APIs & Connections
$definerest--plain-english
TLDRThe common rulebook most HTTP APIs follow.
REST is a shared etiquette for HTTP APIs.
Nouns in the path. Verbs in the method. JSON in the body. /todos/12 is a thing. GET reads it. PATCH changes it. DELETE throws it out. Everyone argues how REST-ful they really are. Nobody argues that this shape is the one strangers already know.
Why you keep seeing it
If every service invented a private handshake, you would relearn ordering on every vendor. REST is the promise that the next window is roughly like the last one. Your agent can guess. Your fetch can guess. The SDK is optional, not required.
Open the builder and the API layer question is this etiquette vs a family dialect:
Pick REST when a judge's script, a mobile client, or a vendor webhook has to find you. Pick the dialect when both rooms are yours.
The boring parts that save the demo
Use status codes like you mean them. 200 found it. 201 made it. 404 no such endpoint. 401 no badge. Do not return 200 with { error: true } and hope the frontend notices.
Keep the collection at /todos and the one item at /todos/:id. That is the whole rulebook you need before Sunday. The CLI will generate routes in that shape if you let it.
What this unlocks
REST is not a religion. It is muscle memory that carries across logos.
Learn the shape once. The next API you wire at 2 a.m. already looks familiar.
