HTTP Methods
A scannable reference for every HTTP request method — GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE and the rest, plus WebDAV — showing at a glance whether each one is safe, idempotent and cacheable, if it takes a body, and a typical example. In your browser, free.
Every standard HTTP request method and its semantics, side by side. Everything runs in your browser from a built-in reference — nothing is sent to the server.
| Method | Purpose | Safe | Idempotent | Cacheable | Body | Typical use |
|---|
About HTTP Methods
This HTTP methods reference puts every standard request method — GET, HEAD, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, CONNECT, OPTIONS and TRACE — plus the common WebDAV extensions into one scannable table. For each method it answers the questions developers actually reason about: is it safe, is it idempotent, is it cacheable, does it carry a request body, and what does a typical use look like.
Those three semantic properties drive real design decisions. Safe methods are read-only and can be prefetched freely; idempotent methods can be retried after a network failure without side effects, which is exactly what proxies and HTTP clients assume; and cacheability determines whether responses may be stored and reused.
Search matches method names, properties and use cases — PATCH, idempotent and cache all filter the table — and a group toggle separates the standard methods from the WebDAV set. Each method name copies to the clipboard in one click.
How to use HTTP Methods
- Scan the table to compare methods across the Safe, Idempotent, Cacheable and Body columns.
- Search by name, property or use case — for example PUT, idempotent or upload.
- Switch between the Standard and WebDAV groups to include or exclude the extension methods.
- Hover the column tooltips for a plain-language definition of each property.
- Click the copy button to grab a method name for your API spec or test.