diff --git a/src/libfetchers/git-lfs-fetch.cc b/src/libfetchers/git-lfs-fetch.cc
index 9688daa4a..aee1163bb 100644
--- a/src/libfetchers/git-lfs-fetch.cc
+++ b/src/libfetchers/git-lfs-fetch.cc
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ std::vector<nlohmann::json> Fetch::fetchUrls(const std::vector<Pointer> & pointe
     auto url = api.endpoint + "/objects/batch";
     const auto & authHeader = api.authHeader;
     FileTransferRequest request(parseURL(url));
-    request.post = true;
+    request.method = HttpMethod::POST;
     Headers headers;
     if (authHeader.has_value())
         headers.push_back({"Authorization", *authHeader});
diff --git a/src/libstore/filetransfer.cc b/src/libstore/filetransfer.cc
index b9e52e7d5..c2c2a86c4 100644
--- a/src/libstore/filetransfer.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/filetransfer.cc
@@ -384,11 +384,11 @@ struct curlFileTransfer : public FileTransfer
             if (settings.downloadSpeed.get() > 0)
                 curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_MAX_RECV_SPEED_LARGE, (curl_off_t) (settings.downloadSpeed.get() * 1024));
 
-            if (request.head)
+            if (request.method == HttpMethod::HEAD)
                 curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_NOBODY, 1);
 
             if (request.data) {
-                if (request.post) {
+                if (request.method == HttpMethod::POST) {
                     curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_POST, 1L);
                     curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDSIZE_LARGE, (curl_off_t) request.data->length());
                 } else {
diff --git a/src/libstore/http-binary-cache-store.cc b/src/libstore/http-binary-cache-store.cc
index 9567aec2f..5c455dd04 100644
--- a/src/libstore/http-binary-cache-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/http-binary-cache-store.cc
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ protected:
 
         try {
             FileTransferRequest request(makeRequest(path));
-            request.head = true;
+            request.method = HttpMethod::HEAD;
             getFileTransfer()->download(request);
             return true;
         } catch (FileTransferError & e) {
diff --git a/src/libstore/include/nix/store/filetransfer.hh b/src/libstore/include/nix/store/filetransfer.hh
index 2b86f6ac9..286014517 100644
--- a/src/libstore/include/nix/store/filetransfer.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/include/nix/store/filetransfer.hh
@@ -83,6 +83,15 @@ extern FileTransferSettings fileTransferSettings;
 
 extern const unsigned int RETRY_TIME_MS_DEFAULT;
 
+/**
+ * HTTP methods supported by FileTransfer.
+ */
+enum struct HttpMethod {
+    GET,
+    HEAD,
+    POST,
+};
+
 /**
  * Username and optional password for HTTP basic authentication.
  * These are used with curl's CURLOPT_USERNAME and CURLOPT_PASSWORD options
@@ -99,8 +108,7 @@ struct FileTransferRequest
     VerbatimURL uri;
     Headers headers;
     std::string expectedETag;
-    bool head = false;
-    bool post = false;
+    HttpMethod method = HttpMethod::GET;
     size_t tries = fileTransferSettings.tries;
     unsigned int baseRetryTimeMs = RETRY_TIME_MS_DEFAULT;
     ActivityId parentAct;
@@ -129,7 +137,14 @@ struct FileTransferRequest
 
     std::string verb() const
     {
-        return data ? "upload" : "download";
+        switch (method) {
+        case HttpMethod::HEAD:
+        case HttpMethod::GET:
+            return "download";
+        case HttpMethod::POST:
+            return "upload";
+        }
+        unreachable();
     }
 
 private: