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Apache HttpComponents

Apache HttpComponents is a set of Java HTTP components, including a feature-rich HTTP client (HttpClient 5.x) and HTTP server components. It provides connection pooling, async I/O, TLS/SSL support, authentication, cookie management, and content negotiation for Java applications making HTTP requests.

agent aware

Real signal across most facets with visible, nameable gaps — the contract exists but is thin, or the portal is good while governance and commercial terms are absent.

Kin Score

API Evangelist profiles Apache HttpComponents the way a machine reads it — 42 machine-readable artifacts across 3 APIs, pulled from the provider's own public surface and indexed so a developer, an analyst, or an AI agent can evaluate it against every other provider on the network.

Every provider in the network is reduced to the same set of machine-readable artifacts — OpenAPI contracts, event specifications, GraphQL schemas, runnable collections, pricing and rate-limit signals, security posture, OAuth scopes, and the agent surfaces (MCP servers and skills) that let software drive the API on its own. We profile them because the interface is the part of a company you can actually inspect: it is a truer signal of what a provider does than any marketing page. From those artifacts we compute the Kin Score — Apache HttpComponents scores 52.3/100 (developing), with a separate agent-readiness read of 39/100 (agent aware). The full breakdown is below, followed by every artifact we hold — each card links through to its machine-readable definition on apis.io.

Kin Score

This is the API Evangelist rating — a single, repeatable read computed from the artifacts on this page. Green fill is points earned; the red track is points possible, so every bar shows earned-versus-possible at a glance.

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5
Composite quality — 52.3/100 · developing
Contract Quality 16.2 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 4.3 / 20
Commercial Clarity 7.9 / 20
Operational Transparency 4.8 / 13
Governance 10.4 / 12
Discoverability 8.8 / 10
Agent readiness — 39/100 · agent aware
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 15 / 15
MCP Server 0 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7
Typed Event Surface 0 / 6
Agent Skills 0 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

How we profile Apache HttpComponents

Each block below is one kind of artifact we hold for Apache HttpComponents. For each we say what it is and why it earns a place in the profile, then list every one we've indexed — capped at two rows, scroll within the panel for the rest.

APIs 3

Each API is captured as its own OpenAPI definition — every operation, parameter, and response. This is the single most useful machine-readable description of what an API does, and it's what lets us score, lint, mock, and generate against it without asking the provider for anything.

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Apache HttpComponents Java SDK

Maven artifact for Apache HttpComponents HttpClient 5.x providing full HTTP client functionality including fluent API, async client, and reactive streams support.

Apache HttpComponents Configuration API

Client configuration operations

Apache HttpComponents Requests API

HTTP request execution operations

Open Collections 1

Open, tool-agnostic collections carry the same runnable value as Postman without locking you to one client — the portable, forkable form of the same exercise.

Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).

Pricing Plans 1

Pricing is part of the interface. Machine-readable plans tell you what a tier costs and includes before you commit — one of the six things the Kin Score reads for commercial clarity.

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Rate Limits 1

Rate limits are the difference between a demo that works and a production integration that doesn't fall over. Publishing them is an operational-transparency signal — and a hard requirement for any agent that plans its own throughput.

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Apache Http Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals let a buyer model the financial operations of an API before it's live. We profile them for the same reason we profile pricing: the money is part of the contract.

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Features 8

The notable capabilities this provider advertises, captured as structured features so they can be searched and compared instead of read one landing page at a time.

Notable capabilities this provider offers.

Connection Pooling

Configurable connection pool with per-route and total connection limits for efficient HTTP connection reuse.

Async HTTP Client

Non-blocking async HTTP client based on Java NIO for high-concurrency request execution.

TLS/SSL Support

Full TLS/SSL support with customizable trust stores, client certificates, and hostname verification.

Authentication Framework

Pluggable authentication framework supporting Basic, Digest, NTLM, and Bearer token schemes.

