> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.starcounter.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.starcounter.io/2.3.1/guides/network.md).

# Network

## Introduction

Starcounter communicates with the standard web protocols HTTP, WebSocket, TCP, and UDP. Starcounter is efficient at handling requests with standard high level web standards such as REST and JSON.

While REST is a standard option for web apps, Starcounter has also built-in support for creating stateful web apps using JSON-Patch.

Starcounter apps can make `Self` requests, which can be used for internal signalling or composing responses from smaller bits and pieces.