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    An Agent is responsible for managing connection persistence and reuse for HTTP clients. It maintains a queue of pending requests for a given host and port, reusing a single socket connection for each until the queue is empty, at which time the socket is either destroyed or put into a pool where it is kept to be used again for requests to the same host and port. Whether it is destroyed or pooled depends on the keepAlive option.

    Pooled connections have TCP Keep-Alive enabled for them, but servers may still close idle connections, in which case they will be removed from the pool and a new connection will be made when a new HTTP request is made for that host and port. Servers may also refuse to allow multiple requests over the same connection, in which case the connection will have to be remade for every request and cannot be pooled. The Agent will still make the requests to that server, but each one will occur over a new connection.

    When a connection is closed by the client or the server, it is removed from the pool. Any unused sockets in the pool will be unrefed so as not to keep the Node.js process running when there are no outstanding requests. (see socket.unref()).

    It is good practice, to destroy() an Agent instance when it is no longer in use, because unused sockets consume OS resources.

    Sockets are removed from an agent when the socket emits either a 'close' event or an 'agentRemove' event. When intending to keep one HTTP request open for a long time without keeping it in the agent, something like the following may be done:

    http.get(options, (res) => {
    // Do stuff
    }).on('socket', (socket) => {
    socket.emit('agentRemove');
    });

    An agent may also be used for an individual request. By providing {agent: false} as an option to the http.get() or http.request() functions, a one-time use Agent with default options will be used for the client connection.

    agent:false:

    http.get({
    hostname: 'localhost',
    port: 80,
    path: '/',
    agent: false, // Create a new agent just for this one request
    }, (res) => {
    // Do stuff with response
    });

    options in socket.connect() are also supported.

    To configure any of them, a custom Agent instance must be created.

    import http from 'node:http';
    const keepAliveAgent = new http.Agent({ keepAlive: true });
    options.agent = keepAliveAgent;
    http.request(options, onResponseCallback)

    v0.3.4

    Hierarchy (View Summary)

    Index

    Constructors

    Properties

    freeSockets: ReadOnlyDict<Socket[]>

    An object which contains arrays of sockets currently awaiting use by the agent when keepAlive is enabled. Do not modify.

    Sockets in the freeSockets list will be automatically destroyed and removed from the array on 'timeout'.

    v0.11.4

    maxFreeSockets: number

    By default set to 256. For agents with keepAlive enabled, this sets the maximum number of sockets that will be left open in the free state.

    v0.11.7

    maxSockets: number

    By default set to Infinity. Determines how many concurrent sockets the agent can have open per origin. Origin is the returned value of agent.getName().

    v0.3.6

    maxTotalSockets: number

    By default set to Infinity. Determines how many concurrent sockets the agent can have open. Unlike maxSockets, this parameter applies across all origins.

    v14.5.0, v12.19.0

    An object which contains queues of requests that have not yet been assigned to sockets. Do not modify.

    v0.5.9

    sockets: ReadOnlyDict<Socket[]>

    An object which contains arrays of sockets currently in use by the agent. Do not modify.

    v0.3.6

    Methods

    • The Symbol.for('nodejs.rejection') method is called in case a promise rejection happens when emitting an event and captureRejections is enabled on the emitter. It is possible to use events.captureRejectionSymbol in place of Symbol.for('nodejs.rejection').

      import { EventEmitter, captureRejectionSymbol } from 'node:events';

      class MyClass extends EventEmitter {
      constructor() {
      super({ captureRejections: true });
      }

      [captureRejectionSymbol](err, event, ...args) {
      console.log('rejection happened for', event, 'with', err, ...args);
      this.destroy(err);
      }

      destroy(err) {
      // Tear the resource down here.
      }
      }

      Parameters

      • error: Error
      • event: string | symbol
      • ...args: any[]

      Returns void

      v13.4.0, v12.16.0

    • Alias for emitter.on(eventName, listener).

      Type Parameters

      • E extends string | symbol

      Parameters

      • eventName: string | symbol
      • listener: (...args: any[]) => void

      Returns this

      v0.1.26

    • Produces a socket/stream to be used for HTTP requests.

      By default, this function is the same as net.createConnection(). However, custom agents may override this method in case greater flexibility is desired.

      A socket/stream can be supplied in one of two ways: by returning the socket/stream from this function, or by passing the socket/stream to callback.

      This method is guaranteed to return an instance of the net.Socket class, a subclass of stream.Duplex, unless the user specifies a socket type other than net.Socket.

      callback has a signature of (err, stream).

      Parameters

      • options: ClientRequestArgs

        Options containing connection details. Check createConnection for the format of the options

      • Optionalcallback: (err: Error | null, stream: Duplex) => void

        Callback function that receives the created socket

      Returns Duplex | null | undefined

      v0.11.4

    • Destroy any sockets that are currently in use by the agent.

      It is usually not necessary to do this. However, if using an agent with keepAlive enabled, then it is best to explicitly shut down the agent when it is no longer needed. Otherwise, sockets might stay open for quite a long time before the server terminates them.

      Returns void

      v0.11.4

    • Synchronously calls each of the listeners registered for the event named eventName, in the order they were registered, passing the supplied arguments to each.

