Types and traits for extracting data from requests.

Table of contents

Intro

A handler function is an async function that takes any number of “extractors” as arguments. An extractor is a type that implements FromRequest or FromRequestParts.

For example, [Json] is an extractor that consumes the request body and deserializes it as JSON into some target type:

use axum::{
    extract::Json,
    routing::post,
    handler::Handler,
    Router,
};
use serde::Deserialize;

#[derive(Deserialize)]
struct CreateUser {
    email: String,
    password: String,
}

async fn create_user(Json(payload): Json<CreateUser>) {
    // ...
}

let app = Router::new().route("/users", post(create_user));
# async {
# axum::Server::bind(&"".parse().unwrap()).serve(app.into_make_service()).await.unwrap();
# };

Common extractors

Some commonly used extractors are:

use axum::{
    extract::{Json, TypedHeader, Path, Extension, Query},
    routing::post,
    headers::UserAgent,
    http::{Request, header::HeaderMap},
    body::{Bytes, Body},
    Router,
};
use serde_json::Value;
use std::collections::HashMap;

// `Path` gives you the path parameters and deserializes them. See its docs for
// more details
async fn path(Path(user_id): Path<u32>) {}

// `Query` gives you the query parameters and deserializes them.
async fn query(Query(params): Query<HashMap<String, String>>) {}

// `HeaderMap` gives you all the headers
async fn headers(headers: HeaderMap) {}

// `TypedHeader` can be used to extract a single header
// note this requires you've enabled axum's `headers` feature
async fn user_agent(TypedHeader(user_agent): TypedHeader<UserAgent>) {}

// `String` consumes the request body and ensures it is valid utf-8
async fn string(body: String) {}

// `Bytes` gives you the raw request body
async fn bytes(body: Bytes) {}

// We've already seen `Json` for parsing the request body as json
async fn json(Json(payload): Json<Value>) {}

// `Request` gives you the whole request for maximum control
async fn request(request: Request<Body>) {}

// `Extension` extracts data from "request extensions"
// This is commonly used to share state with handlers
async fn extension(Extension(state): Extension<State>) {}

#[derive(Clone)]
struct State { /* ... */ }

let app = Router::new()
    .route("/path/:user_id", post(path))
    .route("/query", post(query))
    .route("/user_agent", post(user_agent))
    .route("/headers", post(headers))
    .route("/string", post(string))
    .route("/bytes", post(bytes))
    .route("/json", post(json))
    .route("/request", post(request))
    .route("/extension", post(extension));
# async {
# axum::Server::bind(&"".parse().unwrap()).serve(app.into_make_service()).await.unwrap();
# };

Applying multiple extractors

You can also apply multiple extractors:

use axum::{
    extract::{Path, Query},
    routing::get,
    Router,
};
use uuid::Uuid;
use serde::Deserialize;

let app = Router::new().route("/users/:id/things", get(get_user_things));

#[derive(Deserialize)]
struct Pagination {
    page: usize,
    per_page: usize,
}

impl Default for Pagination {
    fn default() -> Self {
        Self { page: 1, per_page: 30 }
    }
}

async fn get_user_things(
    Path(user_id): Path<Uuid>,
    pagination: Option<Query<Pagination>>,
) {
    let Query(pagination) = pagination.unwrap_or_default();

    // ...
}
# async {
# axum::Server::bind(&"".parse().unwrap()).serve(app.into_make_service()).await.unwrap();
# };

The order of extractors

Extractors always run in the order of the function parameters that is from left to right.

The request body is an asynchronous stream that can only be consumed once. Therefore you can only have one extractor that consumes the request body. axum enforces this by requiring such extractors to be the last argument your handler takes.

For example

use axum::{extract::State, http::{Method, HeaderMap}};
#
# #[derive(Clone)]
# struct AppState {
# }

async fn handler(
    // `Method` and `HeaderMap` don't consume the request body so they can
    // put anywhere in the argument list (but before `body`)
    method: Method,
    headers: HeaderMap,
    // `State` is also an extractor so it needs to be before `body`
    State(state): State<AppState>,
    // `String` consumes the request body and thus must be the last extractor
    body: String,
) {
    // ...
}
#
# let _: axum::routing::MethodRouter<AppState, String> = axum::routing::get(handler);

