Is there a default timeout in Node.js for http.request?

Question

In Node.js there is a default timeout for a server (for an incoming HTTP request) at 120000ms (2 minutes) (see HTTP's server.timeout documentation).

But if I want to do an HTTP request in Node.js (using http.request), looking at the documentation, I only find a function request.setTimeout() to set the timeout manually.

Anyone know if there is a default timeout for HTTP requests in Node.js? Or does Node.js try to send the HTTP request with no end?

Answer 1

You want to set the server.timeout property (it defaults to 120,000, as you've found).

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Update: Node.js 13 has removed the default timeout:

• https://nodejs.org/api/http.html#servertimeout
• https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/27558

Answer 2

I was also interested in this. By reading the code, Node.js uses Socket under the hood of http request (naturally). (The source link below is referring v8.8.0 at the point when I'm writing this)

https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/master/lib/_http_outgoing.js

And Socket does not have the timeout by default by this document

https://nodejs.org/dist/latest-v6.x/docs/api/net.html#net_socket_settimeout_timeout_callback

And the source tells the same.

https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/master/lib/net.js