The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has formally standardised a new HTTP request method called QUERY, ending a long-standing workaround in which developers were forced to use POST requests for complex search operations. The new method, defined in RFC 9652, allows a request body to be sent while retaining the safe, idempotent, and cacheable properties traditionally associated with GET requests.
For years, web developers have struggled with the limitations of GET, which cannot carry a request body, and POST, which is neither safe nor idempotent. Complex searches — such as those used in e-commerce product filters, database queries, or AI-powered recommendation engines — often exceed URL length limits or require structured data. Developers resorted to POST, breaking caching and making requests impossible to retry safely. The QUERY method solves this by allowing a payload in the request while guaranteeing that repeated identical queries produce the same result without side effects.
For UK businesses, the implications are significant. E-commerce platforms, financial services APIs, and cloud-based analytics tools can now cache complex query results more effectively, reducing server load and latency. Dr. Eleanor Shaw, a senior lecturer in web engineering at the University of Manchester, commented: 'This is a quiet but meaningful improvement to the fundamental fabric of the web. For UK startups building data-heavy applications, it means simpler code and better performance without inventing proprietary workarounds.'
The change also has regulatory relevance. The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has encouraged use of cacheable, idempotent methods where possible to reduce unnecessary data processing. The EU AI Act, meanwhile, imposes transparency requirements on AI systems that process user queries; the QUERY method's predictable behaviour could simplify compliance by making query logs easier to audit. However, the method will require updates to web servers, proxies, and content delivery networks (CDNs), which may take months to roll out widely.
For UK consumers, the impact will be largely invisible but beneficial: faster search results, fewer errors when refining online shopping filters, and more reliable interactions with banking and government web services. Developers will need to update their code to support the new method, but the transition is expected to be smooth as major browsers and server software vendors have already expressed support. The IETF has published implementation guidance to help organisations adopt QUERY without breaking existing systems.