HTTP
The protocol powering the web. A request-response model where clients ask for resources and servers respond. Stateless by design.
What is HTTP?
The protocol powering the web. A request-response model where clients ask for resources and servers respond. Stateless by design.
HTTP is a foundational concept that sits in the Core Fundamentals area of system design. Engineers reach for it whenever they need to reason about real-world trade-offs in that space — not just for textbook correctness, but because real production systems at companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Google make these decisions every day.
If you want to go deeper than this definition — with diagrams, code, and a quiz to lock it in — work through the "HTTP" lesson linked below. It walks through the why, the mechanism, the trade-offs, and how the giants actually use it in production.
Learn HTTP in depth
Full interactive lesson with diagrams, code examples, real-world references, and a quiz.
Open the HTTP lessonRelated lessons
Lessons that touch on HTTP as part of a larger topic.
Varnish Cache
The HTTP accelerator that sits in front of your web server, caching full HTTP responses at wire speed
foundation · caching strategies
REST API
Standard web service architecture using HTTP methods and resource-based URLs
foundation · core fundamentals
Ingress Controllers
Routing external HTTP traffic to the right Kubernetes service, the cluster's front door
intermediate · kubernetes containers
Webhooks
Don't call us, we'll call you, server-to-server event notifications over HTTP
intermediate · messaging event systems
Gzip Compression
Compressing HTTP responses to reduce transfer size by 60-80%, the lowest-effort highest-impact performance optimization
intermediate · web content delivery
See also
Related glossary terms you might want to look up next.
REST API
An architectural style for building APIs using standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE). Resources are identified by URLs.
TCP
A reliable transport protocol that guarantees data arrives in order and without errors. It uses a three-way handshake to establish connections.
SSL/TLS
Cryptographic protocols that encrypt data in transit between client and server. TLS is the modern successor to SSL. The 'S' in HTTPS.