Osiris

Overview

Osiris is a Swift library that makes HTTP requests less ambiguous. It gives you multipart form encoding, cleaner abstractions for requests and responses, and stops you from wrangling optionals and errors manually. Instead you get types and an API that feels more Swifty.

The main components are clean abstractions for HTTP requests and responses, and a MultipartFormEncoder that can encode forms either to memory or to files. The multipart encoder can stream data to files for large request bodies. Everything conforms to CustomStringConvertible with helpful descriptions so debugging with OSLog doesn't involve String(describing:) or other annoyances.

For the most part Osiris strives you give you tools to make URLSession easier to use. However there are convenience methods to directly perform HTTPRequests without building them yourself, and also to decode JSON response bodies. They're optional but you'll probably want to use them.

Installation

You can install Osiris using Swift Package Manager (SPM) or copy the files directly into your project and customize them as needed.

Supported Platforms

This package supports iOS 16.0+ and macOS 13.0+. The package is built with Swift 6.0+ but doesn't require projects importing Osiris to use Swift 6 language mode.

Xcode

Add the package to your project's Package Dependencies by entering the URL https://github.com/samsonjs/Osiris and following the usual flow for adding packages.

Swift Package Manager (SPM)

Add this to your Package.swift dependencies:

.package(url: "https://github.com/samsonjs/Osiris.git", .upToNextMajor(from: "2.1.0"))

and add "Osiris" to your target dependencies.

Usage

HTTPRequest with Codable Support

Automatic JSON encoding/decoding with URLSession extensions:

import Osiris

let url = URL(string: "https://trails.example.net/riders")!

// GET request with automatic JSON decoding
let riders: [RiderProfile] = try await URLSession.shared.perform(.get(url))

// POST with Codable body and automatic response decoding
struct CreateRiderRequest: Codable {
    let name: String
    let email: String
    let bike: String
}

let danny = CreateRiderRequest(name: "Danny MacAskill", email: "danny@trails.example.net", bike: "Santa Cruz 5010")
let created: RiderProfile = try await URLSession.shared.perform(.post(url, body: danny))

// Custom JSON encoding/decoding (e.g., snake_case)
let encoder = JSONEncoder()
encoder.keyEncodingStrategy = .convertToSnakeCase
let decoder = JSONDecoder()
decoder.keyDecodingStrategy = .convertFromSnakeCase

let customRequest = try HTTPRequest.post(url, body: danny, encoder: encoder)
let result: RiderProfile = try await URLSession.shared.perform(customRequest, decoder: decoder)

// For requests expecting no content (204, etc.)
try await URLSession.shared.perform(.delete(url.appendingPathComponent("123")))

Basic HTTPRequest

For simple requests:

import Osiris

let url = URL(string: "https://example.net/kittens")!

// Basic GET request
let request = HTTPRequest.get(url)

// GET request with query parameters
let getRequest = HTTPRequest.get(url, parameters: ["page": 1, "limit": 10])

// DELETE request with query parameters
let deleteRequest = HTTPRequest.delete(url, parameters: ["confirm": "true"])

More complicated POST requests with bodies and headers:

// POST with JSON body and a custom header
let url = URL(string: "https://example.net/band")!
let params = ["email": "fatmike@example.net", "password": "LinoleumSupportsMyHead"]
var jsonRequest = HTTPRequest.postJSON(url, body: params)
jsonRequest.headers["x-the-answer"] = "42"

// POST with form-encoded body
let formRequest = HTTPRequest.postForm(url, parameters: params)

// POST with multipart body
let multipartRequest = HTTPRequest.postMultipart(url, parts: [.text("all day", name: "album")])

You can build a URLRequest from an HTTPRequest using RequestBuilder:

let urlRequest = try RequestBuilder.build(request: request)

More Codable Examples

HTTPRequest has built-in support for Codable request bodies:

struct Artist: Codable {
    let name: String
    let email: String
    let genre: String
}

let url = URL(string: "https://beats.example.net/artists")!
let artist = Artist(name: "Trent Reznor", email: "trent@example.net", genre: "Industrial")

// POST with Codable body
let postRequest = try HTTPRequest.post(url, body: artist)
let created: Artist = try await URLSession.shared.perform(postRequest)

// PUT with Codable body
let putRequest = try HTTPRequest.put(url, body: artist)
let updated: Artist = try await URLSession.shared.perform(putRequest)

// PATCH with Codable body
let patchRequest = try HTTPRequest.patch(url, body: artist)
let patched: Artist = try await URLSession.shared.perform(patchRequest)

// Custom encoder for different JSON formatting
let encoder = JSONEncoder()
encoder.keyEncodingStrategy = .convertToSnakeCase
let customRequest = try HTTPRequest.post(url, body: artist, encoder: encoder)

HTTPResponse

This enum makes sense of the 3 parameters of URLSession's completion block. Its initializer takes in the optional URLResponse, Data, and Error values and determines if the request succeeded or failed, taking the HTTP status code into account. 200-level statuses are successes and anything else is a failure.

let task = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: urlRequest) { data, response, error in
    let httpResponse = HTTPResponse(response: response, data: data, error: error)

    switch httpResponse {
    case let .success(httpURLResponse, data):
        print("Success: \(httpURLResponse.statusCode)")
        if let data = data {
            print("Response: \(String(data: data, encoding: .utf8) ?? "")")
        }
    case let .failure(error, httpURLResponse, data):
        print("Failed: \(error)")
        if let httpURLResponse = httpURLResponse {
            print("Status: \(httpURLResponse.statusCode)")
        }
    }
}

