What is Representational State Transfer (REST)?
Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2025 5:36 am
The difference with the REST API is that it allows systems outside of the WordPress installation itself to interact with WordPress, which is where the REST part comes into play.
Representational State Transfer, or REST, provides standards that web systems can use to interact with each other. Without REST, two systems would not be able to understand each other and therefore send data back and forth.
For an application to be RESTful , it must adhere to five principles:
Uniform interface. URLs used to access system resources have to be uniform, consistent and accessible through a common approach such as GET (more on that later).
Client-server. Client applications and server applications should be separate, so that they can be developed independently of each other. If the server-side technology (i.e. WordPress) changes, the server-side bahrain phone number data application (an app, for example) should be able to access it through the same simple method.
Stateless. The server does not change state when a new request is made using the API. It does not store the requests that have been made.
Cacheable. All resources should be cacheable to improve speed and conformance to web standards. Caching can be implemented on the server or client side.
Layered system. A RESTful system allows you to use multiple layers to access it, storing data on intermediate servers if necessary. The server cannot tell whether the end client is directly connected to it.
All of these restrictions relate to websites and applications and govern how an application can interact with the API.
Combining REST and API means that the WordPress REST API is a set of code designed to make it possible for other systems to interact with WordPress and is built in a way that ensures these systems understand each other.
This means that a third-party website or mobile app, for example, can access the WordPress database , get data from it, and add data to it.
Representational State Transfer, or REST, provides standards that web systems can use to interact with each other. Without REST, two systems would not be able to understand each other and therefore send data back and forth.
For an application to be RESTful , it must adhere to five principles:
Uniform interface. URLs used to access system resources have to be uniform, consistent and accessible through a common approach such as GET (more on that later).
Client-server. Client applications and server applications should be separate, so that they can be developed independently of each other. If the server-side technology (i.e. WordPress) changes, the server-side bahrain phone number data application (an app, for example) should be able to access it through the same simple method.
Stateless. The server does not change state when a new request is made using the API. It does not store the requests that have been made.
Cacheable. All resources should be cacheable to improve speed and conformance to web standards. Caching can be implemented on the server or client side.
Layered system. A RESTful system allows you to use multiple layers to access it, storing data on intermediate servers if necessary. The server cannot tell whether the end client is directly connected to it.
All of these restrictions relate to websites and applications and govern how an application can interact with the API.
Combining REST and API means that the WordPress REST API is a set of code designed to make it possible for other systems to interact with WordPress and is built in a way that ensures these systems understand each other.
This means that a third-party website or mobile app, for example, can access the WordPress database , get data from it, and add data to it.