Protocol Compatibility & Simulation

Documenting, parsing, and emulating the communication standards that structured the early web. From pre-HTTP to modern archival formats.

14Protocols Cataloged
1991–2005Era Coverage
98.2%Parser Accuracy
HTTP/0.9 Web
◈ 1991◈ Text-Only

The original web protocol. Single line GET request, no headers, no methods. Returned only HTML text.

Archived
HTTP/1.0 Web
◈ 1996◈ IETF RFC 1945

Introduced headers, status codes, and content-type negotiation. The foundation of early commercial web traffic.

Deprecated
FTP File Transfer
◈ 1971◈ Passive/Active

File Transfer Protocol. Dominated software distribution and mirror sites before web hosting matured.

Active
Gopher Directory
◈ 1991◈ Menu-Driven

Hierarchical menu-based protocol. Pre-dated the web as the primary way to browse structured internet content.

Archived
WAIS Directory
◈ 1990◈ Keyword Search

Wide Area Information Server. Enabled database searching across distributed nodes before modern search engines.

Archived
IRC Chat/Network
◈ 1988◈ Real-Time

Internet Relay Chat. Channel-based messaging that powered early developer communities and open-source coordination.

Active
WARC Archival
◈ 2009◈ ISO Standard

Web ARChive format. Standardized packaging of HTTP requests/responses, headers, and payloads for long-term preservation.

Active
Memento Archival
◈ 2011◈ HTTP Extensions

Protocol enabling time-travel access to archived web pages via standard HTTP headers and gateway discovery.

Active
protocol-sim // live parser
sim$ load --proto http09 --target wwwinfo.cern.ch
GET /
[CONN] TCP Handshake: SYN → SYN-ACK → ACK
[PARSE] No headers detected. Raw payload stream initiated.
Content-Type: text/html (implicit)
[OUTPUT] <h1>Nice to meet you!</h1> [SIZE: 2.1KB]
sim$

Parser & Emulator Compatibility

Protocol Header Parsing Emulation WARC Export Modern Stack
HTTP/0.9Partial*
HTTP/1.0
FTP~
Gopher
WAIS~
IRC
WARC
Memento

*HTTP/0.9 lacks headers; parser infers structure from payload. ● Full Support ○ Unsupported ~ Experimental