HTTP GET

HTTP GET

Type: http-get  ·  Package: HTTP Activities v1.0.5  ·  Output: ZoanHttpResponse

Sends a GET request to read/query data from an API or web service. It is the most common request: fetch a record, list items, look up a value. It sends no body; everything goes in the URL (including query parameters such as ?status=active).

How it works

Sends the request to url (with optional headers and authentication) and returns a ZoanHttpResponse. If the response body is JSON, it is converted automatically into a dictionary/list.

• Status codes: 2xx succeeds; redirects are followed automatically; any other code (4xx, 5xx, 304) makes the activity fail — see what makes the activity fail.
• Timeouts: 30 s to connect and, by default, 5 min for the whole request (timeout parameter). When they run out, the activity fails with a normal error that Try / Catch and Retry catch — see timeouts.
• No local side effects: it writes no files and changes no variables besides its output. A GET should not change data on the server, so it is safe to retry with Retry.

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
url	string	—	Absolute request URL (https://…), including its query string if needed. Accepts expressions (e.g. "https://api.example.com/customers/" + id).

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
headers	Dictionary	—	Extra headers (name → value), in the JSON editor. Content headers (Content-Type…) are ignored. See headers.
authorization	Dictionary	—	Authentication in the JSON editor: {"type": "bearer", "token": …}, {"type": "basic", "username": …, "password": …} or {"type": "apikey", "header": …, "value": …}. See authentication.
timeout	int	300	Seconds to wait for the whole request (connection, sending and answer); maximum 3600, decimals allowed (0.5). Since version 1.0.5. See timeouts.

Output

Returns a ZoanHttpResponse:

Property	Type	Content
.StatusCode	int	2xx code of the final response (usually 200).
.Ok	bool	Always true in an output you receive (other codes make the activity fail).
.Body	object	JSON response → navigable dictionary/list (resp.Body["items"][0]["id"]); other responses → text; empty body → "". A missing key returns an empty value, not an error.
.Headers	Dictionary	Response headers; multiple values joined with ", ".

Common errors

Message	Cause and fix
The server answered HTTP 404 (Not Found) to the GET request.	The server answered with a non-2xx code (404, 401, 500…). Check the URL and the authentication. If the code is expected, wrap the request in Try / Catch and branch on error.Message.Contains("HTTP 404").
No such host is known. (or another system network error)	There was no response: misspelled host, no network, connection refused or invalid certificate. error.Type is "HttpRequestException". For intermittent outages, use Retry.
The GET request to api.example.com did not finish within 300 s (timeout). Raise 'timeout' if the service takes longer.	The server did not answer within timeout. error.Type is \"TimeoutException\": catch it with Try / Catch or retry with Retry; if the API is slow by nature, raise timeout. If connecting fails, the message says Could not connect to … within 30 s.
An invalid request URI was provided. Either the request URI must be an absolute URI or BaseAddress must be set.	url is not absolute (e.g. api.example.com/x). Include the scheme: https://api.example.com/x.
'url' is required.	The url expression evaluated to null. Check the variable that builds it.

Since version 1.0.5, if the server does not answer in time the activity fails with a catchable error (TimeoutException); before, the execution ended as cancelled — see timeouts.

Example

Look up a customer by id, authenticating with a secure token:

HTTP GET
  url = "https://api.erp.com/customers/" + customerId
  authorization = { "type": "bearer", "token": credential("erp-api")["value"] }
  → output: resp

Set Variable   name = customerName   value = resp.Body["name"]
Log   message = "Customer: " + customerName

Loop over a list inside the response:

HTTP GET   url = "https://api.erp.com/invoices?status=pending"   → output: resp
For Each   items = resp.Body["items"]   itemVariable = invoice
 └─ activities:
      Log   message = "Invoice " + invoice["number"] + " for " + invoice["total"]

Query parameters

Filters go in the URL itself as a query string: https://api.com/orders?status=pending&from=2026-01-01. Build it with an expression when values are dynamic, and make sure they contain no spaces or unencoded special characters.

Related activities

• HTTP POST — create or send data.
• Try / Catch — handle error responses.
• Data types › ZoanHttpResponse — reading the response.