HTTP & Networking
What is HTTP?
The application protocol the web is built on, a simple request/response format for asking a server for a resource.
HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) is the protocol every browser, mobile app, and API client uses to talk to web servers. The client sends a request line ("GET /index.html HTTP/1.1"), some headers, and an optional body. The server responds with a status code (200, 404, 500…), headers, and a body. That's essentially the whole protocol, everything else is layered on top.
HTTP/1.1 (1997) is plain text and one request per connection at a time. HTTP/2 (2015) added multiplexing, header compression, and binary framing, multiple requests per connection without head-of-line blocking. HTTP/3 (2022) ditches TCP entirely and runs over QUIC for faster connection setup and better mobile performance.
Understanding HTTP at the wire level is non-negotiable if you build anything web-facing. Every API design decision, every caching question, and every weird production bug eventually comes back to status codes, headers, and the lifecycle of a single request.
In the wild
- →
GET /api/users/42 HTTP/1.1, fetch user 42 - →
POST /sessions HTTP/1.1with form body, log in - →A
Cache-Control: max-age=3600header, cache for an hour
How Brand.dev uses http
Endpoints in the Brand.dev API where this concept comes up directly.
FAQ
HTTP vs HTTPS, what's the difference?
HTTPS is HTTP wrapped in TLS encryption. The protocol semantics are identical (same methods, same status codes) but HTTPS connections are encrypted and authenticated end-to-end. Modern browsers warn on plain HTTP for almost everything.
What HTTP methods are there?
GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS, TRACE, CONNECT. The first five cover 99% of REST APIs.
What's HTTP/2 vs HTTP/3?
HTTP/2 multiplexes over TCP. HTTP/3 multiplexes over QUIC, which is built on UDP and avoids TCP's head-of-line blocking on packet loss. HTTP/3 is faster on lossy networks (mobile) and similar on clean ones.
Related terms
HTTP encrypted with TLS, the same protocol, but every byte on the wire is authenticated and protected from eavesdroppers.
The cryptographic protocol that encrypts and authenticates network traffic—the security layer under HTTPS, SMTPS, and most modern protocols.
An API that follows REST conventions, using HTTP methods on resource URLs to model create/read/update/delete operations.
A small piece of data a server sends a browser, echoed back on subsequent requests to the same site—the standard mechanism for sessions and tracking.
A server-side policy that caps how many requests a client can make in a given window, returning 429 Too Many Requests when the cap is exceeded.