Sending Raw Binary Data | Effect Http Client

The simplest way to send binary data is HttpClientRequest.bodyUint8Array(). It sets the request body to a raw byte array and optionally sets the Content-Type header.

This is useful when you already have the file contents in memory as a Uint8Array, for example, after reading a file, generating data programmatically, or receiving bytes from another source.

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import {
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  FetchHttpClient,
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  HttpClient,
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  HttpClientRequest,
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} from "effect/unstable/http";
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import { Effect } from "effect";
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function sendBinaryData() {
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  return Effect.gen(function* () {
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    const client = yield* HttpClient.HttpClient;
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    // Create some binary data (in practice, this might come from a file)
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    const encoder = new TextEncoder();
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    const bytes = encoder.encode("Hello from Effect!");
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    const request = HttpClientRequest.post("https://httpbin.org/post").pipe(
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      HttpClientRequest.bodyUint8Array(bytes, "text/plain"),
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    );
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    const response = yield* client.execute(request);
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    const data = yield* response.json;
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    return data;
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  }).pipe(Effect.provide(FetchHttpClient.layer));
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}
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// Test it
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Effect.runPromise(sendBinaryData()).then((data) => {
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  console.log("Content-Type sent:", data.headers["Content-Type"]);
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  console.log("Body received:", data.data);
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});

Output:

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Content-Type sent: text/plain
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Body received: Hello from Effect!

bodyUint8Array takes two arguments: the byte array and an optional content type string. If you omit the content type, it defaults to application/octet-stream (generic binary).

This API loads the entire payload into memory, so it’s best for small-to-medium payloads. For large files, use streaming instead.

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