<p>Today’s tip is about the headers on a request.</p><p>Earlier in our tips series we named five request verbs. The verb says what to do. The U R L says which blog. The body carries the data. Headers carry the information about the request. What format we are sending. What format we want back. Who is asking.</p><p>Content type. Accept. Authorization.</p><p>These three are the most common. They are not the only ones. More headers exist. Later tips will get to them.</p><p>When we finish, you can name what each of these three does.</p><p>Content type tells the server the format of the body you send. Post slash api slash blogs. Content type application slash json. The server reads that body as JSON.</p><p>Accept tells the server the format you want back. Get slash api slash blogs. Accept application slash json. You get JSON, not an H T M L page.</p><p>Authorization tells the server who is asking. Delete slash api slash blogs slash forty two. Authorization bearer, then a token. No token? The server answers four oh one. No delete.</p><p>Headers go with every request, even get. A body only rides on post, put, and patch. Headers ride on all five verbs.</p><p>A common junior mistake is putting the token in the U R L. Slash api slash blogs question mark token equals a b c one two three. Browser history and server logs keep that U R L. The token leaks. Put it in the authorization header.</p><p>Content type describes the body you send. Accept describes the answer you want. Mixing them up is the slip.</p><p>These three are the common ones, not the full list. Later tips will cover the rest.</p><p>The body is the data. The headers tell the server how to read it, what to send back, and who is asking.</p><p>Try the quiz on this one. The practice is there if you want a second pass.</p><p>See you in the next tip.</p>

A two-minute tip: name the three common request headers, use each on a blog API, and keep the token out of the URL.

Request headers | Tech Tips by Moh

Request headers

<div class="course-slide cs-center">
  <p class="cs-kicker">Today’s tip</p>
  <h2 class="cs-title">The headers on a request</h2>
  <p class="cs-pill cs-at-6">Verb. Path. Body. Then headers.</p>
</div>

<div class="course-slide cs-center">
  <p class="cs-kicker">Headers</p>
  <h2 class="cs-title">Information about the request</h2>
  <p class="cs-pill cs-at-7"><span class="cs-mono">Content-Type · Accept · Authorization</span></p>
</div>

<div class="course-slide cs-center">
  <p class="cs-kicker">Most common</p>
  <h2 class="cs-title">Not the only ones</h2>
  <p class="cs-pill cs-at-4">Later tips cover the rest</p>
</div>

<div class="course-slide cs-center">
  <p class="cs-kicker">Content-Type</p>
  <h2 class="cs-title">Format of the body you send</h2>
  <p class="cs-pill cs-at-3"><span class="cs-mono">POST /api/blogs</span></p>
  <p class="cs-pill cs-at-6"><span class="cs-mono">application/json</span></p>
</div>

<div class="course-slide cs-center">
  <p class="cs-kicker">Accept</p>
  <h2 class="cs-title">Format you want back</h2>
  <p class="cs-pill cs-at-3"><span class="cs-mono">GET /api/blogs</span></p>
  <p class="cs-pill cs-at-6"><span class="cs-mono">application/json</span></p>
</div>

<div class="course-slide cs-center">
  <p class="cs-kicker">Authorization</p>
  <h2 class="cs-title">Who is asking</h2>
  <p class="cs-pill cs-at-2"><span class="cs-mono">DELETE /api/blogs/42</span></p>
  <p class="cs-pill cs-at-7"><span class="cs-mono">Authorization: Bearer</span></p>
  <p class="cs-pill cs-at-10"><span class="cs-bad">401. No delete.</span></p>
</div>

<div class="course-slide cs-center">
  <p class="cs-kicker">Every verb</p>
  <h2 class="cs-title">Headers ride on all five</h2>
  <p class="cs-pill cs-at-3">Body only on post, put, patch</p>
</div>

<div class="course-slide cs-center">
  <p class="cs-kicker">Junior mistake</p>
  <h2 class="cs-title cs-at-2">Token in the URL</h2>
  <p class="cs-pill cs-at-8"><span class="cs-bad cs-mono">?token=…</span></p>
</div>

<div class="course-slide cs-center">
  <p class="cs-kicker">Do not mix them</p>
  <h2 class="cs-title cs-at-2">Send versus want back</h2>
</div>

<div class="course-slide cs-center">
  <p class="cs-kicker">You leave with this</p>
  <h2 class="cs-title cs-at-4">The body is the data</h2>
  <p class="cs-pill cs-at-6">Headers say how, what back, and who</p>
</div>