diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ab21013..b363aaf 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 [![downloads][8]][9] [![js-standard-style][10]][11]
 
 A framework for creating sturdy web applications. Built on years of industry
-experience and distills the essence of functional architectures into a
+experience it distills the essence of functional architectures into a
 productive package.
 
 ## Features
@@ -52,16 +52,44 @@ const tree = app.start()
 document.body.appendChild(tree)
 ```
 
-## Perform HTTP requests
-
 ## Concepts
 - __state:__ a single object that contains all application state, should only
   ever be modified by `reducers`
 - __reducers:__ syncronous functions that modify `state`
-- __effects:__ asyncronous functions that perform IO. Effects should call
-  `send()` when done
+- __effects:__ asyncronous functions that perform IO. Effects can call
+  `send()` when done to handle results
 - __subscriptions:__ streams of data that can either be written to or read from
 
+## Side effects
+### HTTP
+`choo` ships with a built-in [`http` module](https://github.com/Raynos/xhr)
+that weighs only `2.4kb`:
+```js
+const http = require('choo/http')
+
+// GET JSON
+http.get('/my-endpoint', { json: true }, function (err, res, body) {
+  if (err) throw err
+  if (res.statusCode !== 200 || !body) throw new Error('something went wrong')
+})
+
+// POST JSON
+const body = { foo: 'bar' }
+http.post('/my-endpoint', { json: body }, function (err, res, body) {
+  if (err) throw err
+  if (res.statusCode !== 200 || !body) throw new Error('something went wrong')
+})
+
+// DELETE
+http.del('/my-endpoint', function (err, res) {
+  if (err) throw err
+  if (res.statusCode !== 200) throw new Error('something went wrong')
+})
+```
+Note that `http` only runs in the browser to prevent accidental requests when
+rendering in Node. For more details view the [`raynos/xhr`
+documentation](https://github.com/Raynos/xhr).
+
 ## API
 ### app = choo()
 Create a new `choo` app
@@ -100,6 +128,7 @@ Start the application. Returns a DOM element that can be mounted using
 - __models:__ [`send-action`](https://github.com/sethvincent/send-action),
   [`xtend`](https://github.com/raynos/xtend)
 - __routes:__ [`sheet-router`](https://github.com/yoshuawuyts/sheet-router)
+- __http:__ [`xhr`](https://github.com/Raynos/xhr)
 
 ## Optimizing
 To bring down file size, consider running the following `browserify`
@@ -112,9 +141,10 @@ transforms:
   UglifyJS2. Use as a `--global` transform
 
 ## Packages that work well together
-- [xhr](https://github.com/Raynos/xhr) - small XHR wrapper
 - [tachyons](https://github.com/tachyons-css/tachyons) - functional CSS for
   humans
+- [sheetify](https://github.com/stackcss/sheetify) - modular CSS bundler for
+  browserify
 
 ## Installation
 ```sh
diff --git a/examples/http/client.js b/examples/http/client.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..31370a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/http/client.js
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+const choo = require('../../')
+
+const mainView = require('./views/main')
+
+const app = choo()
+
+app.model(require('./models/error'))
+app.model('api', require('./models/api'))
+
+app.router((route) => [
+  route('/', mainView)
+])
+
+const tree = app.start()
+document.body.appendChild(tree)
diff --git a/examples/http/models/api.js b/examples/http/models/api.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37907e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/http/models/api.js
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+const http = require('../../../http')
+
+module.exports = {
+  state: {
+    title: 'Button pushing machine 3000'
+  },
+  reducers: {
+    set: function (action, state) {
+      return { 'api:title': action.payload }
+    }
+  },
+  effects: {
+    good: performGoodRequest,
+    bad: performBadRequest
+  }
+}
+
+function performGoodRequest (action, state, send) {
+  http('/good', { json: true }, function (err, res, body) {
+    if (err) return send('error', { payload: 'HTTP error' })
+    if (res.statusCode !== 200) {
+      return send('error', { payload: body.payload })
+    }
+    if (!body) {
+      return send('error', { payload: 'fatal: no body received' })
+    }
+    send('api:set', { payload: body.message })
+  })
+}
+
+function performBadRequest (action, state, send) {
+  http('/bad', { json: true }, function (err, res, body) {
+    if (err) return send('error', { payload: 'HTTP error' })
+    if (res.statusCode !== 200) {
+      const message = (body && body.message)
+          ? body.message
+          : 'unknown server error'
+      return send('error', { payload: message })
+    }
+    if (!body) {
+      return send('error', { payload: 'fatal: no body received' })
+    }
+    send('api:set', { payload: body.title })
+  })
+}
