diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 3ae8258c..b251492d 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -429,7 +429,6 @@
     "@semantic-release/changelog": "^5.0.1",
     "@semantic-release/exec": "^5.0.0",
     "@semantic-release/git": "^9.0.0",
-    "@types/bent": "^7.3.2",
     "@types/chai-as-promised": "^7.1.5",
     "@types/chai-fs": "^2.0.2",
     "@types/fs-extra": "^9.0.13",
@@ -496,7 +495,6 @@
     "@appland/scanner": "^1.83.0",
     "@appland/sequence-diagram": "^1.11.0",
     "@yarnpkg/parsers": "^3.0.0-rc.45",
-    "bent": "^7.3.12",
     "bootstrap": "^4.5.3",
     "bootstrap-autocomplete": "^2.3.7",
     "diff": "^5.1.0",
diff --git a/src/actions/remoteRecording.ts b/src/actions/remoteRecording.ts
index 16f0d073..4f5485a3 100644
--- a/src/actions/remoteRecording.ts
+++ b/src/actions/remoteRecording.ts
@@ -109,7 +109,10 @@ export default class RemoteRecording {
       );
       this.onBeginRecording(recordingUrl);
     } catch (e) {
-      vscode.window.showErrorMessage(`The endpoint does not support AppMap recording`);
+      const err = e as Error;
+      vscode.window.showErrorMessage(
+        `Failed to start recording on ${recordingUrl}: ${err.message}`
+      );
       return;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/actions/remoteRecordingClient.ts b/src/actions/remoteRecordingClient.ts
index 7613d870..64d5f7d8 100644
--- a/src/actions/remoteRecordingClient.ts
+++ b/src/actions/remoteRecordingClient.ts
@@ -1,35 +1,50 @@
-import bent, { NodeResponse } from 'bent';
+import http, { type IncomingMessage } from 'node:http';
+import https from 'node:https';
 
 export default class RemoteRecordingClient {
-  private static readonly RECORDING_URI = '/_appmap/record';
-
   static async start(baseURL: string): Promise<number> {
-    const getStream = bent(baseURL, 'POST', 200, 409);
-    const stream = (await getStream(this.RECORDING_URI)) as {
-      statusCode: number;
-    };
-
-    return stream.statusCode;
+    return (await recordRequest(baseURL, 'POST', [200, 409])).statusCode;
   }
 
   static async getStatus(baseURL: string): Promise<boolean> {
-    const request = bent(baseURL, 'GET', 200);
-    const response = (await request(this.RECORDING_URI)) as NodeResponse;
-    const body = (await response.json()) as { enabled: boolean };
-
-    return body.enabled;
+    const response = await recordRequest(baseURL, 'GET', [200]);
+    const body = await readJSON(response);
+    if (typeof body === 'object' && body && 'enabled' in body && typeof body.enabled === 'boolean')
+      return body.enabled;
+    else throw new Error(`Unexpected body: ${body}`);
   }
 
-  static async stop(baseURL: string): Promise<unknown> {
-    const getStream = bent(baseURL, 'DELETE', 200, 404);
-    const stream = (await getStream(this.RECORDING_URI)) as {
-      statusCode: number;
-      json;
-    };
-
+  static async stop(baseURL: string): Promise<{ statusCode: number; body: unknown }> {
+    const response = await recordRequest(baseURL, 'DELETE', [200, 404]);
     return {
-      statusCode: stream.statusCode,
-      body: await stream.json(),
+      statusCode: response.statusCode,
+      body: await readJSON(response).catch(() => undefined),
     };
   }
 }
+
+function recordRequest(
+  baseURL: string,
+  method: string,
+  codes: number[]
+): Promise<IncomingMessage & { statusCode: number }> {
+  if (!baseURL.startsWith('http')) baseURL = `http://${baseURL}`;
+  const url = new URL('_appmap/record', baseURL);
+  const proto = url.protocol === 'https:' ? https : http;
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) =>
+    proto
+      .request(url, { method }, (response) =>
+        response.statusCode && codes.includes(response.statusCode)
+          ? resolve(response as IncomingMessage & { statusCode: number })
+          : reject(new Error(`unexpected response code: ${response.statusCode}`))
+      )
+      .once('error', reject)
+      .end()
+  );
+}
+
+async function readJSON(res: NodeJS.ReadableStream): Promise<unknown> {
+  const chunks: string[] = [];
+  for await (const chunk of res) chunks.push(chunk.toString());
+  return JSON.parse(chunks.join(''));
+}
diff --git a/test/unit/actions/remoteRecording.test.ts b/test/unit/actions/remoteRecording.test.ts
index 6dc62086..81c1afa0 100644
--- a/test/unit/actions/remoteRecording.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/actions/remoteRecording.test.ts
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ describe('remote recording', () => {
   });
 
