Title: Request::getBody
Published: May 20, 2026

---

# Request::getBody(): string|null

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wordpress-aiclient-providers-http-dto-request/getbody/?output_format=md#description)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wordpress-aiclient-providers-http-dto-request/getbody/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wordpress-aiclient-providers-http-dto-request/getbody/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wordpress-aiclient-providers-http-dto-request/getbody/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wordpress-aiclient-providers-http-dto-request/getbody/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wordpress-aiclient-providers-http-dto-request/getbody/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Gets the request body.

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wordpress-aiclient-providers-http-dto-request/getbody/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

For GET requests, returns null.
For POST/PUT/PATCH requests:

 * If body is set, returns it as-is
 * If data is set and Content-Type is JSON, returns JSON-encoded data
 * If data is set and Content-Type is form, returns URL-encoded data

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wordpress-aiclient-providers-http-dto-request/getbody/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 string|null The body.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wordpress-aiclient-providers-http-dto-request/getbody/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    public function getBody(): ?string
    {
        // GET requests don't have a body
        if (!$this->method->hasBody()) {
            return null;
        }
        // If body is set, return it as-is
        if ($this->body !== null) {
            return $this->body;
        }
        // If data is set, encode based on content type
        if ($this->data !== null) {
            $contentType = $this->getContentType();
            // JSON encoding
            if ($contentType !== null && stripos($contentType, 'application/json') !== \false) {
                return json_encode($this->data, \JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR);
            }
            // Default to URL encoding for forms
            return http_build_query($this->data);
        }
        return null;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/php-ai-client/src/providers/http/dto/request.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-includes/php-ai-client/src/Providers/Http/DTO/Request.php#L200)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-includes/php-ai-client/src/Providers/Http/DTO/Request.php#L200-L221)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wordpress-aiclient-providers-http-dto-request/getbody/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [Request::getContentType()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wordpress-aiclient-providers-http-dto-request/getcontenttype/)`wp-includes/php-ai-client/src/Providers/Http/DTO/Request.php` |

Gets the Content-Type header value.

  | 
| [stripos()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/stripos/)`wp-includes/class-pop3.php` |  |

| Used by | Description | 
| [Request::toArray()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wordpress-aiclient-providers-http-dto-request/toarray/)`wp-includes/php-ai-client/src/Providers/Http/DTO/Request.php` |

{@inheritDoc}

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wordpress-aiclient-providers-http-dto-request/getbody/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [0.1.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/0.1.0/) | Introduced. |

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