diff --git a/examples/http/models/error.js b/examples/http/models/error.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4bc3694
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/http/models/error.js
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+// Create a new error. Errors are pushed into an array so they can be
+// queued. We're doing a bit of timestamp trickery here so each error
+// is shown for exactly one second before being dropped. Probably
+// useful for real world scenarios; especially when coupled to
+// fancy CSS animation thingies
+
+// Each error is displayed 1 second
+const ERROR_TIMEOUT = 1000
+
+module.exports = {
+  state: {
+    error: [],
+    errorTimeDone: null,
+    triggerTime: null
+  },
+  reducers: {
+    error: function (action, state) {
+      const now = Date.now()
+      const timeDone = state.errorTimeDone
+      const newTimestamp = (timeDone && timeDone >= now)
+        ? timeDone + ERROR_TIMEOUT
+        : now + ERROR_TIMEOUT
+
+      return {
+        error: state.error.concat(action.payload),
+        errorTimeDone: newTimestamp
+      }
+    },
+    'error:delete': function (action, state) {
+      state.error.shift()
+      return { error: state.error }
+    }
+  },
+  effects: {
+    error: function (action, state, send) {
+      const timeout = state.errorTimeDone - Date.now()
+      setTimeout(function () {
+        send('error:delete')
+      }, timeout)
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/examples/http/package.json b/examples/http/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..687cd91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/http/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+{
+  "name": "http",
+  "private": true,
+  "main": "client.js",
+  "scripts": {
+    "start": "NODE_ENV=development node server.js"
+  },
+  "dependencies": {
+    "bankai": "^2.0.2",
+    "browserify": "^13.0.1",
+    "server-router": "^2.1.0"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/examples/http/server.js b/examples/http/server.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c98ca55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/http/server.js
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+const serverRouter = require('server-router')
+const browserify = require('browserify')
+const bankai = require('bankai')
+const http = require('http')
+
+const PORT = 8080
+
+const server = http.createServer(createRouter())
+server.listen(PORT, () => console.log(`listening on port ${PORT}`))
+
+var index = 0
+const errors = [
+  'a giant robot invaded robot town!',
+  'something weird crawled out of the swamp',
+  'oh no, the bear people invaded the server!',
+  'the NSA',
+  '12 goats started a band',
+  'we kinda just gave up'
+]
+
+function createRouter () {
+  const router = serverRouter('/404')
+
+  const html = bankai.html({ css: false })
+  router.on('/', (req, res) => html(req, res).pipe(res))
+
+  const js = bankai.js(browserify, require.resolve('./client.js'))
+  router.on('/bundle.js', (req, res) => js(req, res).pipe(res))
+
+  router.on('/good', (req, res) => {
+    res.end('{ "message": "all is well in robo town!" }')
+  })
+
+  router.on('/bad', (req, res) => {
+    res.statusCode = 500
+    res.end(`{ "message": "${errors[index++ % (errors.length)]}" }`)
+  })
+
+  router.on('/404', (req, res) => {
+    res.statusCode = 404
+    res.end('{ "message": "the server is confused" }')
+  })
+
+  return router
+}
diff --git a/examples/http/views/main.js b/examples/http/views/main.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..22c5414
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/http/views/main.js
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+const choo = require('../../../')
+
+module.exports = function (params, state, send) {
+  return choo.view`
+    <section>
+      <h1>${state['api:title']}</h1>
+      <h2>Latest error: ${state.error[0]}</h2>
+      <button onclick=${(e) => send('api:good')}>OK!</button>
+      <button onclick=${(e) => send('api:bad')}>Naughty</button>
+    </section>
+  `
+}
diff --git a/http.js b/http.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..278c396
--- /dev/null
+++ b/http.js
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+module.exports = require('xhr')
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index fb9fe2e..29c3f17 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     "global": "^4.3.0",
     "send-action": "^1.1.0",
     "sheet-router": "^2.0.5",
+    "xhr": "^2.2.0",
     "xtend": "^4.0.1",
     "yo-yo": "^1.2.0"
   },
diff --git a/scripts/test-size b/scripts/test-size
index 279de9d..0690efe 100755
--- a/scripts/test-size
+++ b/scripts/test-size
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 #   -t uglifyify \
 #   | discify --open
 
-browserify index.js --full-paths \
+browserify http.js --full-paths \
   -g unassertify \
   -g uglifyify \
   | gzip-size \