Search tools and guides ⌘K
Semicolony ELI5 · comic

What happens when you type a URL.

Press Enter and a quick relay race begins: find the address, open a line, lock it, ask for the page, draw it.

  1. semicolony.dev — go!
    semicolony.dev
    1

    You type a name and hit Enter. That name means nothing to the network yet.

  2. What’s its number?
    DIRECTORY
    2

    First the name becomes a number: a quick directory lookup (DNS).

  3. server hello hello back got it
    3

    With the number, your browser opens a connection to that machine (the TCP handshake).

  4. Line locked.
    the site
    4

    Then both sides agree a secret so the line is private and ID-checked (TLS / HTTPS).

  5. GET the page, please.
    server GET /
    5

    Now the real ask: “send me this page.” The server replies with the page’s files.

  6. 6

    Your browser draws those files into the page you see — text, images, the lot.

The whole relay that runs every time you open a page — most of it invisible.
Semicolony semicolony.dev/eli5/what-happens-when-you-type-a-url/comic
← All ELI5 explainers