Free HTTP Security Headers Generator – Nginx, Apache, Vercel & More

Which HTTP Security Headers Matter and How to Deploy Them

HTTP security headers are response headers that instruct the browser to enforce protections against common web attacks: protocol downgrades, clickjacking, MIME-sniffing, referrer leakage, and cross-origin data theft. Unlike Content-Security-Policy, which is a large topic of its own, these headers are mostly single-value switches, but each closes a specific and well-understood attack surface. This generator builds the recommended set with a plain-language explanation of what each header prevents and what it can break, then exports the result in five deployment formats so you can paste it straight into whatever server or platform you run. The core headers are Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS), which forces browsers to use HTTPS for a set duration and protects against downgrade and cookie-hijacking attacks; X-Frame-Options, which prevents your page being framed by another site as a clickjacking defense; X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff, which stops the browser from second-guessing a response's declared content type; Referrer-Policy, which controls how much of your URL leaks to the next site; and Permissions-Policy, which decides whether features like camera, microphone, geolocation, and payment are allowed. The Cross-Origin trio — COOP, COEP, and CORP — isolates your page's browsing context and controls cross-origin resource loading, closing off Spectre-style side-channel leaks. The tool outputs each as Nginx add_header lines, Apache Header set directives, a Netlify _headers block, a vercel.json headers array, and a Node/Express middleware snippet. Configure HSTS with a one-year max-age of 31536000 and includeSubDomains, and the generated header reads max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains. Set X-Frame-Options to SAMEORIGIN and Referrer-Policy to strict-origin-when-cross-origin, turn camera, microphone, and geolocation to none in Permissions-Policy, and the tool renders the exact syntax for each. Switch the output format to Nginx and you get a line like add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always; switch to Apache and the same header becomes Header set X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN". The deprecated X-XSS-Protection header is left off by default, since modern browsers ignore it and CSP is its real replacement, and it appears only if you explicitly opt in. A developer launching a new site drops the generated Nginx block into their server configuration to earn a strong grade on header-scanning services and, more importantly, to close real attack surfaces before going live. A team on Vercel or Netlify copies the platform-specific config into vercel.json or a _headers file, since those platforms do not use a traditional server. An engineer retrofitting an established application starts with a conservative HSTS max-age and X-Frame-Options set to SAMEORIGIN so existing legitimate iframes keep working, then tightens the policy once they confirm nothing broke. In each case the value is getting the exact syntax right the first time, since a typo in a header name means silent non-enforcement. Two cautions matter most. HSTS preload submits your domain to a hardcoded list baked into browsers and is genuinely hard to undo — removal can take months — so the tool warns before you enable it and advises turning it on only when you are certain every subdomain will serve HTTPS indefinitely. Second, X-Frame-Options is superseded by the CSP frame-ancestors directive in modern browsers when both are present, so treat X-Frame-Options as a fallback for older clients rather than your primary clickjacking defense, and build the CSP part with the companion CSP generator. A third thing worth checking is that a header is only enforced if its name is spelled exactly right, since browsers silently ignore an unknown header rather than reporting an error, so a single typo can leave you believing a protection is active when it is not. Copy the generated block verbatim rather than retyping it to avoid exactly that trap. Everything here is assembled locally in your browser and nothing you configure is transmitted anywhere, so you can prepare hardening for production infrastructure without exposing any of its details.

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