200 OK

Takeaways

1. Aside from responses to CONNECT, a 200 OK response always has a payload, though an origin server may generate a payload body of zero length.
2. If no payload is desired, an origin server ought to send 204 No Content instead.
3. For CONNECT, no payload is allowed because the successful result is a tunnel, which begins immediately after the 200 OK response header section.

A 200 response is cacheable by default; unless otherwise indicated by the method definition or explicit cache controls.

Information

The HTTP 200 OK success status response code indicates that the request has succeeded. A 200 response is cacheable by default.

The meaning of a success depends on the HTTP request method:

• GET: The resource has been fetched and is transmitted in the message body.
• HEAD: The representation headers are included in the response without any message body
• POST: The resource describing the result of the action is transmitted in the message body
• TRACE: The message body contains the request message as received by the server.

The successful result of a PUT or a DELETE is often not a 200 OK but a 204 No Content (or a 201 Created when the resource is uploaded for the first time).