Give a fetch call a timeout

Pass AbortSignal.timeout() as the request’s signal. The fetch rejects with a TimeoutError when the time is up.

const res = await fetch(url, { signal: AbortSignal.timeout(5000) });

Catch it by name if you want to tell a timeout apart from a network failure:

try {
  const res = await fetch(url, { signal: AbortSignal.timeout(5000) });
  return await res.json();
} catch (err) {
  if (err.name === "TimeoutError") throw new Error(`${url} timed out after 5s`);
  throw err;
}

Cancel for another reason too

When the timeout has to combine with a user cancel or a shutdown signal, use AbortSignal.any():

const signal = AbortSignal.any([AbortSignal.timeout(5000), controller.signal]);

Node 20.3 and up, and current browsers.

Gotchas

• Without a signal, Node’s fetch has no overall timeout. A server that accepts the connection and never answers holds your request open until the socket idles out, which can be minutes.
• The timeout covers the headers and the body. await res.json() on a slow body can still throw TimeoutError, so keep the try around both.
• AbortSignal.timeout fires once and can’t be reset. For retries, make a new signal per attempt.
• Older code creates an AbortController and a setTimeout by hand. It works, but forgetting clearTimeout on success leaks a timer per request. AbortSignal.timeout has no such cleanup.