# Cockpit URLs

Cockpit URLs follow a specific structure, related to the components they are loading. Various components are loaded in `<iframe>` tags. The URLs for these components are described first. Further down below you can find information about the top level bookmarkable Cockpit address URLs.

## Component URLs

Cockpit components are HTML documents. They are organized into packages. Each package contains information about which HTML components are available in that package. Components should always use relative URLs to access resources, such as images, scripts or CSS files, even if they refer to a resource in another package.

The following are valid component URLs, each bit will be discussed below:

    /cockpit/@localhost/package/component.html#/hash
    /cockpit/$checksum/package/component.html#/hash
    /cockpit/@server.example.com/package/component.html#/hash
    /cockpit+embedder/@localhost/package/component.html#/hash

All resource URLs are under the `/cockpit` namespace. In cases where a Cockpit component is being embedded the `/cockpit` may be followed by a plus sign and another `embedder` specific identifier.

What follows is either a `@host` or `$checksum` which tells cockpit where to find the package. Checksums are used when more than one host has identical packages and the resources can be cached.

The `package` name is next, followed by the `component` HTML path inside that package. And lastly a hash allows for navigation within a single component. The hash should follow a URL path and/or query string form.

Warning | Never assume that the `@host` or `$checksum` portion is predictable. Only refer to resources in packages on the same host.

## Visible URLs

The above Component URLs are usually not visible to the user. Instead the Cockpit Web Service wraps the components in a shell which allows navigation, and provides bookmarkable clean URLs to the component. These URLs do not affect embedders or components directly.

If no path is present then the Cockpit will redirect to the default page for the server.

If the first segment of the path begins with an `@` sign, then the component is being shown from a non-local host.

The next segment of the path, (or first if the component is being shown on the local host) is the package name. The remainder of the path is a component file in the package. If no further path segments are present, a default `index.html` component in the package is loaded. An extension of `.html` is automatically appended.

The hash portion of the path is automatically transferred to the component as the hash of its resource URL.