REST

Representational State Transfer is an architectural style for building web APIs. RESTful APIs use standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) and return data in JSON format. It is the most widely adopted pattern for web services because it is simple, stateless, and maps naturally to how browsers already communicate with servers.

A useful mental model is a well-run warehouse with standard forms: one form to request an item (GET), one to add new stock (POST), one to update a record (PUT), one to remove it (DELETE). Because every clerk uses the same forms, anyone can work with any shelf. REST brings that same predictability to software — a developer who has used one REST API can find their way around almost any other.

Why it matters for your project: when you connect your product to Stripe, your CRM, your accounting software, or a shipping provider, the connection point is almost always a REST API. That standardization is what keeps integration work affordable — your developer is following a well-worn path, not inventing a protocol. If your own product needs to expose data to partners or a future mobile app, building it as a REST API keeps every door open.

REST is the conventional way to structure an API, and the operations map almost one-to-one onto CRUD — the create, read, update, delete cycle behind nearly every app. Where REST requires the asking side to make a request, webhooks complete the picture by pushing events to you when something changes.