The response provides convenient properties:

• data: the optional body data returned by the server
• status: the HTTP status code returned by the server, or 0 if the request itself failed
• headers: a dictionary of headers
• bodyString: the response body as a String
• dictionaryFromJSON: the decoded body for JSON responses
• underlyingResponse: the optional HTTPURLResponse for direct access

FormEncoder

URL-encoded form data encoder adapted from Alamofire:

let body = FormEncoder.encode(["email": "trent@example.net", "password": "CloserToGod"])
// => "email=trent%40example.net&password=CloserToGod"

Multipart Form Encoding

Create an encoder and then add parts to it as needed:

let avatarData = UIImage(systemName: "person.circle")?.jpegData(compressionQuality: 1.0)
let encoder = MultipartFormEncoder()
let body = try encoder.encodeData(parts: [
    .text("chali@example.net", name: "email"),
    .text("QualityControl", name: "password"),
    .data(avatarData ?? Data(), name: "avatar", type: "image/jpeg", filename: "avatar.jpg"),
])

You can encode forms as Data in memory, or encode to a file which can then be streamed from disk. There's a 50 MB limit on in-memory encoding, but honestly you probably don't want to go anywhere near that. If you're dealing with images or video files, just encode to a file from the start.

let body = try encoder.encodeFile(parts: [
    .text("chali@example.net", name: "email"),
    .text("QualityControl", name: "password"),
    .data(avatarData ?? Data(), name: "avatar", type: "image/jpeg", filename: "avatar.jpg"),
])

var request = URLRequest(url: URL(string: "https://example.net/accounts")!)
request.httpMethod = "POST"
request.httpBodyStream = InputStream(url: body.url)
request.addValue(body.contentType, forHTTPHeaderField: "Content-Type")
request.addValue("\(body.contentLength)", forHTTPHeaderField: "Content-Length")

// Clean up the temporary file when done
defer { _ = body.cleanup() }

Complete Example

Here's a realistic example with error handling:

import Osiris

struct ArtistProfile: Codable {
    let name: String
    let email: String
    let genre: String
}

struct UpdateProfileRequest: Codable {
    let name: String
    let email: String
    let genre: String
}

func updateProfile(name: String, email: String, genre: String) async throws -> ArtistProfile {
    let url = URL(string: "https://beats.example.net/profile")!
    let updateRequest = UpdateProfileRequest(name: name, email: email, genre: genre)
    
    // Use Codable body instead of dictionary
    let request = try HTTPRequest.put(url, body: updateRequest)
    
    // URLSession extension handles status checking and JSON decoding
    return try await URLSession.shared.perform(request)
}

// For varied data structures, dictionaries are still available as an escape hatch:
func updateProfileWithDictionary(fields: [String: String]) async throws -> ArtistProfile {
    let url = URL(string: "https://beats.example.net/profile")!
    let request = HTTPRequest.putJSON(url, body: fields)
    return try await URLSession.shared.perform(request)
}

// Usage with error handling
do {
    let profile = try await updateProfile(name: "Trent Reznor", email: "trent@example.net", genre: "Industrial")
    print("Profile updated: \(profile)")
} catch let httpError as HTTPError {
    switch httpError {
    case let .failure(statusCode, data, _):
        print("HTTP \(statusCode) error: \(String(data: data, encoding: .utf8) ?? "No body")")
    case .invalidResponse:
        print("Invalid response from server")
    }
} catch is DecodingError {
    print("Failed to decode response JSON")
} catch {
    print("Network error: \(error)")
}

Migration Guide

Migrating from 2.0 to 2.1

Version 2.1.0 cleans up the API while keeping everything backward compatible. The old methods are deprecated and you'll get warnings, but they still work. We'll remove them in 3.0.

HTTPRequest Changes

Old API (deprecated):

// Parameters with content type
let request = HTTPRequest.post(url, contentType: .json, parameters: ["key": "value"])
let request = HTTPRequest.put(url, contentType: .formEncoded, parameters: params)

// Direct property access
var request = HTTPRequest.post(url)
request.parameters = ["key": "value"]
request.parts = [.text("value", name: "field")]

New API:

// Explicit methods for different encodings
let request = HTTPRequest.postJSON(url, body: ["key": "value"])
let request = HTTPRequest.putForm(url, parameters: params)

// Multipart convenience methods
let request = HTTPRequest.postMultipart(url, parts: [.text("value", name: "field")])

// Codable support
struct Artist: Codable {
    let name: String
    let genre: String
}
let request = try HTTPRequest.post(url, body: Artist(name: "Trent Reznor", genre: "Industrial"))

What's Different

1. GET/DELETE Query Parameters: You can now pass parameters to GET and DELETE requests and they'll be automatically encoded as query strings like they should have been all along, instead of having to build the URL yourself.

2. Codable Support: HTTPRequest now has direct Codable support and URLSession extensions for automatic JSON handling:

   let request = try HTTPRequest.post(url, body: newArtist)
   let response: ArtistResponse = try await URLSession.shared.perform(request)
   

3. Clearer Method Names: Methods like postJSON() and postForm() tell you exactly what encoding you're getting.

Migration Steps

1. Update to version 2.1
2. Fix the deprecation warnings by swapping old method calls for new ones
3. You can now pass query parameters to GET/DELETE requests instead of adding them to the URL yourself
4. Take advantage of the built-in Codable support for type-safe request bodies

Credits

Originally created by @samsonjs for 1 Second Everyday. FormEncoder.swift was adapted from Alamofire.

License

Copyright © 2017-2025 1 Second Everyday. Released under the terms of the MIT License.