Guided paths
Journeys
Follow one idea across the RFCs that built it, in reading order.
6 steps · 9 RFCs Booting a machine with no disk How a computer with nothing but a hardware address learns who it is on the network, from ARP and RARP through BOOTP and DHCP to DHCPv6. 6 steps · 17 RFCs How an email gets delivered From a composed message to your inbox: the message format, submission, server-to-server delivery, mailbox access, and the checks that stop forgery. 6 steps · 18 RFCs The many versions of HTTP Thirty years of HTTP, from the first written HTTP/1.0 and 1.1 specifications through the split into parts, to one shared set of semantics over HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2 and HTTP/3. 6 steps · 9 RFCs What the padlock means How your browser decides a site is who it claims to be and keeps the conversation private: certificates, revocation, automated issuance, TLS and HSTS. 8 steps · 39 RFCs What happens when you type rarp.org? Every step your browser takes, from keystroke to pixels, and the RFCs that make it possible.