      Returns true if the event had listeners, false otherwise.

      import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
      const myEmitter = new EventEmitter();

      // First listener
      myEmitter.on('event', function firstListener() {
      console.log('Helloooo! first listener');
      });
      // Second listener
      myEmitter.on('event', function secondListener(arg1, arg2) {
      console.log(`event with parameters ${arg1}, ${arg2} in second listener`);
      });
      // Third listener
      myEmitter.on('event', function thirdListener(...args) {
      const parameters = args.join(', ');
      console.log(`event with parameters ${parameters} in third listener`);
      });

      console.log(myEmitter.listeners('event'));

      myEmitter.emit('event', 1, 2, 3, 4, 5);

      // Prints:
      // [
      // [Function: firstListener],
      // [Function: secondListener],
      // [Function: thirdListener]
      // ]
      // Helloooo! first listener
      // event with parameters 1, 2 in second listener
      // event with parameters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in third listener

      Type Parameters

      • E extends string | symbol

      Parameters

      • eventName: string | symbol
      • ...args: any[]

      Returns boolean

      v0.1.26

    • Returns an array listing the events for which the emitter has registered listeners.

      import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';

      const myEE = new EventEmitter();
      myEE.on('foo', () => {});
      myEE.on('bar', () => {});

      const sym = Symbol('symbol');
      myEE.on(sym, () => {});

      console.log(myEE.eventNames());
      // Prints: [ 'foo', 'bar', Symbol(symbol) ]

      Returns (string | symbol)[]

      v6.0.0

    • Returns the current max listener value for the EventEmitter which is either set by emitter.setMaxListeners(n) or defaults to events.defaultMaxListeners.

      Returns number

      v1.0.0

    • Get a unique name for a set of request options, to determine whether a connection can be reused. For an HTTP agent, this returnshost:port:localAddress or host:port:localAddress:family. For an HTTPS agent, the name includes the CA, cert, ciphers, and other HTTPS/TLS-specific options that determine socket reusability.

      Parameters

      • Optionaloptions: ClientRequestArgs

        A set of options providing information for name generation

      Returns string

      v0.11.4

    • Called when socket is detached from a request and could be persisted by theAgent. Default behavior is to:

      socket.setKeepAlive(true, this.keepAliveMsecs);
      socket.unref();
      return true;

      This method can be overridden by a particular Agent subclass. If this method returns a falsy value, the socket will be destroyed instead of persisting it for use with the next request.

      The socket argument can be an instance of net.Socket, a subclass of stream.Duplex.

      Parameters

      Returns void

      v8.1.0

    • Returns the number of listeners listening for the event named eventName. If listener is provided, it will return how many times the listener is found in the list of the listeners of the event.

      Type Parameters

      • E extends string | symbol

      Parameters

      • eventName: string | symbol

        The name of the event being listened for

      • Optionallistener: (...args: any[]) => void

        The event handler function

      Returns number

      v3.2.0

    • Returns a copy of the array of listeners for the event named eventName.

      server.on('connection', (stream) => {
      console.log('someone connected!');
      });
      console.log(util.inspect(server.listeners('connection')));
      // Prints: [ [Function] ]

      Type Parameters

      • E extends string | symbol

      Parameters

      • eventName: string | symbol

      Returns ((...args: any[]) => void)[]

      v0.1.26

    • Alias for emitter.removeListener().

      Type Parameters

      • E extends string | symbol

      Parameters

      • eventName: string | symbol
      • listener: (...args: any[]) => void

      Returns this

      v10.0.0

    • Adds the listener function to the end of the listeners array for the event named eventName. No checks are made to see if the listener has already been added. Multiple calls passing the same combination of eventName and listener will result in the listener being added, and called, multiple times.

      server.on('connection', (stream) => {
      console.log('someone connected!');
      });

      Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.

      By default, event listeners are invoked in the order they are added. The emitter.prependListener() method can be used as an alternative to add the event listener to the beginning of the listeners array.

      import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
      const myEE = new EventEmitter();
      myEE.on('foo', () => console.log('a'));
      myEE.prependListener('foo', () => console.log('b'));
      myEE.emit('foo');
      // Prints:
      // b
      // a

      Type Parameters

      • E extends string | symbol

      Parameters

      • eventName: string | symbol

        The name of the event.

      • listener: (...args: any[]) => void

        The callback function

      Returns this

      v0.1.101

    • Adds a one-time listener function for the event named eventName. The next time eventName is triggered, this listener is removed and then invoked.

      server.once('connection', (stream) => {
      console.log('Ah, we have our first user!');
      });

      Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.

      By default, event listeners are invoked in the order they are added. The emitter.prependOnceListener() method can be used as an alternative to add the event listener to the beginning of the listeners array.

      import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
      const myEE = new EventEmitter();
      myEE.once('foo', () => console.log('a'));
      myEE.prependOnceListener('foo', () => console.log('b'));
      myEE.emit('foo');
      // Prints:
      // b
      // a

      Type Parameters

      • E extends string | symbol

      Parameters

      • eventName: string | symbol

        The name of the event.

