The Fetch API, now an officially supported feature in Node.js since version 18.0.0, offers a modern and flexible approach to performing HTTP requests and retrieving local resources without the need for external client dependencies. It provides a global `fetch()` function that simplifies asynchronous HTTP operations, replacing the older XMLHttpRequest API. The function, based on Request and Response objects, accepts a URL or local path as a mandatory argument and offers optional configurations like CORS, HTTP headers, and caching settings, returning a Promise that resolves with the response. The Fetch API supports various HTTP methods, including GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE, and allows customization of request options such as headers, body content, and credentials. It also features error handling, enabling aborting requests using the AbortController API, and can be used directly in Node.js code without imports, thanks to its integration into the standard library. This makes it a powerful tool for retrieving online data, enhancing the efficiency of web development tasks such as web scraping.