OPTIONS
Returns the HTTP methods and other options supported by the target resource. Used for CORS preflight—browser sends OPTIONS before cross-origin requests.
Properties
- Safe
- Yes
- Idempotent
- Yes
- Has body
- No
Typical use cases
CORS preflight, discovering API capabilities
cURL example
curl -X OPTIONS -H 'Origin: https://app.example.com' https://api.example.com/users
Typical response
Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE
Common status codes
200 OK204 No Content403 Forbidden500 Server Error
Comparison with similar methods
OPTIONS describes what's possible; other methods perform the action.