“Error 418 (I’m a teapot)!?” – A cute Easter egg from Google

If you develop for the web, chances are you know some of the HTTP status codes, numerical values that the server returns to the client to tell it whether its request was successful or not. Statuses in the 400 range indicate a client error; for instance 400 indicates a “Bad Request”. One of the lesser known error codes is 418. From the Wikipedia article on List of HTTP status codes:

418 I’m a teapot (RFC 2324)
This code was defined in 1998 as one of the traditional IETF April Fools’ jokes, in RFC 2324, Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol, and is not expected to be implemented by actual HTTP servers.

Well, Google likes Easter eggs and jokes more than just about any company I can think of. If you go to google.com/teapot you’ll see an adorable robot teapot, just waiting for you to tip it over and pour it out. (Click on web version, or even cooler, tip your phone on its side!)

Disclaimer: I work at Google but have nothing at all to do with this feature. The opinions expressed here are mine and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer

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