Safety & Idempotency in HTTP
From the HTTP Methods cheat sheet · Method Properties · verified Jul 2026
Safety & Idempotency
javascript
// Safe Methods (no side effects)
GET, HEAD, OPTIONS, TRACE
// Idempotent Methods (same result)
GET, HEAD, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS, TRACE
// Neither Safe nor Idempotent
POST, PATCH*🛡️ Safe = no side effects
🔄 Idempotent = same result on retry
💡 Important for caching and retry logic