We get a compile error if String isn't the last extractor:

use axum::http::Method;

async fn handler(
    // this doesn't work since `String` must be the last argument
    body: String,
    method: Method,
) {
    // ...
}
#
# let _: axum::routing::MethodRouter = axum::routing::get(handler);

This also means you cannot consume the request body twice:

use axum::Json;
use serde::Deserialize;

#[derive(Deserialize)]
struct Payload {}

async fn handler(
    // `String` and `Json` both consume the request body
    // so they cannot both be used
    string_body: String,
    json_body: Json<Payload>,
) {
    // ...
}
#
# let _: axum::routing::MethodRouter = axum::routing::get(handler);

axum enforces this by requiring the last extractor implements [FromRequest] and all others implement [FromRequestParts].

Optional extractors

All extractors defined in axum will reject the request if it doesn't match. If you wish to make an extractor optional you can wrap it in Option:

use axum::{
    extract::Json,
    routing::post,
    Router,
};
use serde_json::Value;

async fn create_user(payload: Option<Json<Value>>) {
    if let Some(payload) = payload {
        // We got a valid JSON payload
    } else {
        // Payload wasn't valid JSON
    }
}

let app = Router::new().route("/users", post(create_user));
# async {
# axum::Server::bind(&"".parse().unwrap()).serve(app.into_make_service()).await.unwrap();
# };

Wrapping extractors in Result makes them optional and gives you the reason the extraction failed:

use axum::{
    extract::{Json, rejection::JsonRejection},
    routing::post,
    Router,
};
use serde_json::Value;

async fn create_user(payload: Result<Json<Value>, JsonRejection>) {
    match payload {
        Ok(payload) => {
            // We got a valid JSON payload
        }
        Err(JsonRejection::MissingJsonContentType(_)) => {
            // Request didn't have `Content-Type: application/json`
            // header
        }
        Err(JsonRejection::JsonDataError(_)) => {
            // Couldn't deserialize the body into the target type
        }
        Err(JsonRejection::JsonSyntaxError(_)) => {
            // Syntax error in the body
        }
        Err(JsonRejection::BytesRejection(_)) => {
            // Failed to extract the request body
        }
        Err(_) => {
            // `JsonRejection` is marked `#[non_exhaustive]` so match must
            // include a catch-all case.
        }
    }
}

let app = Router::new().route("/users", post(create_user));
# async {
# axum::Server::bind(&"".parse().unwrap()).serve(app.into_make_service()).await.unwrap();
# };

Customizing extractor responses

If an extractor fails it will return a response with the error and your handler will not be called. To customize the error response you have a two options:

  1. Use Result<T, T::Rejection> as your extractor like shown in “Optional extractors”. This works well if you're only using the extractor in a single handler.
  2. Create your own extractor that in its [FromRequest] implemention calls one of axum's built in extractors but returns a different response for rejections. See the customize-extractor-error example for more details.

Accessing inner errors

axum‘s built-in extractors don’t directly expose the inner error. This gives us more flexibility and allows us to change internal implementations without breaking the public API.

For example that means while [Json] is implemented using [serde_json] it doesn't directly expose the [serde_json::Error] thats contained in JsonRejection::JsonDataError. However it is still possible to access via methods from [std::error::Error]:

use std::error::Error;
use axum::{
    extract::{Json, rejection::JsonRejection},
    response::IntoResponse,
    http::StatusCode,
};
use serde_json::{json, Value};

async fn handler(
    result: Result<Json<Value>, JsonRejection>,
) -> Result<Json<Value>, (StatusCode, String)> {
    match result {
        // if the client sent valid JSON then we're good
        Ok(Json(payload)) => Ok(Json(json!({ "payload": payload }))),

        Err(err) => match err {
            JsonRejection::JsonDataError(err) => {
                Err(serde_json_error_response(err))
            }
            JsonRejection::JsonSyntaxError(err) => {
                Err(serde_json_error_response(err))
            }
            // handle other rejections from the `Json` extractor
            JsonRejection::MissingJsonContentType(_) => Err((
                StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST,
                "Missing `Content-Type: application/json` header".to_string(),
            )),
            JsonRejection::BytesRejection(_) => Err((
                StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR,
                "Failed to buffer request body".to_string(),
            )),
            // we must provide a catch-all case since `JsonRejection` is marked
            // `#[non_exhaustive]`
            _ => Err((
                StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR,
                "Unknown error".to_string(),
            )),
        },
    }
}

