What is a REST API?
A REST API is a web API where you use normal HTTP requests on URLs to read, create, update and delete things.
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A REST API is an API built on the ordinary rules of the web. Each thing (a user, an order, a photo) has its own URL, and you act on it with HTTP methods: GET to read, POST to create, PUT or PATCH to update, DELETE to remove. Think of a filing cabinet where every drawer has an address and a standard set of actions.
Most public APIs, from GitHub to payment providers, follow this style and answer in JSON. You explore one with curl or a tool like Postman, send a token in a header to prove who you are, and read the status code to see if it worked. A good REST API is predictable: once you know /users/42, you can guess /users/42/orders.
curl -X POST https://api.example.com/users \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"name": "Ada"}'See also: What is an API? and What is a status code?
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See also
- 0019 fetch with timeout, retries and proper error handling A reusable fetchJson helper for Node 20+ and browsers that adds a timeout, retries with backoff for temporary failures, and clear errors… Intermediate · Step by step · Any system Script Async code · Making requests 15 Oct 2026
- 0081 How an HTTP request works: methods, headers, and body An HTTP request is a short text message a client sends to a server: a method and path, some headers, and sometimes… Beginner · Explains an idea · Any system Article Making requests 15 Oct 2026
- 0083 Test a JSON API with curl A runnable bash script showing the curl commands you need most when testing an API: GET, POST JSON, custom headers, Bearer tokens,… Beginner · Step by step · Linux, macOS, Windows Script Authentication · Making requests 15 Oct 2026
- 0084 Tiny JSON echo server for testing HTTP clients A standard-library Python server that echoes back the method, path, query, headers, and body of every request, and can return any status… Intermediate · Step by step · Any system Script Files & automation · Making requests 15 Oct 2026
- 0085 fetch with timeout, retries, and exponential backoff A drop-in fetch wrapper that times out slow requests, retries network errors and 429/5xx responses with jittered exponential backoff, and honors Retry-After. Advanced · Step by step · Any system, Browser Script Async code · Making requests 15 Oct 2026
- 0087 CORS explained: why the browser blocks your request CORS is the browser rule that decides whether JavaScript on one origin may read a response from another. The server opts in… Intermediate · Explains an idea · Browser Article Async code · Making requests 15 Oct 2026
Repos in the wild
- Requests: HTTP for humans psf/requests Requests is the classic Python library for calling web APIs and downloading pages, with a simple API for GET and POST requests, headers, JSON and sessions. GitHub
- Axios axios/axios A promise-based HTTP client for browsers and Node.js with interceptors, automatic JSON handling, request cancellation and a consistent API in both environments. GitHub
- curl and libcurl (curl/curl) curl/curl The source of curl, the command-line tool for transferring data with URLs, and libcurl, the C library behind it that many other programs use for HTTP. GitHub
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