200 OK

📚 Quick Definition

The request has succeeded. For GET requests, the response contains the requested resource. For POST, it contains the result of the action. This is the most common HTTP status code and indicates that everything worked as expected.

⏱ When It Occurs

A 200 OK response is returned whenever the server successfully processes a client's request and has content to deliver. It is the default success response for most HTTP operations, meaning the server understood the request, accepted it, and returned the appropriate result.

🛠 Common Use Cases

• Standard response for successful GET, POST, PUT, or PATCH requests
• API returning requested data (e.g., fetching a user profile)
• Web page loading successfully in the browser
• Form submission processed and result returned
• Resource updated via PUT or PATCH with confirmation data

✅ Best Practices

• Always return appropriate content with a 200 response - the body should match what the client expects
• Use the correct Content-Type header (application/json for APIs, text/html for pages)
• Consider returning 201 Created instead when a new resource is created by the request
• Consider returning 204 No Content when the action succeeds but there is no body to return
• Use meaningful, well-structured response bodies for API endpoints

📡 HTTP Example

GET /api/users/123 HTTP/1.1
Host: api.example.com
Accept: application/json

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Content-Length: 85

{
  "id": 123,
  "name": "Jane Doe",
  "email": "jane@example.com",
  "role": "admin"
}

❓ Frequently Asked Questions