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Redirect Trace follows the complete chain of HTTP redirects to reveal where URLs actually lead. You can trace any URL to see every intermediate step, status code, and final destination.

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How redirect tracing works

The extension sends HTTP requests with redirect: "manual" mode to capture each redirect step instead of following them automatically. This allows you to see the complete chain.
trace-redirects.tsx
const response = await fetch(currentUrl, {
  method: "GET",
  redirect: "manual",
  signal: controller.signal,
  headers: {
    "User-Agent": "RedirectTrace-Raycast-Extension/1.0",
    Accept: "text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*",
    "Accept-Language": "en-US,en;q=0.9",
    DNT: "1",
    Connection: "keep-alive",
  },
});
Each response includes the status code, status text, headers, and the URL at that step. The extension continues following redirects until it reaches a final destination or hits the maximum redirect limit.

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HTTP status code handling

Redirect Trace interprets different HTTP status codes to understand the redirect chain:
Status codes from 200-299 indicate successful responses. When the extension encounters these codes, it stops following redirects because the final destination has been reached.
trace-redirects.tsx
if (response.status >= 200 && response.status < 300) return Icon.CheckCircle;
Common success codes:
  • 200 OK - Standard successful response
  • 201 Created - Resource successfully created
  • 204 No Content - Successful request with no response body
Status codes from 300-399 indicate redirects. The extension extracts the Location header to find the next URL in the chain.
trace-redirects.tsx
if (response.status >= 300 && response.status < 400) {
  const location = response.headers.get("location");
  if (!location) {
    break;
  }
  // Continue to next URL in chain
}
Common redirect codes:
  • 301 Moved Permanently - URL has permanently moved to a new location
  • 302 Found - Temporary redirect to another URL
  • 303 See Other - Response can be found at another URL
  • 307 Temporary Redirect - Temporary redirect while preserving request method
  • 308 Permanent Redirect - Permanent redirect while preserving request method
Status codes from 400-499 indicate client errors. The extension stops tracing and reports the error.
trace-redirects.tsx
if (response.status >= 400 && response.status < 500) return Icon.ExclamationMark;
Common client errors:
  • 400 Bad Request - Invalid request syntax
  • 401 Unauthorized - Authentication required
  • 403 Forbidden - Server refuses to fulfill request
  • 404 Not Found - Requested resource doesn’t exist
  • 429 Too Many Requests - Rate limit exceeded
Status codes from 500-599 indicate server errors. The extension stops tracing and marks the chain as incomplete.
trace-redirects.tsx
if (response.status >= 500) return Icon.XMarkCircle;
Common server errors:
  • 500 Internal Server Error - Generic server failure
  • 502 Bad Gateway - Invalid response from upstream server
  • 503 Service Unavailable - Server temporarily unable to handle request
  • 504 Gateway Timeout - Upstream server failed to respond in time

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Step-by-step visualization

Each step in the redirect chain shows:
  • Status code and text - The HTTP response status (e.g., “301 Moved Permanently”)
  • URL - The complete URL at this step in the chain
  • Step number - The position in the redirect sequence
  • URL length - Character count to identify long tracking URLs
  • Color-coded icons - Visual indicators based on status code type
The extension preserves the complete chain even if it encounters an error. You can see all successful steps before the failure occurred.

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URL resolution logic

The extension handles different types of Location header values:
trace-redirects.tsx
if (location.startsWith("http")) {
  nextUrl = location;
} else if (location.startsWith("/")) {
  const baseUrl = new URL(currentUrl);
  nextUrl = `${baseUrl.protocol}//${baseUrl.host}${location}`;
} else {
  nextUrl = new URL(location, currentUrl).href;
}
Absolute URLs - Full URLs with protocol (http:// or https://) are used directly. Root-relative URLs - URLs starting with / are resolved against the current domain. Relative URLs - Other URLs are resolved relative to the current URL.

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Error handling

Redirect Trace provides specific error messages for common failure scenarios: 
if (fetchError.message.includes("ENOTFOUND")) {
  errorMessage = "DNS resolution failed - domain not found";
}
You can configure the maximum number of redirects and timeout duration in the extension preferences.

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Redirect chain summary

After tracing completes, you see a summary with:
  • Total redirect count - Number of redirect steps followed
  • Original URL - The starting URL you entered
  • Final destination - Where the URL ultimately leads
  • Completion status - Whether the chain completed successfully or hit the maximum redirect limit
  • Clean URL option - Final URL with tracking parameters removed
You can copy the full chain report, individual URLs, or just the final destination depending on your needs.

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