Stop Using body-parser: Modern Node.js Body Handling in 2025

Still manually configuring 4 different middlewares to parse incoming requests? It's time to upgrade your stack. Here is how modern frameworks handle data.

By Newgate Team • December 18, 2025

If you started learning Node.js anytime in the last 10 years, your first tutorial probably told you to install body-parser.

It's the de-facto standard. But standards change.

The Middleware Bloat

In a typical production Express application, your setup file often looks like a laundry list of parsers: 

// The Old Way
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
const multer = require('multer');

app.use(bodyParser.json({ limit: '10mb' }));
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
// Wait, I need to handle XML?
// Wait, I need file uploads?

This approach has two major flaws:

  1. Performance: You are often running parsing logic on requests that don't need it.
  2. Complexity: Managing limits, types, and errors across 3-4 different packages is a maintenance headache.

The Modern Approach: Just-in-Time Parsing

Modern frameworks like Newgate move away from the "global middleware" pattern for body parsing. Instead, they inspect the Content-Type header and parse the body only when you actually access it—or automatically for defined routes.

Handling JSON

Express:

app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.post('/api/json', (req, res) => {
  console.log(req.body);
});

Newgate:

app.post('/api/json', (req, res) => {
  // Parsed automatically because Newgate sees 'application/json'
  console.log(req.body);
});

Handling Mixed Content

This is where the difference becomes stark. If you need an endpoint that accepts both JSON and XML:

Express:

You need body-parser AND express-xml-bodyparser, and you need to hope they play nice together.

Newgate:

app.post('/webhook', (req, res) => {
  // Works for JSON. Works for XML. Works for Form-Data.
  // One API to rule them all.
  const event = req.body;
  
  processEvent(event);
});

Security Implications

Global body parsers are a common attack vector. If you parse every request body globally, an attacker can crash your server by sending a massive payload to an endpoint that doesn't even expect a body (like GET /).

Newgate prefers route-specific configuration or intelligent defaults that respect HTTP verbs, making your application secure by default.

Upgrade from Express today

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