What Is an HTTP Header Parser?
An HTTP Header Parser is a tool that takes raw HTTP response or request headers and breaks them down into structured key-value pairs for easy analysis. HTTP headers carry metadata about the request or response — including content type, caching directives, authentication tokens, security policies, and server information. This tool parses each header line, displays the name and value, provides a brief explanation of common headers, and performs a security audit by checking for the presence of critical security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, X-Frame-Options, and others recommended by OWASP.
How to Use the HTTP Header Parser
- 1Paste raw HTTP headers into the text area, one header per line in 'Header-Name: value' format. A sample set of common headers is provided by default.
- 2The tool instantly parses the headers and displays them in a structured table with the header name, value, and a brief explanation.
- 3Scroll down to the Security Headers Check section to see which recommended security headers are present (green check) or missing (red X).
- 4The security score badge shows how many of the 7 recommended security headers are present in your response.
- 5Use this tool to audit HTTP responses from your server, API, or CDN before deploying to production.
Common Use Cases
Security Audit
Check whether your server sends all recommended security headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, etc.) to protect against common web vulnerabilities like clickjacking, XSS, and MIME sniffing.
Cache Debugging
Analyze Cache-Control, ETag, Expires, and Vary headers to understand how your responses are cached by browsers and CDNs, and troubleshoot stale content issues.
API Response Inspection
Inspect headers returned by REST or GraphQL APIs to verify content types, CORS configuration, rate limiting headers, and authentication-related headers.
CORS Troubleshooting
Quickly identify CORS-related headers in a response to debug cross-origin request issues without switching to browser DevTools.
Frequently asked questions
What format should the headers be in?
Paste headers in the standard 'Header-Name: value' format, one per line. You can copy headers directly from browser DevTools (Network tab → select a request → copy response headers) or from curl output.
Which security headers are checked?
The tool checks for 7 recommended security headers: X-Frame-Options, Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, X-Content-Type-Options, X-XSS-Protection, Referrer-Policy, and Permissions-Policy. These are commonly recommended by OWASP and security best practices.
Does this tool make HTTP requests?
No. This tool only parses headers that you paste into the text area. It does not make any HTTP requests or fetch headers from remote servers. All processing happens locally in your browser.
Can I parse request headers too?
Yes. The parser works with any headers in 'Name: value' format, whether they are request headers (like Accept, Authorization, User-Agent) or response headers (like Content-Type, Set-Cookie, Cache-Control).
What does the security score mean?
The security score shows how many of the 7 recommended security headers are present in your pasted headers. A score of 7/7 means all recommended security headers are present. Missing headers are highlighted with suggestions for what they protect against.