      • listener: (...args: any[]) => void

        The callback function

      Returns this

      v0.3.0

    • Adds the listener function to the beginning of the listeners array for the event named eventName. No checks are made to see if the listener has already been added. Multiple calls passing the same combination of eventName and listener will result in the listener being added, and called, multiple times.

      server.prependListener('connection', (stream) => {
      console.log('someone connected!');
      });

      Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.

      Type Parameters

      • E extends string | symbol

      Parameters

      • eventName: string | symbol

        The name of the event.

      • listener: (...args: any[]) => void

        The callback function

      Returns this

      v6.0.0

    • Adds a one-time listener function for the event named eventName to the beginning of the listeners array. The next time eventName is triggered, this listener is removed, and then invoked.

      server.prependOnceListener('connection', (stream) => {
      console.log('Ah, we have our first user!');
      });

      Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.

      Type Parameters

      • E extends string | symbol

      Parameters

      • eventName: string | symbol

        The name of the event.

      • listener: (...args: any[]) => void

        The callback function

      Returns this

      v6.0.0

    • Returns a copy of the array of listeners for the event named eventName, including any wrappers (such as those created by .once()).

      import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
      const emitter = new EventEmitter();
      emitter.once('log', () => console.log('log once'));

      // Returns a new Array with a function `onceWrapper` which has a property
      // `listener` which contains the original listener bound above
      const listeners = emitter.rawListeners('log');
      const logFnWrapper = listeners[0];

      // Logs "log once" to the console and does not unbind the `once` event
      logFnWrapper.listener();

      // Logs "log once" to the console and removes the listener
      logFnWrapper();

      emitter.on('log', () => console.log('log persistently'));
      // Will return a new Array with a single function bound by `.on()` above
      const newListeners = emitter.rawListeners('log');

      // Logs "log persistently" twice
      newListeners[0]();
      emitter.emit('log');

      Type Parameters

      • E extends string | symbol

      Parameters

      • eventName: string | symbol

      Returns ((...args: any[]) => void)[]

      v9.4.0

    • Removes all listeners, or those of the specified eventName.

      It is bad practice to remove listeners added elsewhere in the code, particularly when the EventEmitter instance was created by some other component or module (e.g. sockets or file streams).

      Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.

      Type Parameters

      • E extends string | symbol

      Parameters

      • OptionaleventName: string | symbol

      Returns this

      v0.1.26

    • Removes the specified listener from the listener array for the event named eventName.

      const callback = (stream) => {
      console.log('someone connected!');
      };
      server.on('connection', callback);
      // ...
      server.removeListener('connection', callback);

      removeListener() will remove, at most, one instance of a listener from the listener array. If any single listener has been added multiple times to the listener array for the specified eventName, then removeListener() must be called multiple times to remove each instance.

      Once an event is emitted, all listeners attached to it at the time of emitting are called in order. This implies that any removeListener() or removeAllListeners() calls after emitting and before the last listener finishes execution will not remove them from emit() in progress. Subsequent events behave as expected.

      import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
      class MyEmitter extends EventEmitter {}
      const myEmitter = new MyEmitter();

      const callbackA = () => {
      console.log('A');
      myEmitter.removeListener('event', callbackB);
      };

      const callbackB = () => {
      console.log('B');
      };

      myEmitter.on('event', callbackA);

      myEmitter.on('event', callbackB);

      // callbackA removes listener callbackB but it will still be called.
      // Internal listener array at time of emit [callbackA, callbackB]
      myEmitter.emit('event');
      // Prints:
      // A
      // B

      // callbackB is now removed.
      // Internal listener array [callbackA]
      myEmitter.emit('event');
      // Prints:
      // A

      Because listeners are managed using an internal array, calling this will change the position indexes of any listener registered after the listener being removed. This will not impact the order in which listeners are called, but it means that any copies of the listener array as returned by the emitter.listeners() method will need to be recreated.

      When a single function has been added as a handler multiple times for a single event (as in the example below), removeListener() will remove the most recently added instance. In the example the once('ping') listener is removed:

      import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
      const ee = new EventEmitter();

      function pong() {
      console.log('pong');
      }

      ee.on('ping', pong);
      ee.once('ping', pong);
      ee.removeListener('ping', pong);

      ee.emit('ping');
      ee.emit('ping');

      Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.

      Type Parameters

      • E extends string | symbol

      Parameters

      • eventName: string | symbol
      • listener: (...args: any[]) => void

      Returns this

      v0.1.26

    • Called when socket is attached to request after being persisted because of the keep-alive options. Default behavior is to:

      socket.ref();
      

      This method can be overridden by a particular Agent subclass.

      The socket argument can be an instance of net.Socket, a subclass of stream.Duplex.

      Parameters

      Returns void

      v8.1.0

    • By default EventEmitters will print a warning if more than 10 listeners are added for a particular event. This is a useful default that helps finding memory leaks. The emitter.setMaxListeners() method allows the limit to be modified for this specific EventEmitter instance. The value can be set to Infinity (or 0) to indicate an unlimited number of listeners.

      Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.

      Parameters

      • n: number

      Returns this

      v0.3.5