Understanding CORS Preflight Requests Not Showing in Safari Dev Tools
When developing web applications, one crucial aspect developers often grapple with is Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS). This security feature implemented in browsers restricts web pages from making requests to a different domain than the one that served the web page, unless the server explicitly allows it. One component of CORS is the preflight request, particularly an HTTP OPTIONS request sent by the browser to check if the CORS protocol is understood and allowed by the server before the actual request is made. However, a common issue developers face is that these preflight OPTIONS requests sometimes do not show up in the browser's Dev Tools, specifically in Safari. This can be frustrating when debugging, as visibility into these requests is essential for ensuring proper CORS configuration. Why Are Preflight Requests Not Showing in Safari? Historically, developers could see CORS preflight OPTIONS requests in the network tab of Safari’s Dev Tools. If you remember seeing them