Investigate use of `superagent` and replace with native `fetch`

[AriajSarkar]

superagent is an HTTP client with 10+ dependencies (mime, formidable, methods, cookiejar, etc.) that adds significant weight to dependency trees.

Native fetch is now stable in Node.js 18+ and covers the vast majority of superagent use cases with zero dependencies.

See also: existing module-replacements entry for fetch alternatives (covers axios, node-fetch, cross-fetch) — superagent is the same category but not yet tracked.

Replacement

Replace superagent → native fetch

Dependents

npx github:Fuzzyma/e18e-tools superagent -n 100 -q -o md -U https://npm.devminer.xyz/registry

---

#	Downloads	Traffic	Version	Package	Notes
1	29.30M	4657.76 GB	^10.3.0	supertest	Left for now (Testing)
2	3.41M	542.41 GB	^7.1.6	path-loader
3	1.47M	233.80 GB	^10.0.0	chai-http	Left for now (Testing)
4	729.40k	115.96 GB	^10.2.3	auth0-js
5	569.64k	90.56 GB	^7.1.3	rest-facade
6	457.57k	72.74 GB	3.8.1	@mailchimp/mailchimp_marketing
7	409.32k	65.07 GB	^10.0	@testmo/testmo-api
8	326.88k	51.97 GB	^3.8.3	@bitgo-beta/sdk-core
9	289.96k	46.10 GB	^10.1.1	libhoney
10	277.18k	44.06 GB	^9.0.2	@ionic/cli
11	276.97k	44.03 GB	^10.1.0	@newrelic/publish-sourcemap
12	257.37k	40.92 GB	^6.1.0	asana
13	247.19k	39.30 GB	5.1.0	appcenter-file-upload-client
14	234.80k	37.33 GB	^8.0.0	code-push
15	169.93k	27.02 GB	^3.8.3	@bitgo-beta/sdk-coin-eth
16	166.15k	26.41 GB	3.8.3	@bitgo-beta/sdk-api
17	165.39k	26.29 GB	^3.8.3	@bitgo-beta/sdk-coin-near
18	164.83k	26.20 GB	^3.8.3	@bitgo-beta/sdk-coin-sol
19	164.68k	26.18 GB	^3.8.3	@bitgo-beta/sdk-coin-trx
20	164.06k	26.08 GB	^3.8.3	@bitgo-beta/sdk-coin-polygon
21	160.84k	25.57 GB	^3.8.3	@bitgo-beta/sdk-coin-avaxc
22	156.32k	24.85 GB	^3.8.3	@bitgo-beta/sdk-coin-xlm
23	153.61k	24.42 GB	^6.1.0	spotify-web-api-node
24	151.79k	24.13 GB	^10.3.0	@japa/api-client	Left for now (Testing)
25	145.35k	23.11 GB	^3.5.2	swagger-tools
26	138.39k	22.00 GB	3.7.0	sib-api-v3-sdk
27	97.96k	15.57 GB	~10.1.1	@easypost/api
28	85.25k	13.55 GB	^6.1.0	fastly
29	76.50k	12.16 GB	9.0.1	@testim/testim-cli
30	67.64k	10.75 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/sdk-core
31	67.22k	10.69 GB	^5.3.0	akeyless
32	65.69k	10.44 GB	^10.2.3	@forestadmin/forestadmin-client
33	64.77k	10.30 GB	^8.0.0	akismet-api
34	61.59k	9.79 GB	^7.1.1	sumo-logger
35	55.80k	8.87 GB	^1.8.3	grunt-release
36	54.29k	8.63 GB	10.2.3	@voucherify/sdk
37	51.08k	8.12 GB	^4.0.0	wpapi
38	49.06k	7.80 GB	^3.8.3	confluence-api
39	45.03k	7.16 GB	^3.8.3	supertest-with-proxy	Left for now (Testing)
40	42.26k	6.72 GB	^7.1.1	@bitgo-beta/blockapis
41	41.47k	6.59 GB	^10.2.3	@forestadmin/agent
42	41.44k	6.59 GB	^3.8.3	@bitgo-beta/abstract-utxo
43	38.31k	6.09 GB	^8.0.6	forest-express
44	38.13k	6.06 GB	^3.8.3	@bitgo-beta/sdk-coin-eos
45	37.90k	6.02 GB	^3.8.3	@bitgo-beta/sdk-coin-ethw
46	37.57k	5.97 GB	^3.8.3	bloodhound-js
47	35.44k	5.63 GB	^4.1.0	ionic
48	34.64k	5.51 GB	^3.8.3	influxdb-nodejs
49	33.37k	5.30 GB	0.15.7	zuul
50	33.03k	5.25 GB	^7.1.6	serverless-sentry
51	31.67k	5.04 GB	^3.6.0	mocha-puppeteer	Left for now (Testing)
52	29.65k	4.71 GB	5.3.1	ghost
53	25.79k	4.10 GB	^8.1.2	chartmogul-node
54	25.34k	4.03 GB	^3.8.3	@bitgo-beta/bitgo
55	24.91k	3.96 GB	^9.0.1	@alfresco/js-api
56	24.57k	3.91 GB	^7.1.3	brightspace-auth-provisioning
57	24.16k	3.84 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/sdk-api
58	24.14k	3.84 GB	^6.1.0	music-lyrics
59	24.03k	3.82 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/abstract-utxo
60	23.45k	3.73 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/abstract-eth
61	23.15k	3.68 GB	^10.2.3	forest-cli
