form-data request body is empty - node.js

Question

I'm trying to send an image and some data from an API to another. The image is stored in memory with multer. But when I want to send it, the body is just empty. I tried the same request with postman and it worked perfectly.
postman test
postman test image
server test
server test image
Here is some code. I removed some of it so you can read it better
export const saveImage = async ({ image, name, folder, options }: { image: any, name?: any, folder: string, options?: any }) => {
try {
const fd = new FormData();
fd.append("image", image.buffer, image.originalname);
if(options) {
fd.append("options[resize][height]", options?.resize?.height);
fd.append("options[resize][width]", options?.resize?.width);
}
if(name) fd.append("name", name);
fd.append("folder", folder);
fd.append("servideId", IMAGES_ID);
fd.append("serviceSecret", IMAGES_SECRET);
console.log(fd)
const formHeaders = fd.getHeaders();
const request = await axios.post(`${IMAGES_URL}/api/images`, {
headers: formHeaders,
body: fd
});
return request.data.id;
} catch (error) {
const { response } = error;
console.log(response.request.data)
if(error?.response?.data?.error) {
throw { statusCode: error.response.status, message: error.response.data.error }
}
console.error("Images API", error);
throw new InternalError("Something gone wrong");
}
}
When I log the FormData, I can see in _streams, the data that I'm sending, but the Images API receives an empty body.
FormData screenshot
If you need more information tell me, please! Thank you

Answer 1

The axios API for the post method is: axios.post(url[, data[, config]]). The second argument must always be the data you send along.
In your case axios thinks { headers: formHeaders, body: fd } is the body and the request ends up being application/json. To send a file with data using axios in Node.js, do the following:
const response = await axios.post(`${IMAGES_URL}/api/images`, fd, {
headers: {
...formHeaders,
'X-Custom-Header': 'lala', // optional
},
});
Your question inspired me to turn this answer into an article — Send a File With Axios in Node.js. It covers a few common pitfalls and you'll learn how to send files that are stored as a Buffer or coming from a Stream.

Answer 2

With Axios, you can directly use the form data without having to deal with headers.
axios.post("/api/images", fd)
If you wish to modify headers at some point in the future, you should pass the formData to the `data` field instead of `body`.
axios.post("/api/images", { headers: formHeaders, data: fd })
Correction in comments.
It can also be done using the Axios API syntax.
axios({method: 'post', url: 'url', data: fd, headers: {} })
In the backend, multer will add your files to req.file instead of req.body, if you have properly configured it to do so.