HTTP header page template

Remove before publishing

Page front matter

The frontmatter at the top of the page is used to define "page metadata". The values should be updated appropriately for the particular header.

---
  title: NameOfTheHeader
  slug: Web/HTTP/Headers/NameOfTheHeader
  tags:
    - NameOfTheHeader
    - HTTP
    - HTTP Header
    - Request header
    - Response header
    - Reference
    - Experimental
    - Deprecated
  browser-compat: path.to.feature.NameOfTheHeader
  ---

title

Title heading displayed at top of page. Format as NameOfTheHeader. For example, the Cache-Control header has a title of Cache-Control.

slug

The end of the URL path after https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/). This will be formatted like Web/HTTP/Headers/NameOfTheHeader. For example, the Cache-Control slug is Web/HTTP/Headers/Cache-Control.

tags

Always include the following tags: HTTP, Reference, HTTP Header, NameOfTheHeader (e.g. Cache-Control).

Include the following tags as appropriate:

Type of request/response: Response header, Request header, Representation header, Payload header, Client hint
Header status: Experimental (if the technology is experimental), Deprecated (if it is deprecated).
Any other tags that represent terms people might search for related to the technology. For example the Cache-Control header includes the tag Caching.

browser-compat

Replace the placeholder value path.to.feature.NameOfTheHeader with the query string for the header in the Browser compat data repo. The toolchain automatically uses the key to populate the compatibility section (replacing the {{Compat}} macro).

Note that you may first need to create/update an entry for the HTTP header in our Browser compat data repo, and the entry for the header will need to include specification information. See our guide on how to do this.

Top macros

A number of macro calls appear at the top of the content section. You should update or delete them according to the advice below:

{{draft()}} — this generates a Draft banner that indicates that the page is not yet complete, and should only be removed when the first draft of the page is completely finished. After it is ready to be published, you can remove this.
{{SeeCompatTable}} — this generates a This is an experimental technology banner that indicates the technology is experimental). If the technology you are documenting is not experimental, you can remove this. If it is experimental, and the technology is hidden behind a pref in Firefox, you should also fill in an entry for it in the Experimental features in Firefox page.
{{deprecated_header}} — this generates a Deprecated banner that indicates the technology is deprecated. If it isn't, then you can remove the macro call.
{{httpsidebar}} — this generates the HTTP sidebar that every HTTP reference page has.

Draft

This page is not complete.

Experimental

This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

Deprecated

This feature is no longer recommended. Though some browsers might still support it, it may have already been removed from the relevant web standards, may be in the process of being dropped, or may only be kept for compatibility purposes. Avoid using it, and update existing code if possible; see the compatibility table at the bottom of this page to guide your decision. Be aware that this feature may cease to work at any time.

The summary paragraph — start by naming the http header and saying what it does. This should ideally be 1 or 2 short sentences.

Header type	Include header category (or categories), e.g. Request header, Response header, Client hint
Forbidden header name	yes or no
CORS-safelisted response header	yes or no

Syntax

Fill in a syntax box, like the one below, according to the guidance in our syntax sections article. If the header has a lot of available directives, feel free to include multiple syntax boxes, subsections and explanations as appropriate.

NameOfTheHeader: <directive1>
NameOfTheHeader: <directive1>, <directive2>, …

The directives are case-insensitive and have an optional argument, that can use both token and quoted-string syntax. Multiple directives are comma-separated (delete information as appropriate).

Directives

directive1: Include a brief description of the directive and what it does here. Include one term and definition for each directive.
directive2: etc.

If the header has a lot of available directives, feel free to include multiple definition lists, subsections and explanations as appropriate.

Examples

Fill in a some examples that show common use cases of the HTTP header (for example, a typical request and response sequence).

my HTTP header example

And/or include a list of links to useful code samples that live elsewhere:

Specifications

Specification	Title
RFC RFCNumberWhereHeaderIsDefined	Title of RFC

Browser compatibility

No compatibility data found for path.to.feature.NameOfTheHeader.
Check for problems with this page or contribute missing data to mdn/browser-compat-data.