Stage 1 · Lesson 5 of 8
REST APIs and reading API documentation
A is a common way of organising an API. Each kind of data lives at its own address, called an endpoint, such as /contacts or /invoices/123. You act on it with the you just met: GET a contact, POST a new invoice.
Reading API documentation is a core automation skill. First find the base URL (the start of every address) and how to authenticate (prove who you are). Then find the endpoint you need, its required fields and the shape of the response.
Finally, check (how long lists are split into pages) and . Try each call in Postman, or in your tool's HTTP request step, before building around it. This is how you connect apps a client uses that have no official , and that is often where the paid work is.
Common trapcopying an example from a blog post instead of the official docs, then discovering it uses an old API version.
A question to check yourself, an AI practice session and 2 cheat sheet entries come with the full roadmap. Unlock
Resources for this stage
Start with· follow one of these
- GuideFreeMDN: HTTP
Mozilla · Beginner
Read the overview, methods, status codes and headers pages: the HTTP every automation tool sits on
- GuideFreeJavaScript.info
Ilya Kantor
The JSON methods and objects chapters teach you to read and reshape the data each step passes on
Practise
Keep handy
Also worth your time
Status codes, pagination, idempotency and rate limits from the API side, so you know what to expect as a caller