API Endpoint Semantics

api-design
Derek Dahmer picture Derek Dahmer · Feb 17, 2011 · Viewed 50.5k times · Source

Is an API endpoint the 'method', like https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/ or the full URL including non-query-string parameters like https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/5104

In other words, are these two separate endpoints or considered the same endpoint? http://myapi.com/somemodel/1
http://myapi.com/somemodel/2

Answer

Robert Harvey picture Robert Harvey · Feb 17, 2011

According to this Wikipedia article, the endpoint is a web service, defined by a WSDL file, and

does nothing more than define the address or connection point to a web service. It is typically represented by a simple HTTP URL string.

Microsoft uses the term endpoint in various contexts, but they all amount to the same thing: the endpoint is the entire interface, not one particular method.

In the context of a REST endpoint, the endpoint would contain the requisite GET, PUT, POST and DELETE methods (as applicable).

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