---
title: "Real status code: glossary: Agent Ready HTML"
description: "Real status code defined: An HTTP status that matches what happened: 200 for a page, 404 for a missing path, 429 for throttling. AgentReady makes this a MUST."
canonical: https://agentreadyhtml.com/glossary/real-status-code/
site: "Agent Ready HTML"
last_updated: 2026-11-04
section: "Glossary"
---

# Real status code: glossary: Agent Ready HTML

> Real status code defined: An HTTP status that matches what happened: 200 for a page, 404 for a missing path, 429 for throttling. AgentReady makes this a MUST.

Source: https://agentreadyhtml.com/glossary/real-status-code/
Site: Agent Ready HTML
Last reviewed: 2026-11-04

# Real status code

In short

An HTTP status that matches what happened: 200 for a page, 404 for a missing path, 429 for throttling. AgentReady makes this a MUST. Example: The guide says not to return 200 for a missing page even if the body suggests alternatives. Related terms: Agent 404, Soft 404, rel="alternate" type="text/markdown", Prerendering.

## Source of the example

The example in the summary above is from [vercel.com](https://vercel.com/kb/guide/make-your-site-readable-by-ai-agents), read 4 November 2026.

## Where it shows up on this site

-   [Guide: real status codes on a SPA](https://agentreadyhtml.com/guides/real-status-codes-on-a-spa/)

## Neighbouring terms

-   [Agent 404](https://agentreadyhtml.com/glossary/agent-404/): A 404 response written for agents, often markdown, that links the index and similar pages so the agent can recover.
-   [Soft 404](https://agentreadyhtml.com/glossary/soft-404/): A missing page that returns 200 with an error message in the body.
-   [rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"](https://agentreadyhtml.com/glossary/rel-alternate-markdown/): A link relation in HTML or an HTTP Link header that points from a page to its markdown version.
-   [Prerendering](https://agentreadyhtml.com/glossary/prerendering/): Rendering pages to static HTML at build time so every request gets finished content.

## Sources

1.  [vercel.com](https://vercel.com/kb/guide/make-your-site-readable-by-ai-agents) https://vercel.com/kb/guide/make-your-site-readable-by-ai-agents, read 4 November 2026

Last reviewed 4 November 2026

Edition

Crawl

2026-11-04

Page updated

2026-11-04

Method

How the viewer reads a page, how a file is graded and how a platform is scored: [the method page](https://agentreadyhtml.com/method/).