Akamai debug headers

Add diagnostic headers to Akamai'd websites

Akamai Debug Headers is a lightweight Chrome extension designed to simplify diagnostics on websites powered by Akamai CDN. It injects diagnostic HTTP headers into your requests, revealing crucial details such as cache hits, cache misses, TTLs (Time To Live), and cache keys. This added insight helps developers and network analysts understand Akamai cache behaviors effortlessly.

Compatible with popular Akamai fronted sites like reddit.com, dailymail.co.uk, and xbox.com, this tool is ideal for troubleshooting and optimizing web performance. Installing the extension offers immediate visibility into how Akamai serves content, making debugging and optimization processes much smoother.

Users:
10,000+
Rating:
3.79
(24)
Version:
1.1 (Last updated: 2015-02-20)
Creation date:
2015-02-19
Permissions:
  • webRequest
  • webRequestBlocking
  • <all_urls>
Size:
4.97K
Full description:
See detailed description
Updated:
17 hours ago

User reviews

The Akamai debug headers Chrome extension is valued for effectively displaying cache hit/miss information and aiding in debugging Akamai headers, praised for its usefulness and ease of use. However, multiple users report significant issues including frequent ERR_SPDY protocol errors causing site breakages, undesired automatic reactivation after disabling, incompatibilities with newer Chrome versions, and the absence of a convenient enable/disable toggle button. Despite its functionality, these stability and usability issues impact reliable use and require careful management by users.
Pros
  • Effectively displays Akamai cache hit/miss and header information in DevTools, simplifying debugging for sites fronted by Akamai.
  • Useful and powerful tool for developers working with Akamai caching.
  • Easy to use and works well when functional.
  • Highly praised for aiding debugging of Akamai caching and header values.
Cons
  • Causes ERR_SPDY_PROTOCOL_ERROR errors on multiple sites, impacting browsing experience.
  • Frequently breaks resource loading on popular websites (e.g., Adobe.com, Expedia.com), making sites unusable.
  • Automatically re-enables itself after being disabled or updated, leading to unexpected issues.
  • Does not work properly on some newer Chrome versions or Akamai routes.
  • Lacks an easy toggle on/off function, causing users to manually enable/disable to avoid sending headers indiscriminately.
Recent reviews
I manage many sites fronted by Akamai, and it works perfectly to view the cache hit/miss for individual requests. Much easier than running cURL each time.
by Eric Perret, 2024-02-26

This extension does the job (extends DevTools Network-tab with akamai-header information) however it's extremely dangerous because once it's activated it will break many requests. For example sites like Favro and Zeplin become unusable. It also destroys some resource requests on my own site. Worst of all is that even if you just use the extension once during a test, then disable it, it tends to magically re-activates itself months later (perhaps when you update Chrome?). We've found that all of a sudden someone in the team sends an alarm about resource requests not working on my site. But it just turns out that they've got this Akamai extension installed and it's magically activated itself without them knowing. Really scary and error-prone extension. It does the job but you basically have to make sure you uninstall it after every time you use it - it's risky leaving it installed and will lead to many herrings as you report suspected errors on various sites, which are just caused by the extension...
by Niklas H, 2021-11-01

It is not working, no additional headers appear when looking at a request from a site being on Akamai.
by Juan Baptiste, 2020-09-04
View all user reviews

Extension safety

Risk impact
Moderate risk impact

Akamai debug headers requires a few sensitive permissions. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk impact analysis details
  • Critical Allows access to all websites, posing a significant security risk as it can monitor and modify data from any visited site.
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Risk likelihood
Low risk likelihood

Akamai debug headers has earned a fairly good reputation and likely can be trusted.

Risk likelihood analysis details
  • High This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.
  • Low **** ********* *** ******* **** **** * ****** **** ***** ******** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
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