Explainer videos · how technology works

The invisible machinery behind everything you tap.

How It All Runs makes short, animated explainers that open up the everyday technology you use without thinking — DNS, TLS, Wi-Fi, cellular, payments, cybersecurity — and show, step by step, how it actually works underneath.

17+
Episodes published
950
Topics mapped
18
Subject areas
4
Platforms

What you'll find here

Every episode takes one piece of technology most people never think about and follows a single journey through it — no jargon walls, just the real path the data takes.

🧭

One idea, followed all the way

Each video picks a single question — "what happens when you type a URL?" — and traces the whole path end to end, so it finally clicks.

🎬

Animated, not talked at

Packets, routers, handshakes and caches are drawn on screen and move as the story moves, so you see the mechanism instead of hearing a definition.

🔒

Accurate and honest

On-screen IPs, domains and card numbers are always fictional documentation examples. Narration is AI-generated and disclosed wherever the platform supports it.

Featured episodes

A few starting points. The full catalogue lives on the episodes page and on YouTube.

The topic map

The channel works through a structured library of 950 topics across 18 areas — from the fundamentals of networking to the full landscape of cybersecurity products.

Networking Fundamentals 58 DNS 45 TCP, UDP & Transport 64 Web, HTTP, TLS & APIs 30 Routing & Backbone 87 Switching & Ethernet 26 IPv6 21 Wi-Fi & Wireless 51 Cellular & Mobile 34 Network Security & VPNs 96 Data Center & Cloud 71 Home & Office 30 Cabling & Fiber 26 Voice, Video & Streaming 27 Messaging & Email 46 Internet History 26 NetOps & Automation 62 Cybersecurity Products 150

Where to watch

New explainers publish regularly. Follow along on any platform.