Referer

RequestActive

The Referer header contains the URL of the page that linked to the current request. Servers use it for analytics, logging, and access control. Note: 'Referer' is a historical misspelling of 'referrer' – the typo is now permanently part of the HTTP spec. The Referrer-Policy header controls how much of the URL is sent.

Referer: <url>

Description

Referer tells the server which page the user came from. It has privacy implications – full URLs can expose query strings containing user data. Referrer-Policy controls truncation: 'no-referrer' omits it entirely, 'origin' sends only the scheme+host, 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin' (the modern default) sends full URL same-origin but only origin cross-origin.

Examples

Navigation referer

http

GET /article/http-headers HTTP/1.1
Referer: https://protocols.page/protocols/http/headers

With Referrer-Policy

http

Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin

Specification

RFC 9110 – Referer specification →