client error RFC 2324 (April 1998 joke)
HTTP 418 I'm a Teapot
The server refuses to brew coffee because it is a teapot. Yes, really.
What it means
A joke code from RFC 2324 (Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol, April Fool's 1998). Not part of the actual HTTP spec but recognized by browsers and many servers as a signal — Google's teapot page famously returns 418, and some services use it as a canary or easter egg endpoint.
When servers send it
- •Deliberately, as a joke or easter egg
- •Some servers return 418 for suspected bot traffic they want to gaslight
What the client does
Whatever it wants — this is not a real status code.
Common causes
- •You hit a page whose author has a sense of humor
Similar codes
200 OK success
The request succeeded and the response body contains the requested data.
404 Not Found client error
The requested URL does not exist on this server.
400 Bad Request client error
Server cannot process the request due to a client-side error — malformed syntax, invalid JSON, missing required fields.
401 Unauthorized client error
Authentication is required and either missing or invalid — the client is not identified.
403 Forbidden client error
Server understood who you are but refuses to authorize the request — permission denied.
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