TLS, HTTPS & HTTP/2
Every subchapter in this chapter, free to read online. Work through them in order, or jump straight to the runtime detail you need.
TLS Handshake & Ciphers
How a Node.js TCP connection becomes a TLS connection through OpenSSL, records, handshakes, version selection, cipher negotiation, SNI, and session reuse.
Certificates, Chains & Trust
How Node decides whether a TLS peer certificate chains to trusted CA material and matches the hostname the client asked for.
HTTPS Servers & Clients
Build the Node HTTPS path from encrypted accepts through request handlers, secure contexts, client agents, termination boundaries, validation mistakes, and staged error diagnosis.
Mutual TLS
How Node.js HTTPS servers request client certificates, validate them against client CAs, expose peer identity, and keep TLS authentication separate from application authorization.
ALPN Negotiation
How TLS negotiates HTTP/1.1 versus HTTP/2 with ALPN, how Node exposes the selected protocol, and where fallback breaks.
HTTP/2 Multiplexing & Flow Control
How Node.js maps HTTP/2 sessions, streams, frames, multiplexing, HPACK, SETTINGS, flow-control windows, and shutdown frames onto the node:http2 API.