A method and apparatus for bootstrapping an object client system with an object server system in a distributed system is provided. The method and apparatus are particularly applicable to use over the internet with web servers and web browsers. The method allows the use of a "zero install" web client to operate on remote objects through the web server, and can thus facilitate a host of distributed object operations. An object reference server is used to distribute an object reference for a naming context object to an object request broker on the web browser. In the preferred embodiment, the object reference server comprises a web server with access to the object reference and the object reference comprises a stringified object reference. By delivering the stringified object reference to the web browsers, interaction between the web browser and remote server objects over the internet is facilitated.