n8n HTTP Request raw-body response-stream reproduction

XBSTACK reproduction asset for n8n issue #36402.

Question

When the HTTP Request node sends a request with Body Content Type = Raw and the response is explicitly configured as JSON, does n8n return parsed JSON or a Node.js stream object?

Evidence levels

Runtime control

• Date: 2026-08-18
• Local runtime: n8n 1.112.4
• Node: HTTP Request V3 (typeVersion: 4.2)
• Endpoint: https://postman-echo.com/post
• Four cases run in the same workflow

Result:

Case	Parsed response	Stream internals
Raw body + JSON response	No	Yes: _readableState, _writableState, bytesWritten
JSON body + JSON response	Yes	No
Raw body + Auto response	Yes	No
Raw body + Text response	Text wrapper	No

The compact machine-readable result is in logs/2026-08-18-n8n-1.112.4.json.

Current-version source confirmation

The local machine could not run the complete n8n@2.34.5 CLI because the installed Node.js is 22.18.0, while n8n 2.34.5 declares Node >=22.22. Docker is installed but the local Docker daemon was not running during this test.

Instead of claiming a full 2.34.5 runtime reproduction, the article separately verifies the tagged n8n@2.34.5 source. In HttpRequestV3.node.ts, an explicit Raw body still sets requestOptions.useStream = true. The stream-to-JSON conversion path is guarded by autoDetectResponseFormat, so an explicitly selected JSON response does not enter that auto-detection block.

This supports the same failure mechanism reported in n8n issue #36402, but it is source confirmation, not a 2.34.5 end-to-end runtime test.

Run the local control

Import the workflow:

n8n import:workflow --input=experiments/n8n-http-raw-response-stream/workflow.json

Run and summarize:

python3 experiments/n8n-http-raw-response-stream/run_control.py

Practical workaround tested in the control

If the payload is valid JSON, switch Body Content Type from Raw to JSON while keeping Response Format = JSON. In the local control this returns a normal parsed response.

If Raw is required, leaving response format on Auto-detect also returned parsed JSON in the local control because n8n consumed the stream in the content-type detection path.

Do not treat either workaround as an upstream fix. Re-test after n8n ships a change for #36402.

Upstream

• n8n issue #36402: HTTP Request node with raw body can return an unresolved stream instead of the parsed response.
• Tagged source checked: n8n@2.34.5, packages/nodes-base/nodes/HttpRequest/V3/HttpRequestV3.node.ts.

XBSTACK deep dive

Full analysis, source boundary, and production workarounds:

https://www.xbstack.com/en/ai/n8n-http-request-raw-body-response-stream/?utm_source=github&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=n8n_http_raw_response_stream&utm_content=repository_readme