# API

The following section summarizes the key concepts and design choices behind the Vault API. We strongly recommend that developers familiarize themselves with these concepts, as doing so greatly aids in effectively programming with the API.

## Design Decisions and Guidelines

### REST API

A REST (Representational State Transfer) API is a widely-used architectural style for building scalable and maintainable web services. REST APIs leverage standard HTTP methods, like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE, to perform operations on resources, which are identified by unique URLs. This approach allows for stateless communication between client and server, meaning each request contains all the information needed to process it, without relying on stored server context. REST is favored for its simplicity, scalability, and flexibility, making it the backbone for many modern applications.

### Objects

In REST API programming, the concept of an "object" is crucial because it represents a resource, which is a core component of REST architecture. Resources are typically modeled as objects in programming and are accessible via unique URLs. These objects encapsulate data and related behaviors, making it easier to work with structured information.

```json5
{
  "id": 101,
  "name": "Jane Doe",
  "email": "janedoe@example.com",
  "created_at": "2023-01-15T08:30:00Z",
  "is_active": true
}
```

In this example, the "user" object contains several properties:

* **id**: A unique identifier for the user.
* **name**: The name of the user.
* **email**: The user’s email address.
* **created\_at**: The timestamp when the user was created.
* **is\_active**: A boolean value indicating if the user is currently active.

### State Modification

In REST, HTTP methods like `GET`, `POST`, `PUT`, and `DELETE` are used to interact with these resource objects, allowing for operations such as retrieval, creation, updating, and deletion. Understanding objects and their representations helps developers efficiently design and work with RESTful APIs, leading to clear, maintainable code and predictable data exchanges.

This object could be fetched, created, updated, or deleted using REST API endpoints like:

* `GET /users/101` (fetch user details)
* `POST /users` (create a new user)
* `PUT /users/101` (update user details)
* `DELETE /users/101` (delete the user)
* `LIST /users` (list the users)


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