// attempt to extract the inner `serde_path_to_error::Error<serde_json::Error>`,
// if that succeeds we can provide a more specific error.
//
// `Json` uses `serde_path_to_error` so the error will be wrapped in `serde_path_to_error::Error`.
fn serde_json_error_response<E>(err: E) -> (StatusCode, String)
where
    E: Error + 'static,
{
    if let Some(err) = find_error_source::<serde_path_to_error::Error<serde_json::Error>>(&err) {
        let serde_json_err = err.inner();
        (
            StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST,
            format!(
                "Invalid JSON at line {} column {}",
                serde_json_err.line(),
                serde_json_err.column()
            ),
        )
    } else {
        (StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST, "Unknown error".to_string())
    }
}

// attempt to downcast `err` into a `T` and if that fails recursively try and
// downcast `err`'s source
fn find_error_source<'a, T>(err: &'a (dyn Error + 'static)) -> Option<&'a T>
where
    T: Error + 'static,
{
    if let Some(err) = err.downcast_ref::<T>() {
        Some(err)
    } else if let Some(source) = err.source() {
        find_error_source(source)
    } else {
        None
    }
}
# 
# #[tokio::main]
# async fn main() {
#     use axum::extract::FromRequest;
# 
#     let req = axum::http::Request::builder()
#         .header("content-type", "application/json")
#         .body(axum::body::Body::from("{"))
#         .unwrap();
# 
#     let err = match Json::<serde_json::Value>::from_request(req, &()).await.unwrap_err() {
#         JsonRejection::JsonSyntaxError(err) => err,
#         _ => panic!(),
#     };
# 
#     let (_, body) = serde_json_error_response(err);
#     assert_eq!(body, "Invalid JSON at line 1 column 1");
# }

Note that while this approach works it might break in the future if axum changes its implementation to use a different error type internally. Such changes might happen without major breaking versions.

Defining custom extractors

You can also define your own extractors by implementing either [FromRequestParts] or [FromRequest].

Implementing FromRequestParts

Implement FromRequestParts if your extractor doesn't need access to the request body:

use axum::{
    async_trait,
    extract::FromRequestParts,
    routing::get,
    Router,
    http::{
        StatusCode,
        header::{HeaderValue, USER_AGENT},
        request::Parts,
    },
};

struct ExtractUserAgent(HeaderValue);

#[async_trait]
impl<S> FromRequestParts<S> for ExtractUserAgent
where
    S: Send + Sync,
{
    type Rejection = (StatusCode, &'static str);

    async fn from_request_parts(parts: &mut Parts, state: &S) -> Result<Self, Self::Rejection> {
        if let Some(user_agent) = parts.headers.get(USER_AGENT) {
            Ok(ExtractUserAgent(user_agent.clone()))
        } else {
            Err((StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST, "`User-Agent` header is missing"))
        }
    }
}

async fn handler(ExtractUserAgent(user_agent): ExtractUserAgent) {
    // ...
}

let app = Router::new().route("/foo", get(handler));
# async {
# axum::Server::bind(&"".parse().unwrap()).serve(app.into_make_service()).await.unwrap();
# };

Implementing FromRequest

If your extractor needs to consume the request body you must implement [FromRequest]

use axum::{
    async_trait,
    extract::FromRequest,
    response::{Response, IntoResponse},
    body::Bytes,
    routing::get,
    Router,
    http::{
        StatusCode,
        header::{HeaderValue, USER_AGENT},
        Request,
    },
};

struct ValidatedBody(Bytes);

#[async_trait]
impl<S, B> FromRequest<S, B> for ValidatedBody
where
    Bytes: FromRequest<S, B>,
    B: Send + 'static,
    S: Send + Sync,
{
    type Rejection = Response;

    async fn from_request(req: Request<B>, state: &S) -> Result<Self, Self::Rejection> {
        let body = Bytes::from_request(req, state)
            .await
            .map_err(IntoResponse::into_response)?;

        // do validation...

