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WebFinger
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<p>WebFinger is a <a href="/facts/Communications_protocol/5uady7cB">protocol</a> specified by the Internet Engineering Task Force <a href="/facts/IETF/tIcCsFhX">IETF</a> in RFC 7033 that allows for discovery of information about people and things identified by a <a href="/facts/URI/UjyqxTpA">URI</a>. Information about a person might be discovered via an acct: URI, for example, which is a URI that looks like an <a href="/facts/Email_address/srdpG6am">email address</a>. </p><p>WebFinger is specified as the discovery protocol for <a href="/facts/OpenID_Connect/Vpx5mbcV">OpenID Connect</a>, which is a protocol that allows one to more easily <a href="/facts/Login/xNRgTVnV">log in</a> to various sites on the Internet. </p><p>The WebFinger protocol is used by <a href="/facts/Federation_(information_technology)/3SUojUub">federated</a> software, such as <a href="/facts/GNU_social/HVBzuYnz">GNU social</a>, <a href="/facts/Diaspora_(social_network)/YxzbYKKc">Diaspora</a>, or <a href="/facts/Mastodon_(social_network)/paYlaPlI">Mastodon</a>, to discover users on federated nodes and pods, as well as the remoteStorage protocol. </p><p>As a historical note, the name "WebFinger" is derived from the old <a href="/facts/ARPANET/LyMGWurJ">ARPANET</a> <a href="/facts/Finger_(protocol)/5H803ane">Finger protocol</a>, but it is a very different protocol designed for <a href="/facts/Hypertext_Transfer_Protocol/TWtvf7JD">HTTP</a>. </p><p>The protocol payload is represented in <a href="/facts/JSON/bs1rUAhd">JSON</a> format. </p>