diff --git a/src/http-request.ts b/src/http-request.ts
index 6bd2820c4..96bc604a8 100644
--- a/src/http-request.ts
+++ b/src/http-request.ts
@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@ function getFs() {
 
 import type { IncomingHttpHeaders, IncomingMessage } from 'http'
 
+/** IncomingMessage received as a response to a client request (http.request callback). */
+export type IncomingResponse = IncomingMessage
+
+/** IncomingMessage received as a request in a server handler (http.createServer callback). */
+export type IncomingRequest = IncomingMessage
+
 import type { Logger } from './logger.js'
 
 let _crypto: typeof import('node:crypto') | undefined
@@ -392,11 +398,46 @@ export interface HttpResponse {
    */
   text(): string
   /**
-   * The underlying Node.js IncomingMessage for advanced use cases
+   * The underlying Node.js IncomingResponse for advanced use cases
    * (e.g., streaming, custom header inspection). Only available when
    * the response was not consumed by the convenience methods.
    */
-  rawResponse?: IncomingMessage | undefined
+  rawResponse?: IncomingResponse | undefined
+}
+
+/**
+ * Read and buffer a client-side IncomingResponse into an HttpResponse.
+ *
+ * Useful when you have a raw response from code that bypasses
+ * `httpRequest()` (e.g., multipart form-data uploads via `http.request()`,
+ * or responses from third-party HTTP libraries) and need to convert it
+ * into the standard HttpResponse interface.
+ */
+export async function readIncomingResponse(
+  msg: IncomingResponse,
+): Promise<HttpResponse> {
+  const chunks: Buffer[] = []
+  for await (const chunk of msg) {
+    chunks.push(chunk as Buffer)
+  }
+  const body = Buffer.concat(chunks)
+  const status = msg.statusCode ?? 0
+  const statusText = msg.statusMessage ?? ''
+  return {
+    arrayBuffer: () =>
+      body.buffer.slice(
+        body.byteOffset,
+        body.byteOffset + body.byteLength,
+      ) as ArrayBuffer,
+    body,
+    headers: msg.headers,
+    json: <T = unknown>() => JSON.parse(body.toString('utf8')) as T,
+    ok: status >= 200 && status < 300,
+    rawResponse: msg,
+    status,
+    statusText,
+    text: () => body.toString('utf8'),
+  }
 }
 
 /**
@@ -804,7 +845,7 @@ async function httpDownloadAttempt(
     /* c8 ignore start - External HTTP/HTTPS download request */
     const request = httpModule.request(
       requestOptions,
-      (res: IncomingMessage) => {
+      (res: IncomingResponse) => {
         // Handle redirects
         if (
           followRedirects &&
@@ -1039,7 +1080,7 @@ async function httpRequestAttempt(
     /* c8 ignore start - External HTTP/HTTPS request */
     const request = httpModule.request(
       requestOptions,
-      (res: IncomingMessage) => {
+      (res: IncomingResponse) => {
         if (
           followRedirects &&
           res.statusCode &&
diff --git a/test/unit/http-request.test.mts b/test/unit/http-request.test.mts
index 604b080b3..d20ba9280 100644
--- a/test/unit/http-request.test.mts
+++ b/test/unit/http-request.test.mts
@@ -25,10 +25,13 @@ import {
   httpRequest,
   httpText,
   parseChecksums,
+  readIncomingResponse,
 } from '@socketsecurity/lib/http-request'
 import type {
   HttpHookRequestInfo,
   HttpHookResponseInfo,
+  IncomingRequest,
+  IncomingResponse,
 } from '@socketsecurity/lib/http-request'
 import { Logger } from '@socketsecurity/lib/logger'
 import { afterAll, beforeAll, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
@@ -216,6 +219,12 @@ afterAll(async () => {
   })
 })
 