        Ok(Self(body))
    }
}

async fn handler(ValidatedBody(body): ValidatedBody) {
    // ...
}

let app = Router::new().route("/foo", get(handler));
# async {
# axum::Server::bind(&"".parse().unwrap()).serve(app.into_make_service()).await.unwrap();
# };

Cannot implement both FromRequest and FromRequestParts

Note that you will make your extractor unusable by implementing both FromRequest and FromRequestParts directly for the same type, unless it is wrapping another extractor:

use axum::{
    Router,
    routing::get,
    extract::{FromRequest, FromRequestParts},
    http::{Request, request::Parts},
    async_trait,
};
use std::convert::Infallible;

// Some extractor that doesn't wrap another extractor
struct MyExtractor;

// `MyExtractor` implements both `FromRequest`
#[async_trait]
impl<S, B> FromRequest<S, B> for MyExtractor
where
    S: Send + Sync,
    B: Send + 'static,
{
    type Rejection = Infallible;

    async fn from_request(req: Request<B>, state: &S) -> Result<Self, Self::Rejection> {
        // ...
        # todo!()
    }
}

// and `FromRequestParts`
#[async_trait]
impl<S> FromRequestParts<S> for MyExtractor
where
    S: Send + Sync,
{
    type Rejection = Infallible;

    async fn from_request_parts(parts: &mut Parts, state: &S) -> Result<Self, Self::Rejection> {
        // ...
        # todo!()
    }
}

let app = Router::new().route(
    "/",
    // This fails when we go to actually use `MyExtractor` in a handler function.
    // This is due to a limit in Rust's type system.
    //
    // The workaround is to implement either `FromRequest` or `FromRequestParts`
    // but not both, if your extractor doesn't wrap another extractor.
    //
    // See "Wrapping extractors" for how to wrap other extractors.
    get(|_: MyExtractor| async {}),
);
# let _: Router = app;

Accessing other extractors in FromRequest or FromRequestParts implementations

When defining custom extractors you often need to access another extractors in your implementation.

use axum::{
    async_trait,
    extract::{Extension, FromRequestParts, TypedHeader},
    headers::{authorization::Bearer, Authorization},
    http::{StatusCode, request::Parts},
    response::{IntoResponse, Response},
    routing::get,
    Router,
};

#[derive(Clone)]
struct State {
    // ...
}

struct AuthenticatedUser {
    // ...
}

#[async_trait]
impl<S> FromRequestParts<S> for AuthenticatedUser
where
    S: Send + Sync,
{
    type Rejection = Response;

    async fn from_request_parts(parts: &mut Parts, state: &S) -> Result<Self, Self::Rejection> {
        // You can either call them directly...
        let TypedHeader(Authorization(token)) =
            TypedHeader::<Authorization<Bearer>>::from_request_parts(parts, state)
                .await
                .map_err(|err| err.into_response())?;

        // ... or use `extract` / `extract_with_state` from `RequestExt` / `RequestPartsExt`
        use axum::RequestPartsExt;
        let Extension(state) = parts.extract::<Extension<State>>()
            .await
            .map_err(|err| err.into_response())?;

        unimplemented!("actually perform the authorization")
    }
}

async fn handler(user: AuthenticatedUser) {
    // ...
}

let state = State { /* ... */ };

let app = Router::new().route("/", get(handler)).layer(Extension(state));
# async {
# axum::Server::bind(&"".parse().unwrap()).serve(app.into_make_service()).await.unwrap();
# };

Request body limits

For security reasons, Bytes will, by default, not accept bodies larger than 2MB. This also applies to extractors that uses Bytes internally such as String, [Json], and [Form].

For more details, including how to disable this limit, see [DefaultBodyLimit].

Request body extractors

Most of the time your request body type will be body::Body (a re-export of [hyper::Body]), which is directly supported by all extractors.

However if you're applying a tower middleware that changes the request body type you might have to apply a different body type to some extractors:

use std::{
    task::{Context, Poll},
    pin::Pin,
};
use tower_http::map_request_body::MapRequestBodyLayer;
use axum::{
    extract::{self, BodyStream},
    body::{Body, HttpBody},
    routing::get,
    http::{header::HeaderMap, Request},
    Router,
};

struct MyBody<B>(B);

impl<B> HttpBody for MyBody<B>
where
    B: HttpBody + Unpin,
{
    type Data = B::Data;
    type Error = B::Error;

    fn poll_data(
        mut self: Pin<&mut Self>,
        cx: &mut Context<'_>,
    ) -> Poll<Option<Result<Self::Data, Self::Error>>> {
        Pin::new(&mut self.0).poll_data(cx)
    }

