CONNECT

The HTTP CONNECT method starts two-way communications with the requested resource. It can be used to open a tunnel.

For example, the CONNECT method can be used to access websites that use TLS (HTTPS). The client asks an HTTP Proxy server to tunnel the TCP connection to the desired destination. The proxy server then proceeds to make the connection on behalf of the client. Once the connection is established, the proxy server continues to relay the TCP stream to and from the client.

CONNECT is a hop-by-hop method.

Request has body No
Successful response has body No
Safe No
Idempotent No
Cacheable No
Allowed in HTML forms No

Syntax

http
CONNECT www.example.com:443 HTTP/1.1

Example

Some proxy servers might need authority to create a tunnel. See also the Proxy-Authorization header.

http
CONNECT server.example.com:80 HTTP/1.1
Host: server.example.com:80
Proxy-Authorization: basic aGVsbG86d29ybGQ=

Specifications

Specification
HTTP Semantics
# CONNECT

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also