Creating HTTP Clients

Overview

This skill documents how to create shared HTTP clients for Output SDK workflows. Clients are stored in src/shared/clients/ and shared across all workflows to ensure consistent error handling, retry logic, and API integration patterns.

When to Use This Skill

• Integrating a new external API service
• Creating a reusable HTTP wrapper for a service
• Standardizing error handling for API calls
• Moving inline HTTP logic to a shared client

Location Convention

HTTP clients are stored in the shared clients folder:

src/shared/clients/
├── gemini_client.ts     # Google Gemini API client
├── jina_client.ts       # Jina AI client
├── perplexity_client.ts # Perplexity API client
└── {service}_client.ts  # Your new client

Important: Clients are shared across ALL workflows. Do NOT create per-workflow HTTP clients.

Other Shared Code Locations

src/shared/
├── clients/     # API clients (this skill)
├── utils/       # Utility functions & helpers
├── services/    # Business logic services
├── steps/       # Shared step definitions (optional)
└── evaluators/  # Shared evaluators (optional)

Import Pattern in Workflows

Use relative imports from workflow files to shared clients:

// CORRECT - Relative path from workflow steps.ts
import { GeminiImageService } from '../../shared/clients/gemini_client.js';
import { parseResumeWithJina } from '../../shared/clients/jina_client.js';

// From shared steps (if used)
import { JinaClient } from '../clients/jina_client.js';

Critical Import Rules

HTTP Client Import

// CORRECT - Use @outputai/http wrapper
import { httpClient } from '@outputai/http';

// WRONG - Never use axios directly
import axios from 'axios';

Error Types Import

// CORRECT - Import error types from @outputai/core
import { FatalError, ValidationError } from '@outputai/core';

// WRONG - Custom error classes
class MyCustomError extends Error { ... }

Credentials Import

// CORRECT - Use @outputai/credentials for secrets
import { credentials } from '@outputai/credentials';
const apiKey = credentials.require('service.api_key');

// WRONG - Never use process.env for secrets
const apiKey = process.env.SERVICE_API_KEY;

Basic Client Structure

Simple Function-Based Client

import { FatalError, ValidationError } from '@outputai/core';
import { httpClient } from '@outputai/http';
import { credentials } from '@outputai/credentials';

const API_KEY = credentials.require('service.api_key');
const BASE_URL = 'https://api.service.com';

const serviceClient = httpClient({
  prefixUrl: BASE_URL,
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY}`,
    Accept: 'application/json'
  },
  timeout: 30000,
  retry: {
    limit: 3,
    statusCodes: [408, 429, 500, 502, 503, 504]
  }
});

/**
 * Fetch data from the service
 *
 * @param query - Search query string
 * @returns Processed response data
 * @throws {FatalError} If authentication fails or resource not found
 * @throws {ValidationError} If temporary error occurs
 */
export async function fetchServiceData(query: string): Promise<ServiceResponse> {
  const response = await serviceClient.get('endpoint', {
    searchParams: { q: query }
  });

  const data = await response.json();

  if (!data.results) {
    throw new FatalError('No results returned from service');
  }

  return data;
}

Class-Based Client

import { FatalError, ValidationError } from '@outputai/core';
import { httpClient } from '@outputai/http';

export interface ServiceOptions {
  model?: string;
  timeout?: number;
}

export class ServiceClient {
  private readonly client: ReturnType<typeof httpClient>;
  private readonly model: string;

  constructor(apiKey?: string) {
    const key = apiKey ?? credentials.require('service.api_key');

    this.client = httpClient({
      prefixUrl: 'https://api.service.com',
      headers: {
        Authorization: `Bearer ${key}`,
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
      },
      timeout: 30000,
      retry: {
        limit: 3,
        statusCodes: [408, 429, 500, 502, 503, 504]
      }
    });

    this.model = 'default-model';
  }

  async process(input: ProcessInput): Promise<ProcessOutput> {
    try {
      const response = await this.client.post('process', {
        json: {
          model: this.model,
          input
        }
      });

