The ACCEPT_CH HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 frames, combined with the TLS ALPS extension, are a connection-level optimization to deliver the server’s Client Hint preferences in time for the first HTTP request.

Motivation

HTTP Client Hints can replace passive fingerprinting surfaces with server-requested (and potentially deniable) client headers. However, the client may have out-of-date information on the server preferences when it sends a request. On the first page load, the client may not know to send any hints at all. The Critical-CH header allows the server to request a client retry when a header was missing due to out-of-date preferences. The ACCEPT_CH frame is a companion mechanism to avoid the retry in most cases by delivering it as part of connection setup.

Specification

Editor's draft

Status in Chromium

Privacy


In development

Consensus & Standardization

After a feature ships in Chrome, the values listed here are not guaranteed to be up to date.

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Owners

Search tags

client hints,

Last updated on 2021-06-11