APIpäätepiste

APIpäätepiste, the Finnish term for an API endpoint, represents the specific URL or URI at which a client can access or invoke a particular service or resource offered by an application programming interface. An endpoint defines the contract for communication, indicating which HTTP methods—GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, etc.—are supported and what format the data payload and responses will adhere to, usually JSON or XML. In RESTful systems an endpoint often corresponds to a resource such as /users or /orders, while in GraphQL a single endpoint, commonly /graphql, accepts queries that specify the desired data fields.

Standard practice for APIpäätepiste design encourages clear, versioned URIs, for example /v1/products, to enable backward compatibility when the service evolves. Authentication and authorization are typically handled through tokens (Bearer, JWT) or API keys passed either in headers or as query parameters. Rate limiting, throttling, and caching directives are commonly implemented through HTTP headers such as X-RateLimit-Limit or Cache-Control to protect infrastructure and improve user experience. Atomicity and idempotence are critical considerations for state‑changing operations; POST is used for new resources, while PUT/PATCH are used for updates, and DELETE for removal.

Comprehensive documentation, often generated by tools like Swagger/OpenAPI or RAML, accompanies APIpäätepiste, providing examples of request/response cases, error codes, and usage guidelines. Monitoring and logging at the endpoint level allow operators to track performance, error rates, and detect anomalies.