Python requests POST Example – Short Guide   

The requests library is the most popular way to make HTTP requests in Python. While GET requests are used to retrieve data, POST requests are used to send data to a server — such as submitting a form, uploading JSON, or interacting with REST APIs.

In this article, you’ll learn how to use requests.post() with clear examples you can adapt in your projects.

What is a POST Request in Python?

A POST request is an HTTP method that sends data to a server. In Python, the requests library makes POST requests easy by allowing you to send:

• Form data
• JSON payloads
• Files

Before you begin, install requests if you haven’t already:

pip install requests

Example 1 — Simple POST with Form Data

This example demonstrates how to send form-encoded data (like a web form) to an API.

import requests

url = "https://httpbin.org/post"
data = {"username": "alice", "password": "secret"}

response = requests.post(url, data=data)

print("Status Code:", response.status_code)
print("Response JSON:", response.json())

Output:

Status Code: 200
Response JSON:{'args': {}, 'data': '', 'fil...

Below is the prettified JSON result

{
 "args":
 {},
 "data": "",
 "files":
 {},
 "form":
 {
  "password": "secret",
  "username": "alice"
 },
 "headers":
 {
  "Accept": "*/*",
  "Accept-Encoding": "gzip, deflate, br, zstd",
  "Content-Length": "30",
  "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
  "Host": "httpbin.org",
  "User-Agent": "python-requests/2.32.4",
  "X-Amzn-Trace-Id": "Root=1-6994d2f2-63fd9a082d5400f169e5a4d9"
 },
 "json": 0,
 "origin": "84.242.191.86",
 "url": "https://httpbin.org/post"
}

Explanation:

• data= sends form-encoded key–value pairs
• response.status_code shows the HTTP status
• response.json() parses the JSON response

This technique is useful for submitting login forms, search queries, and other web form interactions.

Example 2 — POST with JSON Payload

When interacting with modern APIs, you usually send JSON instead of form data.

import requests

url = "https://httpbin.org/post"
json_data = {"task": "write article", "priority": "high"}

response = requests.post(url, json=json_data)

print("Status:", response.status_code)
print("Echoed JSON:", response.json()["json"])

Status: 200
Echoed JSON: {'priority': 'high', 'task': 'write homework'}

Explanation:

• json= automatically sets Content-Type: application/json
• The server echoes the JSON back for validation
• This is ideal for REST API calls

Example 3 — POST Request with Proxy

In some cases (web scraping, corporate networks, geo-testing), you may need to send a POST request through a proxy server.

import requests

url = "https://httpbin.org/post"
data = {"query": "python requests proxy"}

proxies = {
    "http": "http://XX.XX.XX.XX:8080",
    "https": "http://XX.XX.XX.XX:8080"
}

response = requests.post(url, data=data, proxies=proxies, timeout=10)

print("Status Code:", response.status_code)
print("Response:", response.json())

result:

Status Code: 200
Response: {'args': {}, 'data': '', 'files': {}, 'form': {'query': 'python requests proxy'}, 'headers': {'Accept': '*/*', 'Accept-Encoding': 'gzip, deflate, br, zstd', 'Content-Length': '27', 'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded', 'Host': 'httpbin.org', 'User-Agent': 'python-requests/2.32.4', 'X-Amzn-Trace-Id': 'Root=1-6994d569-7d88c3c16f582a484c597f80'}, 'json': None, 'origin': '84.242.191.86', 'url': 'https://httpbin.org/post'}

Explanation

• proxies= defines the proxy server for HTTP and HTTPS.
• Replace 123.45.67.89:8080 with your actual proxy IP and port.
• timeout=10 prevents the request from hanging indefinitely.
• Useful for scraping, security testing, and bypassing network restrictions.

Example with Proxy Authentication

If your proxy requires a username and password:

proxies = {
    "http": "http://username:[email protected]:8080",
    "https": "http://username:[email protected]:8080"
}

response = requests.post(url, json={"key": "value"}, proxies=proxies)

For list of free proxies you can check this repo: free-proxy-list

Quick Reference Table

Common Use Cases for POST Requests

• Authentication: Login or token exchange
• API submission: Send data to services (e.g., create users, upload content)
• Form automation: Automated form filling
• File uploads: Send files to servers
• Proxy: Proxy usage and geolocation change
• JSON: JSON data exchange

Tips for Using requests.post()

• Always check response.status_code before processing results.
• For long waits, use timeout= to avoid hanging requests.
• Handle exceptions using try/except requests.exceptions.RequestException.
• Inspect headers with response.headers for debugging.