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Finger Protocol

This page explains the Finger protocol that Astronomo supports alongside Gemini.

What is Finger?

Finger is a user information protocol from 1977, standardized in 1991. It was designed to provide information about users on a system—whether they're logged in, their full name, office location, and custom "plan" files.

Historical Context

In the early days of networked computing, Finger was a common way to:

  • Check if someone was online before sending email
  • Read their .plan file (a text file users could customize)
  • Find contact information for users at remote systems

While largely replaced by modern systems, Finger survives in hobbyist and retro-computing communities.

How It Works

URLs

Finger URLs can use two formats:

finger://user@host
finger://host/user
  • host - Server hostname
  • user - Username to query (optional)

Examples: 

finger://user@example.com
finger://example.com/user
finger://example.com

If no user is specified, the server may return a list of all logged-in users.

Request/Response

  1. Client opens TCP connection to server (port 79)
  2. Client sends username + CRLF (or just CRLF for server info)
  3. Server sends user information
  4. Connection closes

Like Gopher, Finger connections are unencrypted.

Finger in Astronomo

Smart URL Detection

Astronomo recognizes Finger URLs automatically:

  • user@example.com → treated as finger://user@example.com
  • Just type a user@host address in the URL bar

Display

Finger responses appear as preformatted text with a header:

# Finger: user@example.com

[Response content displayed here]

The response preserves the original formatting from the server.

From the address bar: 1. Type user@host or finger://user@host 2. Press Enter 3. View the user's information

Common Finger Content

Plan Files

Many Finger servers display the contents of a user's ~/.plan file. Users customize these to share:

  • Current projects or status
  • Contact information
  • ASCII art
  • Random thoughts or quotes

Project Files

Some systems also serve ~/.project files, typically containing a one-line project description.

Finger vs Gemini

Aspect Finger Gemini
Year 1977 2019
Purpose User info lookup Document browsing
Encryption None TLS required
Port 79 1965
Content Plain text Gemtext
Interactivity Query only Links, input prompts

Finger is a simple query protocol, while Gemini is a full document browsing protocol. They complement each other—you might Finger someone to check their status, then visit their Gemini capsule for more content.

Places to Explore

  • finger://happynetbox.com - Community Finger server
  • finger://plan.cat - Plan file hosting service

Note

Many traditional Finger servers have been decommissioned. The protocol is now mainly used by hobbyists and retro-computing enthusiasts.

Further Reading