Headers pretty-printed with inline explanations — what each header means, its value's significance, security implications. Like reading commented code.

Is it different from Header Analyzer?

Yes — Analyzer focuses on flagging issues and scoring security posture. Inspector is educational: 'here's what this header does'. Use Inspector to learn; Analyzer to audit.

Does it recognize custom headers?

Common ones (X-Request-ID, X-Forwarded-For, X-RateLimit-*) are explained. Truly custom ones show value-only without commentary.

Where do I paste input?

Raw HTTP response headers copied from curl -i or browser DevTools. Each line is one header.

HTTP Header Inspector | DevTools Surf

DevTools Surf

Example: HTTP Header Inspector

A worked example, rendered from real sample data. Sign in to run the tool on your own input.

Input

Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
X-Frame-Options: DENY

Output

Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
  ↳ Body media type
Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600
  ↳ Caching directives
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
  ↳ Force HTTPS
X-Frame-Options: DENY
  ↳ Clickjacking defense

About HTTP Header Inspector

HTTP Header Inspector preview - Web / Frontend tool

Pretty-print raw HTTP headers with inline meanings. Part of the DevTools Surf developer suite. Browse more tools in the Web / Frontend collection.

Use Cases

Frontend developers debugging failed API requests in the browser
Backend developers verifying correct response headers for caching and CORS
Security auditors checking for missing headers like HSTS and CSP
DevOps engineers inspecting headers returned by CDN and proxy layers

Tips

Paste raw HTTP headers to see inline explanations for each one
Look for security headers like X-Content-Type-Options in the output
Use it to compare request and response headers side by side

Fun Facts

HTTP/1.1 headers are plain text key-value pairs separated by CRLF — HTTP/2 compresses them using HPACK, reducing header overhead by up to 85%.
The User-Agent header string has become absurdly long over decades because browsers append compatibility tokens — most modern UA strings exceed 100 characters.
The Referer header was intentionally misspelled in the original HTTP specification (RFC 1945, 1996). The typo was preserved for backward compatibility.

FAQ

What's the output?: Headers pretty-printed with inline explanations — what each header means, its value's significance, security implications. Like reading commented code.
Is it different from Header Analyzer?: Yes — Analyzer focuses on flagging issues and scoring security posture. Inspector is educational: 'here's what this header does'. Use Inspector to learn; Analyzer to audit.
Does it recognize custom headers?: Common ones (X-Request-ID, X-Forwarded-For, X-RateLimit-*) are explained. Truly custom ones show value-only without commentary.
Where do I paste input?: Raw HTTP response headers copied from curl -i or browser DevTools. Each line is one header.

Related Web / Frontend Tools

Meta Tags / OG Previewer Tailwind → CSS HTML → React JSX HTML → Markdown SVG → React Component CSS Unit Converter robots.txt Validator Sitemap XML Validator