62	22.12k	3.52 GB	10.2.1	yoti
63	21.95k	3.49 GB	^10.2.3	wpcom-xhr-request
64	21.22k	3.37 GB	8.1.2	talon_one
65	20.92k	3.33 GB	6.1.0	node-lyrics
66	20.78k	3.30 GB	^10.2.2	@hmcts/nodejs-healthcheck
67	19.08k	3.03 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/abstract-cosmos
68	18.65k	2.97 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/sdk-coin-eth
69	18.64k	2.96 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/blockapis
70	18.27k	2.90 GB	^7.0.2	@bandwidth/numbers
71	17.54k	2.79 GB	^9.0.1	bitgo
72	17.52k	2.78 GB	^10.2.3	@todesktop/cli
73	16.67k	2.65 GB	^3.7.0	bandwidth-iris
74	16.56k	2.63 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/sdk-coin-sol
75	16.52k	2.63 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/sdk-coin-avaxc
76	15.64k	2.49 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/sdk-coin-trx
77	15.53k	2.47 GB	3.7.0	messente_api
78	15.10k	2.40 GB	3.8.2	@bitgo/sdk-coin-sui
79	14.97k	2.38 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/sdk-coin-near
80	14.70k	2.34 GB	^5.3.0	sunshine-conversations-client
81	14.69k	2.33 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/sdk-coin-ada
82	14.38k	2.29 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/sdk-coin-xtz
83	14.14k	2.25 GB	^10.2.3	@bitgo/sdk-coin-soneium
84	14.14k	2.25 GB	>=1.4	superagent-jsonp
85	14.05k	2.23 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/sdk-coin-etc
86	13.99k	2.22 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/sdk-coin-ethw
87	13.67k	2.17 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/sdk-coin-xlm
88	13.43k	2.13 GB	^10.2.3	etherpad-cli-client
89	13.33k	2.12 GB	^9.0.1	@bitgo/sdk-coin-eos
90	12.54k	1.99 GB	^8.0.9	@paprika/uploader
91	12.48k	1.98 GB	^8.0.9	@leancloud/platform-adapters-node
92	12.41k	1.97 GB	^5.2.2	@leancloud/adapters-superagent
93	12.16k	1.93 GB	^5.2.2	amazon-paapi
94	12.13k	1.93 GB	^3.8.3	paapi5-nodejs-sdk
95	10.57k	1.68 GB	8.0.6	wechatpay-node-v3
96	10.50k	1.67 GB	^3.7.0	aqueduct
97	10.41k	1.65 GB	3.7.0	cloudmersive-convert-api-client
98	10.41k	1.65 GB	^5.3.0	@goplus/sdk-node
99	10.33k	1.64 GB	~0.17.0	component
100	10.16k	1.61 GB	^6.1.0	js-conflux-sdk

[43081j]

fyi chai-http mostly exists to add superagent assertions to chai. so its unlikely it'd switch to fetch and is more likely to just be redundant one day.

[AriajSarkar]

Thats a great point, thanks for the context!
i imagine supertest (the #.1 dependent) falls into the exact same category since it's fundamentally a superagent wrapper for testing.

while those testing utilities might eventually become redundant rather than migrating,
there are still quite a few general purpose SDKs and CLI tools on the list

(like auth0-js, mailchimp_marketing, and asana)

where swapping to native fetch would be a straight forward win to reduce dependency bloat.

should we update this issue to explicitly target general purpose API clients/SDKs and exclude testing wrappers like chai-http and supertest from the scope?

[43081j]

its probably worth adding an extra column to the table ("Notes") and noting the ones we are leaving for now (chai-http etc)

[AriajSarkar]

Done!
i've updated the table in the main issue description with a Notes column and marked the obvious testing wrapper (supertest, chai-http, supertest-with-proxy, mocha-puppeteer, etc.) as 'Left for now'.

if there are any other packages further down the list that fall into the same category, my apologies!
i didn't manually check every single one of the 100 packages natively, mostly just researched the top ones.
let me know if you spot any others we should skip and i'll keep the table updated!