GitHub - ralph-bergmann/HttpTools: collection of Dart and Flutter libraries for HTTP request handling

A comprehensive collection of Dart and Flutter packages for HTTP request handling, providing intercepting, logging, and caching capabilities to enhance your network operations.

📦 Packages Overview

Package	Version	Description
`http_client_interceptor`		Core HTTP interceptor framework
`http_client_logger`		Comprehensive HTTP request/response logging
`http_client_cache`		HTTP caching with disk/memory storage

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

Add any or all packages to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  http_client_interceptor: ^1.0.1
  http_client_logger: ^1.1.2
  http_client_cache: ^1.0.3

Basic Usage - All Features Combined

import 'dart:async';
import 'dart:io';
import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;
import 'package:http_client_interceptor/http_client_interceptor.dart';
import 'package:http_client_logger/http_client_logger.dart';
import 'package:http_client_cache/http_client_cache.dart';
import 'package:logging/logging.dart' hide Level;

Future<void> main() async {
  // Enable logging to see what's happening
  Logger.root.onRecord.listen((record) {
    print('[${record.level.name}] ${record.message}');
  });

  // Initialize cache
  final cache = HttpCache();
  await cache.initInMemory(); // or initLocal(Directory) for persistent cache

  // Configure HTTP client with all interceptors
  await http.runWithClient(
    () async {
      final client = http.Client();
      
      // Make requests - they'll be logged and cached automatically
      final response1 = await client.get(
        Uri.parse('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1')
      );
      print('First request: ${response1.statusCode}');
      
      // Second identical request will be served from cache
      final response2 = await client.get(
        Uri.parse('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1')
      );
      print('Second request: ${response2.statusCode}');
      
      client.close();
    },
    () => HttpClientProxy(
      interceptors: [
        HttpLogger(level: Level.headers), // Log requests/responses
        cache, // Cache responses
      ],
    ),
  );
}

📋 Detailed Package Documentation

http_client_interceptor

Core HTTP interceptor framework - Foundation for all other packages

Key Features:

✅ Intercept HTTP requests and responses
✅ Modify headers, body, and URLs
✅ Handle errors and retries
✅ Chain multiple interceptors
✅ Compatible with all popular HTTP packages

Simple Custom Interceptor:

import 'package:http_client_interceptor/http_client_interceptor.dart';

class AuthInterceptor extends HttpInterceptor {
  final String apiKey;
  AuthInterceptor(this.apiKey);

  @override
  FutureOr<OnRequest> onRequest(BaseRequest request) {
    // Add API key to all requests
    request.headers['Authorization'] = 'Bearer $apiKey';
    return OnRequest.next(request);
  }

  @override
  FutureOr<OnResponse> onResponse(StreamedResponse response) {
    print('Response: ${response.statusCode} for ${response.request?.url}');
    return OnResponse.next(response);
  }

  @override
  FutureOr<OnError> onError(BaseRequest request, Object error, StackTrace? stackTrace) {
    print('Request failed: ${request.url} - Error: $error');
    return OnError.next(request, error, stackTrace);
  }
}

http_client_logger

Comprehensive HTTP logging - See exactly what your app is sending and receiving

Key Features:

✅ Unique Request IDs - Track concurrent requests easily
✅ Multiple Log Levels - basic, headers, body
✅ Smart Binary Detection - Clean logs without garbage data
✅ Production Ready - Configurable for development vs production
✅ Human Readable - Clean, structured log format

Log Output Examples:

[a1b2c3d4] --> GET https://api.example.com/users/123
[a1b2c3d4]     authorization: Bearer ***
[a1b2c3d4]     content-type: application/json
[a1b2c3d4] --> END GET
[a1b2c3d4] <-- 200 OK (145ms)
[a1b2c3d4]     content-type: application/json
[a1b2c3d4]     {"id": 123, "name": "John Doe"}
[a1b2c3d4] <-- END

Usage:

import 'package:http_client_logger/http_client_logger.dart';
import 'package:logging/logging.dart' hide Level;

// Set up logging
Logger.root.onRecord.listen((record) => print(record.message));

