# REST API

Concept · [Technical basics](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/technical)

Also called: REST, RESTful API, RESTful, REST APIs, rest endpoint

A common style of [API](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/terms/api) where each kind of data lives at its own [web address](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/domain) and software reads or changes it with standard web requests such as GET and POST. Most web services offer one.

**For example:** An app fetches a customer's orders by requesting a [web address](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/domain) like /customers/42/orders from the store's REST API.

## Connects to (6)

- [API](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/terms/api): Application programming interface.
- [JSON](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/json): JavaScript Object Notation.
- [OpenAPI](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/openapi): A standard format for describing what an API offers: its addresses, what each one expects and what it returns.
- [API contract](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/api-contract): An agreement on exactly what requests an API accepts and what responses it returns.
- [Back end](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/back-end): The part of an app that runs out of sight on a server.
- [SDK](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/sdk): Software development kit.

Map view: https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/rest-api