Title: Beam
Author: bobbywalters
Published: <strong>May 11, 2016</strong>
Last modified: December 3, 2017

---

Search plugins

This plugin **hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress**.
It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when
used with more recent versions of WordPress.

![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/beam.svg)

# Beam

 By [bobbywalters](https://profiles.wordpress.org/bobbywalters/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/beam.zip)

 * [Details](https://twd.wordpress.org/plugins/beam/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://twd.wordpress.org/plugins/beam/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://twd.wordpress.org/plugins/beam/#installation)
 * [Development](https://twd.wordpress.org/plugins/beam/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/beam/)

## Description

Provides an efficient streaming WordPress HTTP API transport with support for tunneled
proxy connections.

#### Drop-in Replacement

Leverage all the benefits of Beam without having to modify any existing `wp_remote_*`
WordPress HTTP API calls.

Honors all standard WordPress HTTP API request arguments, filters, and actions. 
For more details around the WordPress HTTP API please see https://codex.wordpress.
org/HTTP_API the codex site.

#### Must Use Plugin Compatible

May be installed as a “Must Use” plugin so the functionality is always in use. A
handy option for site maintainers.

#### Efficiency

Beam was designed with efficiency and accuracy of content sent to and read from 
connections in mind.

 * String concatenation is kept to a minimal.
 * PHP streams buffered read and writes minimize network traffic.
 * HTTP response is read without regular expression parsing.
 * Folded and multiple value HTTP response headers are supported.
 * Tolerant handling of LF only end of line markers while still supporting specification
   standard CRLF.

Built-in PHP stream filters remove the need for user space implementations resulting
in better memory management and performance.

 * `'dechunk'` Decodes HTTP 1.1 `Transfer-Encoding: chunked` responses (requires
   PHP 5.3+).
 * `'zlib.inflate'` Inflates `Content-Encoding: gzip` responses (requires zlib extension).

Beam uses these filters by default to cut down on network traffic and alter the 
response on the fly without needing to read in the entire response before hand. 
It is highly likely that these capabilities are already available; it makes sense
to use them.

#### Security

Uses TLS, by default, to establish HTTPS connections for improved security versus
SSL.

Beam provides filter `'stream_crypto_method'` to change the crypto method in use
based on the requested URL.

#### Proxy Support

Tunneled proxy connections may be established to connect to HTTPS sites over an 
HTTP proxy and avoid “503 Service Unavailable” HTTP errors. Now it’s possible to
update, install, and search WordPress and plugins which all use HTTPS URLs while
a proxy is in use without having to install the PHP cURL extension.

Beam provides filter `'proxy_tunnel'` to change which requests require a tunneled
proxy connection.

## Installation

 1. Upload **beam.php** file to `/wp-content/plugins/` directory
 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
 3. All WordPress HTTP API requests will be handled by Beam.

## FAQ

  Installation Instructions

 1. Upload **beam.php** file to `/wp-content/plugins/` directory
 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
 3. All WordPress HTTP API requests will be handled by Beam.

## Reviews

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ff05025b139dfdeeb32ffa3b3ac309ee2c617ef362759ea7ad4db9d14de6516e?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[impossible to activate](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/impossible-to-activate/)󠁿

 [pucicu](https://profiles.wordpress.org/pucicu/) March 25, 2017 1 reply

It is impossible to activate this plugin within the WP installation.

 [ Read all 1 review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/beam/reviews/)

## Contributors & Developers

“Beam” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ bobbywalters ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/bobbywalters/)

[Translate “Beam” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/beam)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/beam/), check out the
[SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/beam/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/beam/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/beam/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 2.0.0

2016-07-09

This release was focused on getting Beam to work on WordPress 4.6.

 * FIX: WordPress 4.6 now uses the `Requests` library to handle HTTP requests and
   the swap prevented Beam from being used.
 * NEW: Beam is now triggered via the `pre_http_request` filter to handle requests.
 * NEW: `WP_HTTP_Beam` was renamed to `Beam` since Beam is no longer loaded as a
   WP HTTP API transport.

#### 1.0.0

Initial release.

## Meta

 *  Version **2.0.0**
 *  Last updated **8 years ago**
 *  Active installations **10+**
 *  WordPress version ** 3.7.0 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **4.9.29**
 *  Language
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/beam/)
 * Tags
 * [http](https://twd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/http/)[proxy](https://twd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/proxy/)
   [remote API](https://twd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/remote-api/)[socket](https://twd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/socket/)
   [stream](https://twd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/stream/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://twd.wordpress.org/plugins/beam/advanced/)

## Ratings

 1 out of 5 stars.

 *  [  0 5-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/beam/reviews/?filter=5)
 *  [  0 4-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/beam/reviews/?filter=4)
 *  [  0 3-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/beam/reviews/?filter=3)
 *  [  0 2-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/beam/reviews/?filter=2)
 *  [  1 1-star review     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/beam/reviews/?filter=1)

[Add my review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/beam/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/beam/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ bobbywalters ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/bobbywalters/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/beam/)