Simply put, its a set of rules that allows many different kinds of software program to communicate and share data with each other.

Most APIs use HTTP to handle request and responses.

Standard Process:

  • A request is sent from a client (like a mobile app or frontend) to a server (where there contains information)
  • An endpoint is our goal or target URL path that tells the API what data or action is required
  • A method like GET (to retrieve data), or POST (to send data), or PUT (to update), or DELETE represent the type of request
  • A response is returned from the end (usually in JSON or XML) that contains the results of the request