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Skills / Starter / Inspect http response headers

Starter Web skill

Inspect http response headers

Inspect HTTP response headers for status, caching, security, content, redirects, cookies, and intermediaries.

Inspect the actual response for the requested URL and method.

When to use

  • Use for browser, CDN, proxy, cache, authentication, download, or security troubleshooting.
  • Do not send credentials or private URLs to untrusted inspection services.

Procedure

  1. Record URL, method, environment, region, timestamp, request headers, authentication state, and expected behavior.
  2. Capture the complete status line and response headers without following redirects first.
  3. Check Location, Content-Type, Content-Length, Content-Encoding, Content-Disposition, and character set.
  4. Inspect Cache-Control, Expires, Age, ETag, Last-Modified, Vary, and CDN cache indicators.
  5. Inspect transport and security headers, cookie attributes, cross-origin policy, and framing policy.
  6. Compare anonymous, authenticated, cache-busting, browser, and conditional requests where relevant.
  7. Follow redirects one hop at a time and note which intermediary adds or changes each header.
  8. Save the evidence and state the mismatch between expected and observed behavior.

Related skills

  • Inspect browser storage — Inspect cookies, local storage, session storage, IndexedDB, caches, and service-worker state for purpose and risk.
  • Protect a form from abuse — Protect a public form with layered, accessible controls and measured false-positive handling.
  • Inspect browser console errors — Inspect browser console errors by preserving page, version, action, source, stack, network, and reproduction context.