HTTP-Header Komplett-Guide

HTTP-Header sind das unsichtbare Rückgrat des Webs. Dieser Leitfaden behandelt Anfrage-Header, Antwort-Header, Sicherheits-Header und CORS-Konfiguration.

Wichtige Anfrage-Header

Anfrage-Header werden vom Client an den Server gesendet und übertragen Metadaten über die Anfrage.

// Common HTTP Request Headers

GET /api/users HTTP/1.1
Host: api.example.com
Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...
Accept: application/json
Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.9
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br
Content-Type: application/json
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7)
Cache-Control: no-cache
If-None-Match: "33a64df551425fcc55e4d42a148795d9f25f89d"
If-Modified-Since: Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT
Origin: https://myapp.com
Referer: https://myapp.com/dashboard
X-Request-ID: 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000

// Setting headers with fetch API
const response = await fetch('https://api.example.com/users', {
  method: 'GET',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${token}`,
    'Accept': 'application/json',
    'X-Request-ID': crypto.randomUUID(),
  },
});

HTTP-Sicherheits-Header

Sicherheits-Header schützen Ihre Nutzer vor XSS, Clickjacking und Man-in-the-Middle-Angriffen.

// Essential Security Headers for Express.js
import express from 'express';

const app = express();

app.use((req, res, next) => {
  // Prevent XSS attacks
  res.setHeader('X-XSS-Protection', '1; mode=block');

  // Prevent MIME type sniffing
  res.setHeader('X-Content-Type-Options', 'nosniff');

  // Prevent clickjacking
  res.setHeader('X-Frame-Options', 'DENY');

  // Force HTTPS for 1 year (include subdomains)
  res.setHeader(
    'Strict-Transport-Security',
    'max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload'
  );

  // Content Security Policy
  res.setHeader(
    'Content-Security-Policy',
    [
      "default-src 'self'",
      "script-src 'self' 'nonce-{RANDOM}' https://cdn.example.com",
      "style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'",
      "img-src 'self' data: https:",
      "font-src 'self'",
      "connect-src 'self' https://api.example.com",
      "frame-ancestors 'none'",
    ].join('; ')
  );

  // Control referrer information
  res.setHeader('Referrer-Policy', 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin');

  // Control browser features
  res.setHeader(
    'Permissions-Policy',
    'camera=(), microphone=(), geolocation=(self)'
  );

  next();
});

CORS: Cross-Origin Resource Sharing

CORS erlaubt Servern zu spezifizieren, welche Ursprünge auf ihre Ressourcen zugreifen dürfen.

// CORS Configuration — Express.js

import cors from 'cors';

// Simple CORS for public API
app.use(cors({
  origin: '*',
  methods: ['GET', 'POST', 'PUT', 'DELETE', 'OPTIONS'],
}));

// Strict CORS for production
const allowedOrigins = [
  'https://myapp.com',
  'https://www.myapp.com',
  process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development' ? 'http://localhost:3000' : null,
].filter(Boolean);

app.use(cors({
  origin: (origin, callback) => {
    // Allow requests with no origin (mobile apps, curl, etc.)
    if (!origin) return callback(null, true);

    if (allowedOrigins.includes(origin)) {
      callback(null, true);
    } else {
      callback(new Error(`CORS: Origin ${origin} not allowed`));
    }
  },
  methods: ['GET', 'POST', 'PUT', 'PATCH', 'DELETE', 'OPTIONS'],
  allowedHeaders: ['Content-Type', 'Authorization', 'X-Request-ID'],
  exposedHeaders: ['X-Total-Count', 'X-RateLimit-Remaining'],
  credentials: true,       // Allow cookies
  maxAge: 86400,           // Cache preflight for 24 hours
}));

// Manual preflight handling
app.options('*', cors()); // Enable pre-flight across all routes

Caching-Header

Korrekte Caching-Header verbessern die Performance erheblich durch Wiederverwendung von Antworten.

// HTTP Caching Headers

// 1. Cache-Control directives
Cache-Control: no-store          // Never cache (sensitive data)
Cache-Control: no-cache          // Revalidate before using cache
Cache-Control: private           // Browser cache only (not CDN)
Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000  // Cache for 1 year (immutable assets)
Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600, stale-while-revalidate=60

// 2. ETag for conditional requests (server generates a hash of the content)
ETag: "33a64df551425fcc55e4d42a148795d9f25f89d"
// Client sends back on subsequent requests:
If-None-Match: "33a64df551425fcc55e4d42a148795d9f25f89d"
// Server responds 304 Not Modified if unchanged

// 3. Last-Modified
Last-Modified: Thu, 23 Feb 2026 10:00:00 GMT
If-Modified-Since: Thu, 23 Feb 2026 10:00:00 GMT

// Setting cache headers in Next.js
export async function GET() {
  return new Response(JSON.stringify(data), {
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600, stale-while-revalidate=60',
      'ETag': `"${hash(data)}"`,
    },
  });
}

// Strategy by asset type:
// HTML pages:     Cache-Control: no-cache (always revalidate)
// CSS/JS bundles: Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000, immutable
// API responses:  Cache-Control: private, no-cache
// Images:         Cache-Control: public, max-age=86400

Häufig gestellte Fragen

Was ist der Unterschied zwischen Authorization und Authentication?

HTTP hat keinen dedizierten Authentication-Header. Anmeldeinformationen werden über den Authorization-Header übertragen.

Warum schlägt mein CORS-Preflight fehl?

Preflight-OPTIONS-Anfragen schlagen fehl, wenn der Server nicht die richtigen Access-Control-Allow-*-Header zurückgibt.

Was ist der Content-Security-Policy-Header?

CSP ist ein mächtiger Sicherheits-Header, der dem Browser mitteilt, welche Inhaltsquellen vertrauenswürdig sind.

Wie erzwinge ich HTTPS mit HTTP-Headern?

Verwenden Sie den Strict-Transport-Security-Header (HSTS) mit max-age=31536000.

Verwandte Tools

• HTTP Status Code Reference
• JSON Formatter
• URL Parser
• JWT Decoder
• API Authentication Guide