# Routing in Umbraco

*This section describes what the Umbraco Request Pipeline is. It explains how Umbraco matches a document to a given request and how it generates a URL for a document.*

## Request pipeline

### What is the pipeline

The request pipeline is the process of building up the URL for a node and resolving a request to a specified node. It ensures that the right content is sent back.

![what is the pipeline](https://2050077833-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fb0WSXUuM7Qx5BfREagAI%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-d6f646b606f913ea3da4372faf95d225e1877e74%2Fwhat-is-the-pipeline.png?alt=media)

### Outbound vs Inbound

The pipeline works bidirectional: [**inbound**](https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms/reference/routing/request-pipeline/inbound-pipeline) and [**outbound**](https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms/reference/routing/request-pipeline/outbound-pipeline).

[**Outbound**](https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms/reference/routing/request-pipeline/outbound-pipeline) is the process of building up a URL for a requested node. [**Inbound**](https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms/reference/routing/request-pipeline/inbound-pipeline) is every request received by the web server and handled by Umbraco.

### Customizing the pipeline

This section will describe the components that you can use to modify Umbraco's request pipeline: [**IContentFinder**](https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms/reference/routing/request-pipeline/icontentfinder) & `IUrlProvider`