Found

Overview

302 Found says the resource temporarily resides at a different URL and you should keep using the original URL going forward. Because it is not a permanent move, search engines do not transfer link equity to the new URL.

Historically many browsers changed POST to GET on a 302 redirect, so choosing between 303 and 307 based on whether the method must be preserved is important.

When it happens

• Use it for temporary moves — maintenance detours, A/B tests, or briefly sending a user to a landing page after login.
• It is commonly returned to bounce an unauthenticated user to the login page for the moment.

Request / Response example

GET /dashboard HTTP/1.1
Host: app.example.com
Cookie: session=none

HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Location: /login
Content-Type: text/html

<h1>Found</h1><p>Redirecting to <a href="/login">/login</a>.</p>

In code

app.get('/dashboard', (req, res) => {
  if (!req.session.user) return res.redirect(302, '/login');
  res.render('dashboard');
});

from flask import redirect
@app.get('/dashboard')
def dash():
    if not session.get('user'):
        return redirect('/login')  # 302 by default

Notes

• Pick the right alternative: use 303 See Other for POST-then-result flows (the PRG pattern), 307 Temporary Redirect when the original method (for example POST) must be preserved, and 301 or 308 for permanent moves.
• 302 is temporary, so the browser keeps the original URL and, unlike 301, it is not cached aggressively and is easy to undo.
• Because method-change behavior is ambiguous across browsers, split intent explicitly using 303 (switch to GET) and 307 (keep the method).
• The Location header accepts relative or absolute URLs, but choose the target carefully to avoid redirect loops.

Related status codes

Related headers

Specification