   it('returns false on command stop with a 404 response', async () => {
-    sinon.stub(RemoteRecordingClient, 'stop').resolves({ statusCode: 404 });
+    sinon.stub(RemoteRecordingClient, 'stop').resolves({ statusCode: 404, body: undefined });
     const response = await remoteRecording.stop('http://localhost:8080/');
     assert(!response);
   });
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 26c7e84a..c0582fe5 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -1843,15 +1843,6 @@ __metadata:
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
-"@types/bent@npm:^7.3.2":
-  version: 7.3.2
-  resolution: "@types/bent@npm:7.3.2"
-  dependencies:
-    "@types/node": "*"
-  checksum: af28b4e77fce3de928ac4b90568971b73970351d3167bf89418c363ab207164516745b477ed803c90b2aaf81d46487e298e4fa8febd45b2d109e80872670c75f
-  languageName: node
-  linkType: hard
-
 "@types/btoa-lite@npm:^1.0.0":
   version: 1.0.0
   resolution: "@types/btoa-lite@npm:1.0.0"
@@ -2816,7 +2807,6 @@ __metadata:
     "@semantic-release/changelog": ^5.0.1
     "@semantic-release/exec": ^5.0.0
     "@semantic-release/git": ^9.0.0
-    "@types/bent": ^7.3.2
     "@types/chai-as-promised": ^7.1.5
     "@types/chai-fs": ^2.0.2
     "@types/fs-extra": ^9.0.13
@@ -2838,7 +2828,6 @@ __metadata:
     "@vscode/vsce": ^2.19.0
     "@vue/compiler-sfc": ^3.2.37
     "@yarnpkg/parsers": ^3.0.0-rc.45
-    bent: ^7.3.12
     bootstrap: ^4.5.3
     bootstrap-autocomplete: ^2.3.7
     browserify-fs: ^1.0.0
@@ -3208,17 +3197,6 @@ __metadata:
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
-"bent@npm:^7.3.12":
-  version: 7.3.12
-  resolution: "bent@npm:7.3.12"
-  dependencies:
-    bytesish: ^0.4.1
-    caseless: ~0.12.0
-    is-stream: ^2.0.0
-  checksum: b0c08f6fa204baec0841021f5cff49aba929bbff28089bbac0d446122aa5f8e10b1b6837310b0800717cbf431c984bead2ed130bec35045d4ea688d896458d54
-  languageName: node
-  linkType: hard
-
 "big-integer@npm:^1.6.17":
   version: 1.6.48
   resolution: "big-integer@npm:1.6.48"
@@ -3599,13 +3577,6 @@ __metadata:
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
-"bytesish@npm:^0.4.1":
-  version: 0.4.4
-  resolution: "bytesish@npm:0.4.4"
-  checksum: 50a6c9423f66fff984676ee1d3c5f12d2a23830cb5de81abc597415aa2f51cc617b251d660eede10b8e45bf3a3a5c31d4be467ec69888f31ccc66e90cb586ad5
-  languageName: node
-  linkType: hard
-
 "cac@npm:^6.7.12":
   version: 6.7.14
   resolution: "cac@npm:6.7.14"