methods for performing HTTP requests such as GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE, and returns promises that resolve with the response data or reject with an error. It is widely used to communicate with web APIs and to fetch or submit data from client-side applications.

Key features include configurable request defaults, support for request and response interceptors, and automatic transformation of JSON data. Axios allows the creation of instances with custom configurations, such as a baseURL, default headers, timeout settings, and withCredentials. It also supports cancellation via CancelToken and AbortController, and handles credentialed requests and cookie-based sessions. For security, Axios can participate in cross-site request forgery protections by reading a token from cookies and sending it in a header when available. It normalizes responses to a consistent structure, simplifying error handling and data access.

Usage and architecture: Axios can be used as a default import or via created instances. The axios.create method yields an instance with its own configuration, enabling modular setups for different services in an application. It operates across environments, making it suitable for browser-based applications as well as server-side code in Node.js, and it integrates well with modern front-end frameworks.

History and licensing: Axios was originally created by Matt Zabriskie as an open-source project. It is maintained by a community of contributors and hosted on GitHub. The library is released under the MIT license and has become one of the most widely used HTTP clients in the JavaScript ecosystem.