diff --git a/src/lua/httpc.lua b/src/lua/httpc.lua
index cd44b60544af..a5d6af3a60cf 100644
--- a/src/lua/httpc.lua
+++ b/src/lua/httpc.lua
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ curl_mt = {
         --
         request = function(self, method, url, body, opts)
             if not method or not url then
-                error('request(method, url [, options]])')
+                error('request(method, url[, body, [options]])')
             end
             local resp = self.curl:request(method, url, body, opts or {})
             if resp and resp.headers then
diff --git a/test/app-tap/http_client.test.lua b/test/app-tap/http_client.test.lua
index 0a323be9b7df..12c93399c9ec 100755
--- a/test/app-tap/http_client.test.lua
+++ b/test/app-tap/http_client.test.lua
@@ -62,7 +62,13 @@ local function stop_server(test, server)
 end
 
 local function test_http_client(test, url, opts)
-    test:plan(10)
+    test:plan(11)
+
+    -- gh-4136: confusing httpc usage error message
+    local ok, err = pcall(client.request, client)
+    local usage_err = "request(method, url[, body, [options]])"
+    test:is_deeply({ok, err:split(': ')[2]}, {false, usage_err},
+                   "test httpc usage error")
 
     test:isnil(rawget(_G, 'http'), "global namespace is not polluted");
     test:isnil(rawget(_G, 'http.client'), "global namespace is not polluted");