Node.js errorNode.js: “Error: connect ETIMEDOUT” / “read ETIMEDOUT”

Why the connection timed out, and the fix

1. 01

   connect ETIMEDOUT: a firewall, allowlist or wrong port

   “ETIMEDOUT (Operation timed out): A connect or send request failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time.” Node.js, Errors: common system errors

   Managed databases (Postgres, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB Atlas) and private servers usually drop traffic from addresses that are not allowlisted, and a cloud firewall or security group does the same. A wrong port on a firewalled host looks identical. Test the exact host and port from the machine that fails, then allow that machine’s outbound IP in the provider’s network settings.

   nc -vz db.example.com 5432
   # "succeeded" = reachable; a long wait then "timed out" = dropped on the way
   # Windows: Test-NetConnection db.example.com -Port 5432
   curl -s https://api.ipify.org   # the outbound IP to allowlist

2. 02

   AggregateError: several ETIMEDOUT attempts

   “The amount of time in milliseconds to wait for a connection attempt to finish before trying the next address when using the autoSelectFamily option.” Node.js, net: socket.connect() options

   Node.js 20 and newer try each address of a hostname (IPv6 and IPv4) in turn and give each attempt 250 milliseconds by default. On a slow or high-latency network every attempt can time out, and the error lists them all. Give each attempt more time, or, when IPv6 is broken on that network, try IPv4 first with --dns-result-order=ipv4first.

   // in code, before the first connection
   require('node:net').setDefaultAutoSelectFamilyAttemptTimeout(1000);
   
   // or from the command line
   node --network-family-autoselection-attempt-timeout=1000 server.js

3. 03

   read ETIMEDOUT: an open connection went silent

   The connection worked, then the other side stopped answering. Load balancers, NAT gateways and serverless platforms drop idle connections without telling either end, so the next request on a pooled connection times out. Keep idle timeouts in your client shorter than the server’s, and retry requests that are safe to repeat.

4. 04

   Set your own timeouts so it fails fast

   “The timeout is the number of milliseconds before the request times out.” Axios, Request config: timeout

   An ETIMEDOUT from the operating system can take a long time to arrive. Set a timeout in the client so a dead host fails quickly with a clear error: the timeout option on http.request, timeout in Axios, or AbortSignal.timeout() with fetch. With http.request, the timeout option only emits a timeout event, so add a handler that calls req.destroy().

   const res = await fetch(url, { signal: AbortSignal.timeout(10_000) });
   
   // Axios
   axios.get(url, { timeout: 10_000 });
   
   // http.request
   const req = http.request(url, { timeout: 10_000 });
   req.on('timeout', () => req.destroy(new Error('Request timed out')));

Checked against the vendor’s docs on November 8, 2026: Node.js: Errors (common system errors); Node.js: net (autoSelectFamily); Node.js: http.request() timeout; Axios: Request config.

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Related: ECONNREFUSED: connection refused · Node.js ECONNRESET (“socket hang up”) · Axios “Network Error” · “self-signed certificate in certificate chain”