CORE/learn/what-is-api
BACK_TO_MAP

What is an API

"The interface between software components."

Real_World_Analogy

A restaurant menu providing a list of dishes you can order without knowing how the kitchen works.

Tradeoffs_&_Constraints

  • Abstraction layers improve maintenance but can increase latency.
  • Over-generic schemas create complexity for simple clients.
INTERACTIVE_TRACE
NODE_FLOW_0x1
CLIENT_NODE
SERVER_GATEWAY
PERSISTENCE_LAYER
Response_Manifest
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
X-Request-ID: 0x7F2A

{
  "status": "success",
  "topic": "What is an API",
  "protocol": "API_V1"
}

Request_Specimen

GET /api/v1/resources/what-is-api HTTP/1.1 Host: cscosmos.api Authorization: Bearer <JWT_TOKEN> Accept: application/json