Is it considered bad practice to perform HTTP POST without entity body?

Suresh Kumar picture Suresh Kumar · Nov 16, 2010 · Viewed 83.3k times · Source

I need to invoke a process which doesn't require any input from the user, just a trigger. I plan to use POST /uri without a body to trigger the process. I want to know if this is considered bad from both HTTP and REST perspectives?

Answer

Darrel Miller picture Darrel Miller · Nov 17, 2010

I asked this question on the IETF HTTP working group a few months ago. The short answer is: NO, it's not a bad practice (but I suggest reading the thread for more details).