How to Fetch External Data in WordPress Using wp_remote_get()

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May 30, 2018 WordPress
How to Fetch External Data in WordPress Using wp_remote_get()

Fetching external data with the WordPress HTTP API and transient cache

WordPress includes its own HTTP API that wraps PHP’s cURL and streams into a consistent interface. Using it instead of raw cURL means your code works correctly across different hosting environments without manual capability checks.

Problem: How do you make HTTP requests to an external API in WordPress without using raw cURL, and how do you avoid hitting rate limits on every page load?

Solution: The example below fetches data from a public JSON endpoint, caches it with a transient, and returns a decoded array:

function get_remote_posts() {
    $cache_key = 'remote_posts_cache';
    $data      = get_transient( $cache_key );

    if ( false !== $data ) {
        return $data;
    }

    $response = wp_remote_get( 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts', [
        'timeout' => 10,
    ] );

    if ( is_wp_error( $response ) ) {
        return [];
    }

    $code = wp_remote_retrieve_response_code( $response );
    if ( 200 !== $code ) {
        return [];
    }

    $body = wp_remote_retrieve_body( $response );
    $data = json_decode( $body, true );

    if ( ! is_array( $data ) ) {
        return [];
    }

    set_transient( $cache_key, $data, HOUR_IN_SECONDS );

    return $data;
}

For POST requests, use wp_remote_post() with a body argument:

$response = wp_remote_post( 'https://example.com/api/endpoint', [
    'timeout' => 15,
    'headers' => [ 'Content-Type' => 'application/json' ],
    'body'    => wp_json_encode( [ 'key' => 'value' ] ),
] );

NOTE: Always check is_wp_error() before reading the response. Use set_transient() to cache external responses — hitting a third-party API on every page load will slow your site and may trigger rate limits.

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