      return await response.json();
    } catch (error: unknown) {
      const err = error as { status?: number; message?: string };

      if (err.status === 429) {
        throw new ValidationError(`Rate limit exceeded: ${err.message}`);
      }

      if (err.status === 401 || err.status === 403) {
        throw new FatalError(`Authentication failed: ${err.message}`);
      }

      throw new ValidationError(`Service call failed: ${err.message}`);
    }
  }
}

Real-World Examples

Example 1: Jina Client (Function-Based)

import { FatalError } from '@outputai/core';
import { httpClient } from '@outputai/http';

const JINA_API_KEY = process.env.JINA_API_KEY || '';
const JINA_BASE_URL = 'https://r.jina.ai';

const jinaClient = httpClient({
  prefixUrl: JINA_BASE_URL,
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${JINA_API_KEY}`,
    Accept: 'application/json'
  },
  timeout: 30000,
  retry: {
    limit: 3,
    statusCodes: [408, 413, 429, 500, 502, 503, 504]
  }
});

/**
 * Parse PDF resume using Jina Reader API
 */
export async function parseResumeWithJina(base64Pdf: string): Promise<string> {
  const response = await jinaClient.post('', {
    json: { pdf: base64Pdf },
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    }
  });

  const data: {
    data: {
      content: string;
      title?: string;
    };
  } = await response.json();

  if (!data.data?.content) {
    throw new FatalError('No content returned from Jina PDF parser');
  }

  return data.data.content;
}

/**
 * Scrape text content from URL using Jina Reader
 */
export async function scrapeTextWithJina(url: string): Promise<string> {
  const response = await jinaClient.get(url, {
    headers: {
      'X-Return-Format': 'text',
      'X-No-Cache': 'true',
      'X-Timeout': '30'
    }
  });

  const data: {
    data: {
      text?: string;
      content?: string;
    };
  } = await response.json();

  const textContent = data.data?.text || data.data?.content;

  if (!textContent) {
    throw new FatalError(`No text content returned from URL: ${url}`);
  }

  return textContent;
}

Example 2: Gemini Client (Class-Based)

import { GoogleGenerativeAI } from '@google/generative-ai';
import { FatalError, ValidationError } from '@outputai/core';

export interface GeminiImageGenerationOptions {
  prompt: string;
  referenceImages?: Array<{
    inlineData: {
      mimeType: string;
      data: string;
    };
  }>;
  aspectRatio?: string;
  resolution?: string;
  numberOfImages?: number;
}

export class GeminiImageService {
  private readonly client: GoogleGenerativeAI;
  // current as of 2026-05-04 — run output-dev-model-selection for the latest
  private readonly model: string = 'gemini-3-pro-image';

  constructor(apiKey = process.env.GOOGLE_GEMINI_API_KEY || process.env.GOOGLE_CLOUD_API_KEY) {
    if (!apiKey) {
      throw new FatalError(
        'GeminiImageService: No API Key provided (GOOGLE_GEMINI_API_KEY or GOOGLE_CLOUD_API_KEY).'
      );
    }
    this.client = new GoogleGenerativeAI(apiKey);
  }

  async generateImage(options: GeminiImageGenerationOptions): Promise<string[]> {
    const { prompt, referenceImages = [], aspectRatio = '1:1', resolution = '1K', numberOfImages = 1 } = options;

    try {
      const model = this.client.getGenerativeModel({ model: this.model });

      const parts: Array<{ text: string } | { inlineData: { mimeType: string; data: string } }> = [];

      if (referenceImages.length > 0) {
        referenceImages.forEach(img => parts.push(img));
      }

      const finalPrompt = `${prompt}\n\nGenerate this as a ${aspectRatio} aspect ratio image at ${resolution} resolution.`;
      parts.push({ text: finalPrompt });

      const result = await model.generateContent({
        contents: [{ role: 'user', parts }],
        generationConfig: {
          temperature: 1.0,
          topP: 0.95,
          candidateCount: numberOfImages,
          maxOutputTokens: 8192
        }
      });

