REST (Representational State Transfer) is an architectural style for designing networked applications that uses HTTP as the transport protocol and treats everything as a resource accessible via a unique URI. REST APIs enable stateless client-server communication through standard HTTP methods, making them the dominant approach for building web services. The key principle to remember: REST APIs model your application domain as resources, not remote procedures — the URI identifies what resource you're working with, and the HTTP method tells the server what action to take on that resource.
What This Cheat Sheet Covers
This topic spans 28 focused tables and 190 indexed concepts. Below is a complete table-by-table outline of this topic, spanning foundational concepts through advanced details.
Table 1: Core Principles and Constraints
| Principle | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
Each request includes Authorization: Bearer <token>to authenticate independently | • Every request must contain all necessary information to process it • server stores no session state between requests | |
Client handles UI; server handles data storage and business logic separately | Decouples the user interface from data storage, allowing independent evolution and scalability | |
Resources identified by URIs; manipulated via standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, etc.) | • Simplifies and decouples the architecture • all resources follow the same interaction pattern |