    fn poll_trailers(
        mut self: Pin<&mut Self>,
        cx: &mut Context<'_>,
    ) -> Poll<Result<Option<HeaderMap>, Self::Error>> {
        Pin::new(&mut self.0).poll_trailers(cx)
    }
}

let app = Router::new()
    .route(
        "/string",
        // `String` works directly with any body type
        get(|_: String| async {})
    )
    .route(
        "/body",
        // `extract::Body` defaults to `axum::body::Body`
        // but can be customized
        get(|_: extract::RawBody<MyBody<Body>>| async {})
    )
    .route(
        "/body-stream",
        // same for `extract::BodyStream`
        get(|_: extract::BodyStream| async {}),
    )
    .route(
        // and `Request<_>`
        "/request",
        get(|_: Request<MyBody<Body>>| async {})
    )
    // middleware that changes the request body type
    .layer(MapRequestBodyLayer::new(MyBody));
# async {
# axum::Server::bind(&"".parse().unwrap()).serve(app.into_make_service()).await.unwrap();
# };

Running extractors from middleware

Extractors can also be run from middleware:

use axum::{
    middleware::{self, Next},
    extract::{TypedHeader, FromRequestParts},
    http::{Request, StatusCode},
    response::Response,
    headers::authorization::{Authorization, Bearer},
    RequestPartsExt, Router,
};

async fn auth_middleware<B>(
    request: Request<B>,
    next: Next<B>,
) -> Result<Response, StatusCode>
where
    B: Send,
{
    // running extractors requires a `axum::http::request::Parts`
    let (mut parts, body) = request.into_parts();

    // `TypedHeader<Authorization<Bearer>>` extracts the auth token
    let auth: TypedHeader<Authorization<Bearer>> = parts.extract()
        .await
        .map_err(|_| StatusCode::UNAUTHORIZED)?;

    if !token_is_valid(auth.token()) {
        return Err(StatusCode::UNAUTHORIZED);
    }

    // reconstruct the request
    let request = Request::from_parts(parts, body);

    Ok(next.run(request).await)
}

fn token_is_valid(token: &str) -> bool {
    // ...
    # false
}

let app = Router::new().layer(middleware::from_fn(auth_middleware));
# let _: Router<()> = app;

Wrapping extractors

If you want write an extractor that generically wraps another extractor (that may or may not consume the request body) you should implement both [FromRequest] and [FromRequestParts]:

use axum::{
    Router,
    routing::get,
    extract::{FromRequest, FromRequestParts},
    http::{Request, HeaderMap, request::Parts},
    async_trait,
};
use std::time::{Instant, Duration};

// an extractor that wraps another and measures how long time it takes to run
struct Timing<E> {
    extractor: E,
    duration: Duration,
}

// we must implement both `FromRequestParts`
#[async_trait]
impl<S, T> FromRequestParts<S> for Timing<T>
where
    S: Send + Sync,
    T: FromRequestParts<S>,
{
    type Rejection = T::Rejection;

    async fn from_request_parts(parts: &mut Parts, state: &S) -> Result<Self, Self::Rejection> {
        let start = Instant::now();
        let extractor = T::from_request_parts(parts, state).await?;
        let duration = start.elapsed();
        Ok(Timing {
            extractor,
            duration,
        })
    }
}

// and `FromRequest`
#[async_trait]
impl<S, B, T> FromRequest<S, B> for Timing<T>
where
    B: Send + 'static,
    S: Send + Sync,
    T: FromRequest<S, B>,
{
    type Rejection = T::Rejection;

    async fn from_request(req: Request<B>, state: &S) -> Result<Self, Self::Rejection> {
        let start = Instant::now();
        let extractor = T::from_request(req, state).await?;
        let duration = start.elapsed();
        Ok(Timing {
            extractor,
            duration,
        })
    }
}

async fn handler(
    // this uses the `FromRequestParts` impl
    _: Timing<HeaderMap>,
    // this uses the `FromRequest` impl
    _: Timing<String>,
) {}
# let _: axum::routing::MethodRouter = axum::routing::get(handler);

Logging rejections

All built-in extractors will log rejections for easier debugging. To see the logs, enable the tracing feature for axum and the axum::rejection=trace tracing target, for example with RUST_LOG=info,axum::rejection=trace cargo run.