      const images: string[] = [];
      const candidates = result.response.candidates || [];

      for (const candidate of candidates) {
        if (candidate.content?.parts) {
          for (const part of candidate.content.parts) {
            if (part.inlineData?.data) {
              images.push(part.inlineData.data);
            }
          }
        }
      }

      if (images.length === 0) {
        throw new ValidationError('No images were generated by Gemini');
      }

      return images;
    } catch (error: unknown) {
      const err = error as { status?: number; message?: string };

      if (err.status === 429) {
        throw new ValidationError(`Gemini rate limit exceeded: ${err.message}`);
      }

      if (err.status === 401 || err.status === 403) {
        throw new FatalError(`Gemini authentication failed: ${err.message}`);
      }

      throw new ValidationError(`Gemini image generation failed: ${err.message}`);
    }
  }
}

Error Handling Patterns

HTTP Status Code Handling

const RETRY_STATUS_CODES = [408, 429, 500, 502, 503, 504];
const FATAL_STATUS_CODES = [401, 403, 404];

const client = httpClient({
  retry: {
    limit: 3,
    statusCodes: RETRY_STATUS_CODES
  },
  hooks: {
    beforeError: [
      error => {
        const status = error.response?.status;
        const message = error.message;

        if (status && FATAL_STATUS_CODES.includes(status)) {
          throw new FatalError(`HTTP ${status} error: ${message}`);
        }

        throw new ValidationError(`HTTP request failed: ${message}`);
      }
    ]
  }
});

Error Type Guidelines

Status Code	Error Type	Reason
401, 403	FatalError	Auth failures won't succeed on retry
404	FatalError	Resource doesn't exist
408	ValidationError	Timeout, may succeed on retry
429	ValidationError	Rate limit, will succeed after wait
500+	ValidationError	Server errors may be temporary

Best Practices

1. Use Credentials for API Keys

Prefer @outputai/credentials over process.env for secrets management. See output-dev-credentials skill for details.

import { credentials } from '@outputai/credentials';

// credentials.require() throws MissingCredentialError if not found
const apiKey = credentials.require('service.api_key');

// credentials.get() returns undefined or default if not found
const region = credentials.get('aws.region', 'us-east-1');

2. Document Functions with JSDoc

/**
 * Fetch user profile from external service
 *
 * @param userId - Unique user identifier
 * @returns User profile data
 * @throws {FatalError} If user not found or auth fails
 * @throws {ValidationError} If temporary error occurs
 *
 * @example
 * const profile = await fetchUserProfile('user-123');
 */
export async function fetchUserProfile(userId: string): Promise<UserProfile> {
  // ...
}

3. Use Consistent Timeouts

// Standard timeout: 30 seconds
timeout: 30000

// Long-running operations: 60 seconds
timeout: 60000

4. Export TypeScript Interfaces

// Export interfaces for consumers
export interface ServiceResponse {
  data: {
    id: string;
    content: string;
  };
  metadata: {
    processedAt: string;
  };
}

Verification Checklist

• [ ] Client file located in src/shared/clients/ directory
• [ ] File named {service}_client.ts
• [ ] httpClient imported from @outputai/http (not axios)
• [ ] FatalError and ValidationError imported from @outputai/core
• [ ] API key validation in constructor/initialization
• [ ] Retry configuration for appropriate status codes
• [ ] FatalError used for 401, 403, 404 responses
• [ ] ValidationError used for 429, 5xx responses
• [ ] JSDoc documentation for exported functions
• [ ] TypeScript interfaces exported for response types

Related Skills

• output-dev-step-function - Using clients in step functions
• output-dev-evaluator-function - Using clients in evaluators
• output-dev-folder-structure - Understanding project layout
• output-dev-credentials - Encrypted secrets management
• output-error-http-client - Troubleshooting HTTP issues
• output-error-try-catch - Proper error handling patterns