How To Send POST Request To External API In NextJS?

Last Updated : 25 Jul, 2024

Sending POST requests to external APIs in Next.js enables interaction with third-party services or your backend. This allows for data submission, form handling, and integration, enhancing your application's functionality.

Prerequisites:

Below are the approaches mentioned to send POST Request to External APIs in NextJS

Table of Content

Using Fetch Method
Using Next.js API Route

Steps to Setup a NextJS App

Step 1: Create a NextJS application using the following command and answer a few questions.

npx create-next-app@latest app_name

Step 2: It will ask you some questions, so choose as the following.

√ Would you like to use TypeScript? ... No
√ Would you like to use ESLint? ... Yes
√ Would you like to use Tailwind CSS? ... No
√ Would you like to use `src/` directory? ... Yes
√ Would you like to use App Router?  ... Yes
√ Would you like to customize the default import alias (@/*)? ... No

Step 3: After creating your project folder, move to it using the following command.

cd app_name

Project Structure:

The updated dependencies in package.json file will look like:

"dependencies": {
    "contentful": "^10.11.2",
    "next": "14.2.3",
    "react": "^18",
    "react-dom": "^18"
}

Using Fetch Method

To send a POST request to an external API in Next.js we will use the traditional method. We have used a state to store the value of the input field, and when the submit button is clicked, it sends a POST request to the external API.

Example: The below example demonstrates the sending of post requests to external API using the fetch method.

JavaScript

// Filename: src/app/page.js

'use client'
import { useState } from 'react'

export default function Home() {
    const [title, setTitle] = useState('')
    const [body, setBody] = useState('')

    const submitData = async () => {
        let response = await fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts', {
            method: 'POST',
            body: JSON.stringify({
                title: title,
                body: body,
                userId: 1
            }),
            headers: {
                'Content-type': 'application/json'
            }
        })

        response = await response.json()

        alert(JSON.stringify(response))
    }

    return (
        <>
            <h2>External Post API Request | GeeksForGeeks</h2>
            <input
                type='text'
                value={title}
                onChange={e => setTitle(e.target.value)}
                placeholder='Enter Post Title'
            />

            <input
                type='text'
                value={body}
                onChange={e => setBody(e.target.value)}
                placeholder='Enter Post Body'
            />
            <button onClick={submitData}>Submit</button>
        </>
    )
}

Step to Run Application: Run the application using the following command from the root directory of the project

npm run dev

Output: Your project will be shown in the URL http://localhost:3000/

Using Next.js API Route

In this approach, we have developed a separate POST API using Next.js API Routes. We call the External API by utilizing our Next.js API. We use a state to store the value of the input field. When the submit button is clicked, a post request is sent to our own created API, which in turn sends a post request to the external API.

Project Structure:

Example: The below example demonstrates the sending of POST requests to external API through our own API routes.

JavaScript

//File path: src/app/page.js

'use client';
import { useState } from "react";

export default function Home() {
    const [title, setTitle] = useState('')
    const [body, setBody] = useState('')

    const submitData = async () => {
        let response = await fetch('api/submit', {
            method: "POST",
            body: JSON.stringify({
                title: title,
                body: body,
                userId: 1
            }),
            headers: {
                'Content-type': 'application/json'
            }
        })

        response = await response.json()

        alert(JSON.stringify(response))
    }

    return (
        <>
            <h2>External Post API Request | GeeksForGeeks</h2>
            <input type="text"
                value={title}
                onChange={(e) => setTitle(e.target.value)}
                placeholder="Enter Post Title" />

            <input type="text"
                value={body}
                onChange={(e) => setBody(e.target.value)}
                placeholder="Enter Post Body" />
            <button onClick={submitData}>Submit</button>
        </>
    );
}

JavaScript

//File path: src/app/api/submit/route.js

import { NextResponse } from "next/server";

export async function POST(request) {

    const { title, body, userId } = await request.json();

    let response = await fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts', {
        method: "POST",
        body: JSON.stringify({
            title: title,
            body: body,
            userId: userId
        }),
        headers: {
            'Content-type': 'application/json'
        }
    })

    response = await response.json()
    return NextResponse.json(response)
}

Step to Run Application: Run the application using the following command from the root directory of the project

npm run dev

Output: Your project will be shown in the URL http://localhost:3000/