Topics
Browse specifications by domain. Each topic groups related specs across layers — the practical way to navigate if you know what you're building.
Internet Operations
The foundation stack: DNS, IP, TCP, TLS, HTTP. Everything needed to get bytes from A to B securely.
Auth & Identity
Who is allowed to do what: OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, JWT, WebAuthn, SCIM, and identity federation.
Sending and receiving mail reliably and safely: SMTP, IMAP, message format, and the SPF/DKIM/DMARC anti-abuse stack.
Web Platform
The browser as an application platform: document model, styling, scripting, storage, workers, crypto, streams, components, and device APIs.
Real-time & Media
Streaming, bidirectional communication, and media delivery: WebSocket, WebTransport, SSE, WebRTC, MSE/EME.
API Design
Standards for describing, building, and contracting APIs: OpenAPI, GraphQL, gRPC/protobuf, AsyncAPI, JSON Schema.
Blockchain & Web3
Decentralized protocol standards: Ethereum EIPs/ERCs, Bitcoin BIPs, W3C DIDs, Verifiable Credentials, and Sign-in with Ethereum.
Agent & API Payments
HTTP 402 revival for machine-to-machine commerce: x402 for stablecoin-paid APIs, L402 for Lightning, plus the EIPs (3009, 2612, 4337, 191) that make gasless and account-abstracted on-chain payments practical.
Wireless & Cellular
Physical and radio access networks: Ethernet, Wi-Fi (802.11ax/be), cellular generations (LTE/4G, 5G NR), and IoT cellular (LTE-M, NB-IoT, eSIM).
VoIP & Messaging
Voice over IP and real-time messaging: SIP, SDP, RTP, SRTP, Opus, E.164 numbering, SMS, RCS, XMPP, and Matrix federated chat.
IoT Protocols
Machine-to-machine communication: CoAP, MQTT v5, LwM2M device management, Matter, Zigbee, LoRaWAN, Thread, and Z-Wave.
Network Infrastructure
Core routing and management protocols: BGP-4, OSPF, IS-IS, MPLS, Segment Routing, EVPN, SNMP, NETCONF, YANG, RADIUS, and gNMI.
Systems & Hardware
The layer below the OS: CPU instruction sets (RISC-V, AArch64, x86-64), OS ABIs (POSIX, ELF, calling conventions), firmware (UEFI, ACPI, TPM), and hardware buses (PCIe, USB, NVMe).
Decentralized Web
Bridging human DNS names to content-addressed storage: DNSLink TXT records, IPFS HTTP Gateways (Path, Subdomain, Trustless), IPNS mutable naming, and the underlying CID / Multihash / Multibase primitives.
Durable Execution & Workflows
Programming model for long-running, stateful application logic: Vercel's Workflow DevKit ("use workflow" / "use step"), Temporal, AWS Step Functions (Amazon States Language), Cloudflare Workflows, and the event-sourcing pattern that makes them all replay-safe.