Cookie Management

RFC-compliant cookie management with customizable cookie stores and policies.

Proxy Support

HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS proxy support with proxy authentication.

Content Negotiation

Built-in content encoding, compression (gzip/deflate), and charset negotiation.

Fluent API

High-level fluent API for simplified one-liner HTTP request execution.

Scroll within the panel for all 8 ·

Semantic Vocabularies 1

JSON-LD contexts give the data shared meaning across APIs. We profile them because semantics are what let a machine reconcile 'customer' here with 'customer' somewhere else.

JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.

Apache Http Client Context

17 classes · 0 properties

JSON-LD

Spectral Rules 2

Governance rulesets we run against this provider's specs — the automated checks behind parts of the score. Profiling them makes the quality bar explicit and re-runnable, not a matter of opinion.

Apache HttpComponents API Rules

5 rules · 3 warnings

SPECTRAL

Apache HttpComponents API Rules

13 rules · 3 errors · 8 warnings

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 4

Standalone JSON Schema definitions describe the data models behind the API. We profile them so the shapes are validatable on their own — useful long after a single request is forgotten.

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

ConnectionConfig

5 properties

JSON SCHEMA

HttpRequest

5 properties

JSON SCHEMA

HttpResponse

5 properties

JSON SCHEMA

ProxyConfig

5 properties

JSON SCHEMA

JSON Structure 4

JSON Structure captures the data shapes in a form built for tooling — a complement to JSON Schema that keeps the model machine-legible.

JSON Structure definitions describing this provider's data shapes.

Http Client Connectionconfig Structure

5 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Http Client Httprequest Structure

5 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Http Client Httpresponse Structure

5 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Http Client Proxyconfig Structure

5 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Examples 4

Real request and response payloads are what turn a spec from abstract into obvious — and they're one of the twelve things an agent needs to call an API correctly on the first try.

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Security Posture 2

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals — the evidence that a provider takes security seriously enough to document it. We profile it because you can't govern what you can't see.

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Apache Http Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DMARC

SECURITY

Apache Http Vulnerability Disclosure

security.txt · contact published

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

An x-agentic-access contract marks which operations are safe for an agent to run on its own and which need a human in the loop. It is the difference between an API an agent can use and one it can use safely.

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Apache Http Agentic Access

3 operations · 3 acting

3 operations · 3 acting

AGENTIC

Use Cases 5

What developers actually build with this provider — captured so the catalogue answers 'what is this for', not just 'what does this expose'.

What developers build with this provider.

REST API Client Integration

Consume REST APIs from Java applications with connection pooling and retry logic.

Web Scraping

Crawl and fetch web content with cookie handling and redirect following.

Microservices HTTP Communication

Make service-to-service HTTP calls with connection reuse and timeout configuration.

Authentication Token Refresh

Implement OAuth2 token refresh flows using the authentication interceptor framework.

File Upload and Download

Stream large file uploads and downloads via multipart or chunked transfer encoding.

Integrations 4

Pre-built integrations with other platforms tell you where this provider already fits in a stack.

Pre-built integrations with other platforms and tools.

Spring Framework

Spring RestTemplate and WebClient use Apache HttpComponents as a configurable HTTP backend.

Apache CXF

Apache CXF JAX-RS client uses HttpComponents for HTTP transport in web service calls.

Elasticsearch Java Client

Elasticsearch Java client uses HttpComponents for transport-layer HTTP communication.

Apache Solr

Apache Solr Java client (SolrJ) uses HttpComponents for Solr HTTP API calls.

Resources

Every other property we hold for Apache HttpComponents — documentation, portals, status pages, policies, and corporate surface — grouped by the job it does, following the integrator's arc from getting started to running in production.

Get Started 1

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

Design & Contract 2

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Build 2

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

Company 1

The organization behind the API

← All providers · Data indexed from github.com/api-evangelist/apache-http · machine-readable index on apis.io