What are cookies and where are they stored in a request?

Cookies — are small pieces of data that a website sends to the user's browser. The browser stores this data locally and sends it back to the same website with each subsequent request.

Main purposes of using cookies:

• Saving session state (user authentication).
• Remembering user preferences (language, theme).
• Tracking user activity for analytics or advertising.

In an HTTP request, cookies are transmitted in the Cookie header.

Example of an HTTP request with cookies:

GET /page HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Cookie: sessionid=abcdef123456; user_pref=darkmode