caddy-website/src/docs/markdown/caddyfile/directives/respond.md

---
title: respond (Caddyfile directive)
---

# respond

Writes a hard-coded/static response to the client.

If the body is non-empty, this directive sets the `Content-Type` header if it is not already set. The default value is `text/plain; utf-8` unless the body is a valid JSON object or array, in which case it is set to `application/json`. For all other types of content, set the proper Content-Type explicitly using the [`header` directive](/docs/caddyfile/directives/header).


## Syntax

```caddy-d
respond [<matcher>] <status>|<body> [<status>] {
	body <text>
	close
}
```

- **&lt;status&gt;** is the HTTP status code to write. If 103 (Early Hints), the response will be written without a body and the handler chain will continue. (HTTP 1xx responses are informational, not final.) Default: 200.

- **&lt;body&gt;** is the response body to write.

- **body** is an alternate way to provide a body; convenient if it is multiple lines.

- **close** will close the client's connection to the server after writing the response.

To clarify, the first non-matcher argument can be either a 3-digit status code or a response body string. If it is a body, the next argument can be the status code.

<aside class="tip">
	Responding with an error status code is different than returning an error in the handler chain, which invokes error handlers internally.
</aside>


## Examples

Write a 200 status with an empty body to all health checks:

```caddy-d
respond /health-check 200
```

Write a simple response body to all requests:

```caddy-d
respond "Hello, world!"
```

Write an error response and close the connection:

```caddy-d
respond /secret/* "Access denied" 403 {
	close
}
```

Write an HTML response, using [heredoc syntax](/docs/caddyfile/concepts#heredocs) to control whitespace, and also setting the `Content-Type` header to match the response body:

```caddy-d
header Content-Type text/html
respond <<HTML
	<html>
	  <head><title>Foo</title></head>
	  <body>Foo</body>
	</html>
	HTML 200
```
Initial commit 2020-01-24 12:47:52 -07:00			`---`
			`title: respond (Caddyfile directive)`
			`---`

			`# respond`

			`Writes a hard-coded/static response to the client.`

Update docs for 2.6 2022-09-06 13:57:07 -06:00			If the body is non-empty, this directive sets the `Content-Type` header if it is not already set. The default value is `text/plain; utf-8` unless the body is a valid JSON object or array, in which case it is set to `application/json`. For all other types of content, set the proper Content-Type explicitly using the [`header` directive](/docs/caddyfile/directives/header).

Initial commit 2020-01-24 12:47:52 -07:00
			`## Syntax`

docs: Add Caddyfile syntax highlighting (#41) 2020-05-17 16:32:12 -04:00			```caddy-d
Initial commit 2020-01-24 12:47:52 -07:00			`respond [<matcher>] <status>\|<body> [<status>] {`
			`body <text>`
			`close`
			`}`
			```

Update docs for 2.6 2022-09-06 13:57:07 -06:00			`- <status> is the HTTP status code to write. If 103 (Early Hints), the response will be written without a body and the handler chain will continue. (HTTP 1xx responses are informational, not final.) Default: 200.`
docs: Various updates since 2.5.2 that got missed (#274) * docs: Various updates since 2.5.2 that got missed * Cleanup protocols global options * Sort caddyfile placeholder shortcuts alphabetically for now 2022-10-17 13:23:48 -04:00
Initial commit 2020-01-24 12:47:52 -07:00			`- <body> is the response body to write.`
docs: Various updates since 2.5.2 that got missed (#274) * docs: Various updates since 2.5.2 that got missed * Cleanup protocols global options * Sort caddyfile placeholder shortcuts alphabetically for now 2022-10-17 13:23:48 -04:00
Initial commit 2020-01-24 12:47:52 -07:00			`- body is an alternate way to provide a body; convenient if it is multiple lines.`
docs: Various updates since 2.5.2 that got missed (#274) * docs: Various updates since 2.5.2 that got missed * Cleanup protocols global options * Sort caddyfile placeholder shortcuts alphabetically for now 2022-10-17 13:23:48 -04:00
Initial commit 2020-01-24 12:47:52 -07:00			`- close will close the client's connection to the server after writing the response.`

			`To clarify, the first non-matcher argument can be either a 3-digit status code or a response body string. If it is a body, the next argument can be the status code.`

docs: All-new design, along with many content updates in prep for RC1 2020-03-30 15:38:40 -06:00			`<aside class="tip">`
			`Responding with an error status code is different than returning an error in the handler chain, which invokes error handlers internally.`
			`</aside>`

Initial commit 2020-01-24 12:47:52 -07:00
			`## Examples`

			`Write a 200 status with an empty body to all health checks:`

docs: Add Caddyfile syntax highlighting (#41) 2020-05-17 16:32:12 -04:00			```caddy-d
Initial commit 2020-01-24 12:47:52 -07:00			`respond /health-check 200`
			```

			`Write a simple response body to all requests:`

docs: Add Caddyfile syntax highlighting (#41) 2020-05-17 16:32:12 -04:00			```caddy-d
Initial commit 2020-01-24 12:47:52 -07:00			`respond "Hello, world!"`
			```

			`Write an error response and close the connection:`

docs: Add Caddyfile syntax highlighting (#41) 2020-05-17 16:32:12 -04:00			```caddy-d
Initial commit 2020-01-24 12:47:52 -07:00			`respond /secret/* "Access denied" 403 {`
			`close`
			`}`
			```
Docs for v2.7.0 (#322) * Docs for v2.7.0 * Document named-routes & invoke, polish reverse_proxy * Storage import/export CLI docs * Header replacement defer * Proxy stream closing options, weighted round robin LB policy 2023-07-17 01:20:40 -04:00
respond: Add Content-Type note to the heredoc HTML example 2023-08-06 16:49:15 -04:00			Write an HTML response, using [heredoc syntax](/docs/caddyfile/concepts#heredocs) to control whitespace, and also setting the `Content-Type` header to match the response body:
Docs for v2.7.0 (#322) * Docs for v2.7.0 * Document named-routes & invoke, polish reverse_proxy * Storage import/export CLI docs * Header replacement defer * Proxy stream closing options, weighted round robin LB policy 2023-07-17 01:20:40 -04:00
			```caddy-d
respond: Add Content-Type note to the heredoc HTML example 2023-08-06 16:49:15 -04:00			`header Content-Type text/html`
Docs for v2.7.0 (#322) * Docs for v2.7.0 * Document named-routes & invoke, polish reverse_proxy * Storage import/export CLI docs * Header replacement defer * Proxy stream closing options, weighted round robin LB policy 2023-07-17 01:20:40 -04:00			`respond <<HTML`
			`<html>`
			`<head><title>Foo</title></head>`
			`<body>Foo</body>`
			`</html>`
			`HTML 200`
			```