diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## 0.4.13
+
+* Support for auth via url [#124](https://github.com/snoyberg/http-client/pull/124)
+
 ## 0.4.12
 
 * Added `IsString RequestBody` instance [#126](https://github.com/snoyberg/http-client/pull/126)
diff --git a/Network/HTTP/Client/Request.hs b/Network/HTTP/Client/Request.hs
--- a/Network/HTTP/Client/Request.hs
+++ b/Network/HTTP/Client/Request.hs
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@
     , setQueryString
     , streamFile
     , observedStreamFile
+    , username
+    , password
     ) where
 
 import Data.Int (Int64)
@@ -45,7 +47,7 @@
 import Data.ByteString.Lazy.Internal (defaultChunkSize)
 
 import qualified Network.HTTP.Types as W
-import Network.URI (URI (..), URIAuth (..), parseURI, relativeTo, escapeURIString, isAllowedInURI)
+import Network.URI (URI (..), URIAuth (..), parseURI, relativeTo, escapeURIString, isAllowedInURI, isReserved)
 
 import Control.Monad.IO.Class (liftIO)
 import Control.Exception (Exception, toException, throw, throwIO, IOException)
@@ -114,16 +116,37 @@
     , uriFragment = ""
     }
 
+applyAnyUriBasedAuth :: URI -> Request -> Request
+applyAnyUriBasedAuth uri req =
+    if hasAuth
+      then applyBasicAuth (S8.pack theuser) (S8.pack thepass) req
+      else req
+  where
+    hasAuth = (notEmpty theuser) && (notEmpty thepass)
+    notEmpty = not . null
+    theuser = username authInfo
+    thepass = password authInfo
+    authInfo = maybe "" uriUserInfo $ uriAuthority uri
+
+username :: String -> String
+username = encode . takeWhile (/=':') . authPrefix
+
+password :: String -> String
+password = encode . takeWhile (/='@') . drop 1 . dropWhile (/=':')
+
+encode :: String -> String
+encode = escapeURIString (not . isReserved)
+
+authPrefix :: String -> String
+authPrefix u = if '@' `elem` u then takeWhile (/= '@') u else ""
+
 -- | Validate a 'URI', then add it to the request.
 setUri :: MonadThrow m => Request -> URI -> m Request
 setUri req uri = do
     sec <- parseScheme uri
     auth <- maybe (failUri "URL must be absolute") return $ uriAuthority uri
-    if not . null $ uriUserInfo auth
-        then failUri "URL auth not supported; use applyBasicAuth instead"
-        else return ()
     port' <- parsePort sec auth
-    return req
+    return $ applyAnyUriBasedAuth uri req
         { host = S8.pack $ uriRegName auth
         , port = port'
         , secure = sec
diff --git a/http-client.cabal b/http-client.cabal
--- a/http-client.cabal
+++ b/http-client.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:                http-client
-version:             0.4.12
+version:             0.4.13
 synopsis:            An HTTP client engine, intended as a base layer for more user-friendly packages.
 description:         Hackage documentation generation is not reliable. For up to date documentation, please see: <http://www.stackage.org/package/http-client>.
 homepage:            https://github.com/snoyberg/http-client
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@
                      , blaze-builder
                      , time
                      , network
+                     , network-uri
                      , containers
                      , transformers
                      , deepseq
diff --git a/test-nonet/Network/HTTP/Client/RequestSpec.hs b/test-nonet/Network/HTTP/Client/RequestSpec.hs
--- a/test-nonet/Network/HTTP/Client/RequestSpec.hs
+++ b/test-nonet/Network/HTTP/Client/RequestSpec.hs
@@ -5,9 +5,10 @@
 import Control.Applicative ((<$>))
 import Control.Monad (join, forM_)
 import Data.IORef
-import Data.Maybe (isJust, fromMaybe)
+import Data.Maybe (isJust, fromMaybe, fromJust)
 import Network.HTTP.Client (parseUrl, requestHeaders, applyBasicProxyAuth)
 import Network.HTTP.Client.Internal
+import Network.URI (URI(..), URIAuth(..)) --(parseURI, relativeTo, escapeURIString, isAllowedInURI)
 import Test.Hspec
 
 spec :: Spec
@@ -22,6 +23,20 @@
                 Nothing -> return () :: IO ()
                 Just req -> error $ show req
 
+    describe "authentication in url" $ do
+      it "passes validation" $ do
+        case parseUrl "http://agent:topsecret@example.com" of
+          Nothing -> error "failed"
+          Just _ -> return () :: IO ()
+
+      it "add username/password to headers section" $ do
+        let request = parseUrl "http://user:pass@example.com"
+            field = join $ lookup "Authorization" . requestHeaders <$> request
+            requestHostnameWithoutAuth = "example.com"
+        (uriRegName $ fromJust $ uriAuthority $ getUri $ fromJust request) `shouldBe` requestHostnameWithoutAuth
+        field `shouldSatisfy` isJust
+        field `shouldBe` Just "Basic dXNlcjpwYXNz"
+
     describe "applyBasicProxyAuth" $ do
         let request = applyBasicProxyAuth "user" "pass" <$> parseUrl "http://example.org"
             field   = join $ lookup "Proxy-Authorization" . requestHeaders <$> request
@@ -30,6 +45,26 @@
         it "Should add a proxy-authorization header with the specified username and password." $ do
             field `shouldBe` Just "Basic dXNlcjpwYXNz"
 
+    describe "extract credentials from a URI" $ do
+        it "fetches non-empty username before the first ':'" $ do
+            username "agent:secret@example.com" `shouldBe` "agent"
+
+        it "extra colons do not delimit username" $ do
+            username "agent:006:supersecret@example.com" `shouldBe` "agent"
+
+        it "after ':' is considered password" $ do
+            password "agent007:shakenNotStirred@example.com" `shouldBe` "shakenNotStirred"
+
+        it "encodes username special characters per RFC3986" $ do
+            username "/?#[]!$&'()*+,;=:therealpassword@example.com" `shouldBe` "%2F%3F%23%5B%5D%21%24%26%27%28%29%2A%2B%2C%3B%3D"
+
+        it "encodes password special characters per RFC3986" $ do
+            password "therealusername:?#[]!$&'()*+,;=/@example.com" `shouldBe` "%3F%23%5B%5D%21%24%26%27%28%29%2A%2B%2C%3B%3D%2F"
+
+        it "no auth is empty" $ do
+            username "example.com" `shouldBe` ""
+            password "example.com" `shouldBe` ""
+
     describe "requestBuilder" $ do
         it "sends the full request, combining headers and body in the non-streaming case" $ do
             let Just req  = parseUrl "http://localhost"
@@ -83,3 +118,4 @@
                 case xs of
                     (x:xs') -> (xs', x)
                     [] -> ([], "")
+