http.Get() / Post()

// Send a GET request
resp, err := http.Get("URL")

// Send a POST request (specify Content-Type and body)
resp, err := http.Post("URL", "application/json", body)

// Read the response body (always call Close)
defer resp.Body.Close()
data, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"strings"
)

func main() {
	// Send a GET request
	resp, err := http.Get("https://httpbin.org/get")
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("GET error:", err)
		return
	}
	defer resp.Body.Close()

	fmt.Println("Status:", resp.StatusCode)

	// Read and display the response body
	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Read error:", err)
		return
	}
	// Only show the first 100 characters since the response can be long
	fmt.Println("Response (first 100 chars):", string(body[:100]))

	// Send a POST request with a JSON body
	jsonBody := `{"name":"Gopher","lang":"Go"}`
	resp2, err := http.Post(
		"https://httpbin.org/post",
		"application/json",
		strings.NewReader(jsonBody),
	)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("POST error:", err)
		return
	}
	defer resp2.Body.Close()
	fmt.Println("POST status:", resp2.StatusCode)
}

http.Get() and http.Post() are convenient for simple use cases, but if you need timeout control or custom headers, combine http.Client with http.NewRequest() instead.

Forgetting to call resp.Body.Close() will cause a connection leak. Always write defer resp.Body.Close() immediately after receiving the response. Additionally, always check for errors — if a network request fails, err will be non-nil.