diff --git a/.changeset/cool-breads-dream.md b/.changeset/cool-breads-dream.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b593ab1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/cool-breads-dream.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'fetch-nodeshim': patch
+---
+
+Add sane default timeout to `http.request`
diff --git a/src/agent.ts b/src/agent.ts
index 4d6d373..31b2bd9 100644
--- a/src/agent.ts
+++ b/src/agent.ts
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ const matchesNoProxy = (options: {
   }
 };
 
-const defaultAgentOpts = {
+export const defaultAgentOpts = {
   keepAlive: true,
   keepAliveMsecs: 1000,
 };
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ const createRequestOptions = (
     setHost: false,
     agent: false,
     proxyEnv: {},
-    timeout: 8_000,
+    timeout: 5_000,
     headers: proxyHeaders,
     servername: proxy.protocol === 'https:' ? proxy.hostname : undefined,
   };
diff --git a/src/fetch.ts b/src/fetch.ts
index acd9881..2520387 100644
--- a/src/fetch.ts
+++ b/src/fetch.ts
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ async function _fetch(
   );
   const requestOptions = {
     ...urlToHttpOptions(requestUrl),
+    timeout: 5_000,
     method: methodToHttpOption(
       initFromRequest ? input.method : requestInit?.method
     ),