Journeys

What happens when you type rarp.org?

Every step your browser takes, from keystroke to pixels, and the RFCs that make it possible.

1. 01

   You type rarp.org URL Parsing & Intent

   The browser parses the URL into its components: scheme (https), host (rarp.org), and path (/). The URI standard defines how every web address is structured.

   RFC 3986 URI SyntaxRFC 2396 URI Generic Syntax (original)

2. 02

   DNS Resolution Translating name to address

   Your machine asks a recursive resolver to translate "rarp.org" into an IP address. The query travels through a hierarchy of nameservers — root, TLD (.org), and authoritative — until the A/AAAA record is found.

   RFC 1034 DNS ConceptsRFC 1035 DNS ImplementationRFC 6891 EDNS(0) ExtensionsRFC 4033 DNSSEC IntroductionRFC 7858 DNS over TLSRFC 8484 DNS over HTTPS

3. 03

   IP Routing Packets find their path

   With the server's IP address resolved, packets are routed across the Internet. Each router examines the destination IP and forwards the packet hop-by-hop using BGP-learned routes, decrementing the TTL at each hop.

   RFC 791 IPv4RFC 8200 IPv6RFC 792 ICMPRFC 4271 BGP-4RFC 2460 IPv6 Specification (earlier)

4. 04

   TCP Handshake Establishing a reliable connection

   A three-way handshake (SYN → SYN-ACK → ACK) establishes a reliable, ordered byte-stream between your browser and the server. TCP handles flow control, congestion avoidance, and retransmission.

   RFC 793 TCP (original)RFC 9293 TCP (current)RFC 5681 Congestion ControlRFC 7323 TCP ExtensionsRFC 6298 Retransmission Timer

5. 05

   TLS Handshake Encrypting the connection

   Before any HTTP data flows, TLS 1.3 negotiates a shared secret using a single round-trip. The server presents its X.509 certificate, the browser verifies the chain of trust, and symmetric encryption begins.

   RFC 9846 TLS 1.3 (current)RFC 8446 TLS 1.3 (earlier)RFC 5280 X.509 CertificatesRFC 6066 TLS ExtensionsRFC 6960 OCSPRFC 8555 ACME (Let's Encrypt)

6. 06

   HTTP Request GET /index.html HTTP/2

   The browser sends an HTTP request over the encrypted channel. HTTP/2 uses binary framing and multiplexing to send headers (compressed with HPACK) and the request in parallel streams over a single connection.

   RFC 9110 HTTP SemanticsRFC 9112 HTTP/1.1RFC 9113 HTTP/2RFC 9114 HTTP/3RFC 9000 QUIC Transport

7. 07

   HTTP Response 200 OK — Content delivered

   The server responds with status 200, content-type headers, and the HTML body. The response may be compressed with gzip or Brotli, chunked for streaming, and include cache-control directives for future visits.

   RFC 9110 HTTP SemanticsRFC 9111 HTTP CachingRFC 2854 text/html Media TypeRFC 1952 GZIP FormatRFC 6265 HTTP Cookies

8. 08

   Rendering Pixels on your screen

   The browser parses HTML, fetches CSS and JavaScript (each over their own HTTP streams), builds the DOM and CSSOM, and paints the page. You see rarp.org — every step above happened in milliseconds.

   RFC 2854 text/htmlRFC 3986 URI SyntaxRFC 6454 Web Origin ConceptRFC 7034 X-Frame-OptionsRFC 6797 HTTP Strict Transport Security