This document provides a practical guide to RESTful practices, which is essential for building scalable and maintainable APIs.

Basic Principles

  • Stateless: Each request from a client contains all the information necessary to understand and complete the request.
  • Client-Server: The client and server roles are clearly defined, with the server handling data and the client handling the user interface.
  • Resource-Based: APIs should be designed around resources, which are represented by URLs.
  • Uniform Interface: The API should have a consistent interface, making it easier to use and understand.

HTTP Methods

  • GET: Retrieve data from a resource.
  • POST: Create a new resource.
  • PUT: Update an existing resource.
  • DELETE: Remove a resource.

Status Codes

  • 200 OK: The request was successful.
  • 201 Created: The resource was successfully created.
  • 400 Bad Request: The request was invalid.
  • 404 Not Found: The requested resource was not found.

Best Practices

  • Use nouns in your URLs to represent resources.
  • Use HTTP methods to indicate the action to be performed on the resource.
  • Use meaningful status codes to indicate the result of the request.
  • Use headers to pass additional information about the request.

Example

To retrieve information about a user, you would use the GET method with a URL like /users/123.

User Information

For more information on RESTful practices, check out our API Design Best Practices.

If you're looking to dive deeper into RESTful API design, consider reading our comprehensive guide on RESTful API Design Principles.