Skip to main content
  • New RFC Editor website is live

    Today we are launching the new rfc-editor.org website, the most visible part of a comprehensive overhaul of the tools that support editing and publishing RFCs.

    20 May 2026
  • IETF 125 Highlights

    More than 1500 participants gathered in Shenzhen and online for the IETF 125 meeting 14-20 March 2026 for more than 100 working sessions, an IETF Hackathon, and more.

    19 May 2026
  • Report from the 2026 RPC Retreat

    The RFC Production Center (RPC) retreat was a two-day strategic planning session taking place the week of April 20 that gathered the entire RPC team and IETF Administration senior staff.

    18 May 2026
  • A new suite of modern tools coming for editing and publishing RFCs

    After a number of years of work, the initial rollout of a modern suite of tools for editing and publishing RFCs, including an entirely new rfc-editor.org website, will take place in May 2026.

    12 May 2026
  • IETF Snapshot 2025

    Want to catch up on IETF activity in 2025? How many RFCs were published? How many Internet-Drafts were submitted? How many Working Groups were chartered or concluded? The latest edition of the IETF Snapshot provides a recap of IETF activity for the previous year.

    12 May 2026

Filter by topic and date

Filter by topic and date

New Version of the Tao of the IETF

23 May 2019

Since 1993 the Tao of the IETF has functioned as the guide for new attendees to the IETF. Over time both the IETF and the Tao have changed. The last revision of the Tao was in 2012, which led us to believe it might be time for a new version.

Screenshot of the New Tao of the IETF

This new version is what we would like to present to you today. 

We, the editors, have built on the work of great editors before us, and benefited greatly from suggestions, comments, and reviews from the community in general, and from the tao-discuss list and the Internet Engineering Steering Group specifically. 

We hope you will deem the new version of the Tao an improvement, and above all we hope this will help and stimulate new participants to become part of our community.

Translations of previous versions of the Tao have been contributed by several organizations. If you or your organization would be interested in contributing a translation of this updated version, please contact the IETF Chair.

If you have comments, questions or suggestions, these are all very welcome on the tao-discuss list, and we are also very happy suggestions in the form of pull requests on Github.


Share this page