// Configure logger
HttpClientProxy(
  interceptors: [
    HttpLogger(
      level: Level.body, // basic | headers | body
      logBodyContentTypes: {'application/json'}, // Only log JSON as text
    ),
  ],
)

http_client_cache

HTTP caching with disk/memory storage - Improve performance and reduce network usage

Key Features:

✅ RFC 7234 Compliant - Standard HTTP caching behavior
✅ Memory & Disk Storage - Choose what fits your needs
✅ Cache-Control Support - Respects server cache directives
✅ Stale-While-Revalidate - Serve stale content while updating
✅ Stale-If-Error - Fallback to cache when network fails
✅ Automatic Cleanup - LRU eviction and size limits
✅ Private Content Filtering - Secure handling of sensitive data

Cache Behavior Examples:

Cache miss for https://api.example.com/posts/1      # First request
Cache hit for https://api.example.com/posts/1       # Served from cache
Cache entry expired for https://api.example.com/posts/1  # Needs refresh
Serving stale content due to network error           # Stale-if-error fallback

Usage:

import 'package:http_client_cache/http_client_cache.dart';

Future<void> setupCache() async {
  final cache = HttpCache();
  
  // Option 1: Memory cache (faster, doesn't persist)
  await cache.initInMemory(maxCacheSize: 50 * 1024 * 1024); // 50MB
  
  // Option 2: Disk cache (persists between app restarts)
  // final cacheDir = Directory('cache');
  // await cache.initLocal(cacheDir, maxCacheSize: 100 * 1024 * 1024);

  return HttpClientProxy(interceptors: [cache]);
}

🔧 Advanced Usage Patterns

Conditional Interceptors

HttpClientProxy(
  interceptors: [
    if (kDebugMode) HttpLogger(level: Level.body), // Only log in debug
    AuthInterceptor(apiKey),
    cache,
  ],
)

Custom Cache Control

class CacheControlInterceptor extends HttpInterceptor {
  @override
  FutureOr<OnResponse> onResponse(StreamedResponse response) {
    final headers = Map<String, String>.from(response.headers);
    
    // Cache API responses with resilience features
    if (response.request?.url.path.startsWith('/api/') ?? false) {
      headers['cache-control'] = 
        'max-age=300, stale-while-revalidate=60, stale-if-error=3600';
      // Cache for 5 min, serve stale for 1 min while revalidating,
      // serve stale for 1 hour if network fails
    }
    
    return OnResponse.next(response.copyWith(headers: headers));
  }
}

🔗 Framework Compatibility

Works seamlessly with popular HTTP packages:

✅ http - A composable, multi-platform, Future-based API for HTTP requests.
✅ chopper - An http client generator using source_gen, inspired by Retrofit
✅ retrofit - An dio client generator using source_gen and inspired by Chopper and Retrofit
✅ dio - A powerful HTTP networking package

Note: dio and retrofit (which uses dio) require the dio_compatibility_layer package to work with the standard http package that these interceptors depend on.

dependencies:
  http: ^1.2.0
  dio_compatibility_layer: ^3.0.0  # Required for dio/retrofit compatibility

📊 Performance Considerations

Development vs Production:

HttpClientProxy(
  interceptors: [
    // Production: Only basic logging
    if (kReleaseMode) HttpLogger(level: Level.basic),
    
    // Development: Full logging with bodies  
    if (kDebugMode) HttpLogger(level: Level.body),
    
    // Always cache for better performance
    cache,
  ],
)

Memory Management:

Cache automatically manages size with LRU eviction
Use cache.clearCache() when memory is low
Use cache.deletePrivateContent() when user logs out

🐛 Debugging Tips

Enable verbose logging:

Logger.root.level = Level.ALL;
Logger.root.onRecord.listen((record) {
  print('[${record.time}] ${record.level.name}: ${record.message}');
  if (record.error != null) print('Error: ${record.error}');
  if (record.stackTrace != null) print('Stack: ${record.stackTrace}');
});

Check cache status:

// Look for Cache-Status headers in responses
final cacheStatus = response.headers['cache-status'];
print('Cache status: $cacheStatus');

🤝 Contributing

Found a bug or want to contribute? Check our GitHub repository for:

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see individual package licenses for details.

Need help? Check out the individual package documentation or open an issue on GitHub!