about REDbot

REDbot checks HTTP resources to see how they'll behave, pointing out common problems and suggesting improvements. Although it is not a HTTP conformance tester, it can find a number of HTTP-related issues.

Using REDbot

What does REDbot do?

REDbot interacts with the resource at the provided URL to check for a large number of common HTTP problems, including:

Additionally, it will tell how well your resource supports a number of HTTP features, like:

See the source (available from the project page) for more details.

What am I allowed to use this service for?

redbot.org may be used to check your resources as well as those owned by others. However, please refrain from creating abusive amounts of traffic; e.g., repeatedly checking the same resource. All requests are logged.

This service may not be framed, scraped or otherwise repurposed. Automated queries (e.g., from a script) are not allowed. If you want to do that, it's better to deploy your own instance of REDbot.

REDbot and privacy

This site keeps logs of URLs tested, to help debug the service. Successful tests are saved on our system for a short period of time so that they can be accessed; this can include much of the data in the HTTP responses received, as well as REDbot's configuration for the test. This information is automatically removed on a regular basis (currently, daily).

Errors (such as an exception in REDbot, or another anomalous condition) can cause additional information to be logged, to aid debugging.

We undertake not to abuse or share this information. If you are concerned about this, you should consider running your own instance of REDbot.

How do I my own instance of REDbot?

REDbot can be run as a command line client, or as a Web service. See the REDbot project page for more information.

Reporting problems

If you believe REDbot's output is incorrect, please open an issue.

contributing to REDbot

REDbot is an Open Source project, licensed under MIT terms and written in Python. We welcome contributions!