Django POST endpoint receives empty data when sending text via axios

Backend
1

I’m having trouble sending a simple text string from my React frontend to a Django view using axios POST requests.

Frontend code:

const httpClient = axios.create({
  baseURL: 'http://localhost:8000',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  }
});

class ChatAPI {
  static async submitQuery(userInput) {
    const payload = { text: userInput };
    const result = await httpClient.post('/api/process_input', payload);
    return result;
  }
}

Django view:

@csrf_exempt
def process_input(request):
    print("Received POST request")
    raw_data = request.body
    decoded_data = raw_data.decode('utf-8')
    print("Data received:", decoded_data)
    return JsonResponse({'status': 'ok'})

The Django view executes but decoded_data is always an empty string. The browser shows the request went through but no payload data reaches the backend. What could be causing this issue?

2

maybe the axios call needs to be form-data instead. try adjusting ur headers or check if there’s middleware blocking it. also, double-check the url path for the endpoint.

3

Your Django view isn’t parsing the JSON properly. You’re decoding request.body but not actually parsing the JSON data. Here’s the fix:

import json

@csrf_exempt
def process_input(request):
    print("Received POST request")
    raw_data = request.body
    decoded_data = raw_data.decode('utf-8')
    json_data = json.loads(decoded_data)
    print("Data received:", json_data)
    user_text = json_data.get('text', '')
    return JsonResponse({'status': 'ok'})

You could also use request.POST if you switch your frontend to send form data instead, but since you’re already setting Content-Type to application/json, parsing JSON is the right way to go.

4

hmm, that’s a puzzling issue! i wonder if it’s related to CORS or some middleware. did u check the network tab for the payload? also, logging request.POST might reveal more. got any ideas on what could be causing this?