diff --git a/src/http-proxy-middleware.ts b/src/http-proxy-middleware.ts
index e3012ec5..693b348a 100644
--- a/src/http-proxy-middleware.ts
+++ b/src/http-proxy-middleware.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-import * as express from 'express';
 import * as httpProxy from 'http-proxy';
 import * as _ from 'lodash';
 import { createConfig } from './config-factory';
@@ -46,17 +45,17 @@ export class HttpProxyMiddleware {
   public middleware: RequestHandler = async (
     req: Request,
     res: Response,
-    next: express.NextFunction
+    next?: (error?: any) => void
   ) => {
     if (this.shouldProxy(this.config.context, req)) {
       try {
         const activeProxyOptions = await this.prepareProxyRequest(req);
         this.proxy.web(req, res, activeProxyOptions);
       } catch (err) {
-        next(err);
+        next && next(err);
       }
     } else {
-      next();
+      next && next();
     }
 
     if (this.proxyOptions.ws === true) {
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 9e421cd6..633c7577 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,14 @@
 import { HttpProxyMiddleware } from './http-proxy-middleware';
-import { Filter, Options } from './types';
+import { Filter, Options, RequestHandler } from './types';
+import * as http from 'http';
 
-export function createProxyMiddleware(context: Filter | Options, options?: Options) {
+export function createProxyMiddleware<
+  Request extends http.IncomingMessage,
+  Response extends http.ServerResponse
+>(
+  context: Filter<Request> | Options<Request, Response>,
+  options?: Options<Request, Response>
+): RequestHandler<Request, Response> {
   const { middleware } = new HttpProxyMiddleware(context, options);
   return middleware;
 }
diff --git a/src/types.ts b/src/types.ts
index e845cf81..a2cef27e 100644
--- a/src/types.ts
+++ b/src/types.ts
@@ -1,18 +1,31 @@
-import * as express from 'express';
 import * as http from 'http';
 import * as httpProxy from 'http-proxy';
 import * as net from 'net';
 
-export interface Request extends express.Request {}
-export interface Response extends express.Response {}
+export interface Request extends http.IncomingMessage {
+  originalUrl?: string; // in case express, connect
+  hostname?: string; // in case express
+  host?: string; // in case express
+}
+export interface Response extends http.ServerResponse {}
 
-export interface RequestHandler extends express.RequestHandler {
+export interface RequestHandler<
+  Request extends http.IncomingMessage = http.IncomingMessage,
+  Response extends http.ServerResponse = http.ServerResponse
+> {
+  (request: Request, response: Response, next?: (err: any) => void): void;
   upgrade?: (req: Request, socket: net.Socket, head: any) => void;
 }
 
-export type Filter = string | string[] | ((pathname: string, req: Request) => boolean);
+export type Filter<Request extends http.IncomingMessage = http.IncomingMessage> =
+  | string
+  | string[]
+  | ((pathname: string, req: Request) => boolean);
 
-export interface Options extends httpProxy.ServerOptions {
+export interface Options<
+  Request extends http.IncomingMessage = http.IncomingMessage,
+  Response extends http.ServerResponse = http.ServerResponse
+> extends httpProxy.ServerOptions {
   pathRewrite?:
     | { [regexp: string]: string }
     | ((path: string, req: Request) => string)
diff --git a/test/types.spec.ts b/test/types-spec.ts
similarity index 66%
rename from test/types.spec.ts
rename to test/types-spec.ts
index 421ffaa1..36b5d58d 100644
--- a/test/types.spec.ts
+++ b/test/types-spec.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
-import { createProxyMiddleware as middleware } from '../src';
+import { createProxyMiddleware, createProxyMiddleware as middleware } from '../src';
 import { Options } from '../src/types';
+import * as http from 'http';
+import * as express from 'express';
+import * as connect from 'connect';
+import * as browserSync from 'browser-sync';
+/* tslint:disable:no-unused-expression because we're expecting expressions to compile */
 
 describe('http-proxy-middleware TypeScript Types', () => {
   let options: Options;
@@ -156,4 +161,79 @@ describe('http-proxy-middleware TypeScript Types', () => {
       });
     });
   });
+
+  describe('request response inference', () => {
+    interface FooBarRequest extends http.IncomingMessage {
+      foo: string;
+    }
+    interface FooBarResponse extends http.ServerResponse {
+      bar: number;
+    }
+    const fooBarUse = (handler: (request: FooBarRequest, response: FooBarResponse) => void) => {};
+
+    fooBarUse(createProxyMiddleware((_, request) => request.foo && true));
+    fooBarUse(
+      createProxyMiddleware({
+        onError: (_, request, response) => {
+          request.foo;
+          response.bar;
+          // @ts-expect-error
+          request.params;
+          // @ts-expect-error
+          response.json;
+        },
+      })
+    );
+  });
+
+  describe('works for third-party libraries', () => {
+    express().use(
+      '/proxy',
+      createProxyMiddleware({
+        onError: (_, request, response) => {
+          request.params;
+          response.json;
+          // @ts-expect-error
+          request.lol;
+          // @ts-expect-error
+          response.lol;
+        },
+      })
+    );
+
+    connect().use(
+      '/proxy',
+      createProxyMiddleware({
+        onError: (_, request, response) => {
+          // todo, non trivial fix @ts-expect-error
+          request.params;
+          /*
+          problem with connect types,
+          request somehow gets inferred to `any` because of `connect.ErrorHandleFunction`
+
+          connect types are anyway pretty weird, like in `connect().use((req, res) => {})`,
+          `req` and `req` get inferred to `any`
+          */
+
+          // @ts-expect-error
+          response.json;
+        },
+      })
+    );
+
+    browserSync.create().init({
+      server: {
+        middleware: [
+          createProxyMiddleware({
+            onError: (_, request, response) => {
+              // @ts-expect-error
+              request.params;
+              // @ts-expect-error
+              response.json;
+            },
+          }),
+        ],
+      },
+    });
+  });
 });