Content-Type Negotiation

Nomad’s hyper:// server supports content-type negotiation, allowing files to be served without specifying file extensions in URLs.

Instead of including extensions like .png in image paths, you can reference files without them. The server will automatically detect and serve the correct format based on content-type negotiation.

Supported Content Types

The system matches three main categories:

  • HTML content: Recognizes .html and .md files as “text/html”
  • Stylesheets: Identifies .css files as “text/css”
  • Images: Serves .png, .jpg, .jpeg, or .gif formats as “image/*” types

This approach proves useful when you’re uncertain which file format a website employs, as the server determines the appropriate version automatically.

Index File Resolution

When a URL points to a directory (i.e. ends with /, or has no file extension), the server looks for an index file in the following priority order:

  1. index.html — checked first; wins if it exists
  2. index.md
  3. index.txt

The first match is served. If none exist but the directory contains other entries, the browser shows a directory listing.

Example: navigating to hyper://abc.../ will serve /index.html if present, otherwise /index.md, otherwise /index.txt.

Paths without a trailing slash that resolve to a directory trigger a redirect to the trailing-slash form before index lookup occurs.