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REST

An architectural style for resource-oriented network APIs using uniform operations and stateless communication.

Where it fits

REST is an architectural style for designing resource-oriented APIs. It builds on HTTP concepts such as methods, status codes, URLs, representations, and caching.

Mental model

REST models the system as resources. Clients interact with resource representations using a small set of standard operations rather than custom remote procedure names.

Example

GET /products/42 reads a product. PUT /products/42 replaces it. DELETE /products/42 removes it.

Common mistakes

  • Calling every JSON-over-HTTP API REST.
  • Ignoring idempotency.
  • Putting verbs everywhere in URLs instead of modeling resources.
  • Treating REST and GraphQL as identical API styles.

HTTP, HTTP methods, CRUD, idempotency, API, GraphQL.