+function makeRawRequest(url: string): Promise<http.IncomingMessage> {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    http.get(url, resolve).on('error', reject)
+  })
+}
+
 describe('http-request', () => {
   describe('httpRequest', () => {
     it('should make a simple GET request', async () => {
@@ -2117,4 +2126,138 @@ abc123def456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234abcd
       }
     })
   })
+
+  describe('type aliases', () => {
+    it('IncomingResponse should be assignable from http.IncomingMessage', () => {
+      const msg: http.IncomingMessage = {} as http.IncomingMessage
+      const response: IncomingResponse = msg
+      expect(response).toBe(msg)
+    })
+
+    it('IncomingRequest should be assignable from http.IncomingMessage', () => {
+      const msg: http.IncomingMessage = {} as http.IncomingMessage
+      const request: IncomingRequest = msg
+      expect(request).toBe(msg)
+    })
+  })
+
+  describe('readIncomingResponse', () => {
+    it('should read a 200 JSON response', async () => {
+      const msg = await makeRawRequest(`${httpBaseUrl}/json`)
+      const response = await readIncomingResponse(msg)
+
+      expect(response.ok).toBe(true)
+      expect(response.status).toBe(200)
+      expect(response.statusText).toBe('OK')
+      expect(response.json()).toEqual({ message: 'Hello, World!', status: 'success' })
+      expect(response.headers['content-type']).toBe('application/json')
+      expect(response.rawResponse).toBe(msg)
+    })
+
+    it('should read a plain text response', async () => {
+      const msg = await makeRawRequest(`${httpBaseUrl}/text`)
+      const response = await readIncomingResponse(msg)
+
+      expect(response.ok).toBe(true)
+      expect(response.status).toBe(200)
+      expect(response.text()).toBe('Plain text response')
+    })
+
+    it('should handle 404 responses', async () => {
+      const msg = await makeRawRequest(`${httpBaseUrl}/not-found`)
+      const response = await readIncomingResponse(msg)
+
+      expect(response.ok).toBe(false)
+      expect(response.status).toBe(404)
+      expect(response.statusText).toBe('Not Found')
+      expect(response.text()).toBe('Not Found')
+    })
+
+    it('should handle 500 server errors', async () => {
+      const msg = await makeRawRequest(`${httpBaseUrl}/server-error`)
+      const response = await readIncomingResponse(msg)
+
+      expect(response.ok).toBe(false)
+      expect(response.status).toBe(500)
+      expect(response.text()).toBe('Internal Server Error')
+    })
+
+    it('should provide arrayBuffer from body', async () => {
+      const msg = await makeRawRequest(`${httpBaseUrl}/text`)
+      const response = await readIncomingResponse(msg)
+      const ab = response.arrayBuffer()
+
+      expect(ab).toBeInstanceOf(ArrayBuffer)
+      expect(ab.byteLength).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+      expect(Buffer.from(ab).toString('utf8')).toBe('Plain text response')
+    })
+
+    it('should handle binary response data', async () => {
+      const msg = await makeRawRequest(`${httpBaseUrl}/binary`)
+      const response = await readIncomingResponse(msg)
+
+      expect(response.ok).toBe(true)
+      expect(response.body.length).toBe(7)
+      expect(response.body[0]).toBe(0x00)
+      expect(response.body[1]).toBe(0x01)
+      expect(response.body[6]).toBe(0xfd)
+    })
+
+    it('should produce same result as httpRequest for same endpoint', async () => {
+      const msg = await makeRawRequest(`${httpBaseUrl}/json`)
+      const fromRaw = await readIncomingResponse(msg)
+      const fromLib = await httpRequest(`${httpBaseUrl}/json`)
+
+      expect(fromRaw.ok).toBe(fromLib.ok)
+      expect(fromRaw.status).toBe(fromLib.status)
+      expect(fromRaw.json()).toEqual(fromLib.json())
+      expect(fromRaw.text()).toBe(fromLib.text())
+    })
+
+    it('should handle large response bodies', async () => {
+      const msg = await makeRawRequest(`${httpBaseUrl}/large-body`)
+      const response = await readIncomingResponse(msg)
+
+      expect(response.ok).toBe(true)
+      expect(response.text()).toBe('X'.repeat(10_000))
+      expect(response.body.length).toBe(10_000)
+    })
+
+    it('should default status to 0 when statusCode is undefined', async () => {
+      const { Readable } = await import('node:stream')
+      const fakeMsg = new Readable({
+        read() {
+          this.push('body')
+          this.push(null)
+        },
+      }) as unknown as IncomingResponse
+      Object.assign(fakeMsg, {
+        headers: {},
+        statusCode: undefined,
+        statusMessage: undefined,
+      })
+
+      const response = await readIncomingResponse(fakeMsg)
+
+      expect(response.status).toBe(0)
+      expect(response.statusText).toBe('')
+      expect(response.ok).toBe(false)
+      expect(response.text()).toBe('body')
+    })
+
+    it('should preserve response headers', async () => {
+      const msg = await makeRawRequest(`${httpBaseUrl}/json`)
+      const response = await readIncomingResponse(msg)
+
+      expect(response.headers['content-type']).toBe('application/json')
+      expect(response.headers).toBeDefined()
+    })
+
+    it('should throw on invalid JSON from json()', async () => {
+      const msg = await makeRawRequest(`${httpBaseUrl}/text`)
+      const response = await readIncomingResponse(msg)
+
+      expect(() => response.json()).toThrow()
+    })
+  })
 })