n8n uses requests, and more specifically, requests-promise-native, and provides a helper for Function nodes to use this library.
However, as of February 2020, this library has been deprecated, and will not be updated in the future. See GitHub - request/request: 🏊🏾 Simplified HTTP request client.
It might be prudent for n8n to migrate to another library, such as axios, or node-fetch (Here are some other alternatives).
The best path forward might be:
- Add a new library
- Add it to the helpers for Function nodes
- Migrate core code that uses requests to use other library.
- Note in the documentation that requestsis deprecated and third-parties should switch.
- Wait some time
- Get community feedback to ensure that third party code will no longer be impaced
- Remove requests