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What is www-project-secure-headers?

owasp/www-project-secure-headers — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-08-03 · repo last pushed 2026-08-03

208PythonAudience · developerComplexity · 1/5ActiveLicenseSetup · easy

In one sentence

A free guide and toolkit that explains browser security headers and helps you configure them correctly to protect websites from common attacks.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Explains security headers
      Provides a validator
      Tracks adoption stats
    Components
      Main site
      Test suite
      Statistics tracker
    Use cases
      Audit existing site
      Secure a new app
      Prevent clickjacking
    Tech stack
      Python
      Automated workflows
    Audience
      Web developers
      Security engineers
      Founders

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Check which security headers a website is missing before launch.

USE CASE 2

Audit an existing web application to ensure browser-level protections are properly configured.

USE CASE 3

Look up how to configure a specific header to prevent clickjacking or cross-site scripting.

What is it built with?

PythonAutomated workflows

How does it compare?

owasp/www-project-secure-headersfuture-agi/traceainvlabs/mobilitygen
Stars208209207
LanguagePythonPythonPython
Last pushed2026-08-032026-07-302026-02-17
MaintenanceActiveActiveMaintained
Setup difficultyeasymoderatehard
Complexity1/53/54/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperresearcher

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Primarily a reference website and dataset, so using it requires no installation, just visiting the site or running the provided Python tests.

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice and state any changes.

So what is it?

The OWASP Secure Headers Project is a free resource that helps people understand and configure HTTP security headers, the invisible instructions a web server sends to a browser to help protect a website and its visitors from attacks. Think of it as a reference guide and toolkit for locking down the "envelope" that carries your web pages to users. The project has three main parts. The first is the main site, which explains what each security header does, why it matters, and how to set it up. The second is a validator: a test suite that checks whether a website's security headers match the project's recommendations. The third is a statistics component that tracks how widely these headers are actually used across the web, giving you a sense of adoption trends. A web developer building a new app, a security engineer auditing an existing site, or a founder wanting to make sure their product isn't missing basic browser-level protections would all find this useful. For example, if you're launching an e-commerce site and want to prevent certain types of clickjacking or cross-site scripting, you'd consult the project to see which headers to enable and then run the validator to confirm your configuration is correct. The repository also uses automated workflows to keep its content fresh, generating data files, validating external links, and monitoring references. Notably, the team is transparent that while they use generative AI as a research and editing assistant, every technical description and recommendation published on the site is written and vetted by a human. The content is free to use under the Apache 2.0 license.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Using the OWASP Secure Headers Project recommendations, list the HTTP security headers I should enable for my new web app and write the configuration for an Nginx server.
Prompt 2
Run the OWASP Secure Headers validator against my localhost development server and tell me which headers are missing or misconfigured so I can fix them.
Prompt 3
I am securing an e-commerce site. Explain which OWASP security headers prevent clickjacking and cross-site scripting, and show me how to add them to my Express.js app.
Prompt 4
Check my website's current HTTP response headers against the OWASP Secure Headers Project best practices and generate a prioritized list of fixes.

Frequently asked questions

What is www-project-secure-headers?

A free guide and toolkit that explains browser security headers and helps you configure them correctly to protect websites from common attacks.

What language is www-project-secure-headers written in?

Mainly Python. The stack also includes Python, Automated workflows.

Is www-project-secure-headers actively maintained?

Active — commit in last 30 days (last push 2026-08-03).

What license does www-project-secure-headers use?

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice and state any changes.

How hard is www-project-secure-headers to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is www-project-secure-headers for?

Mainly developer.

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