GET Retrieve a resource
The GET method requests a representation of the specified resource. Requests using GET should only retrieve data and have no other effect on the data.
Request
Response
GET /api/users/42 HTTP/1.1
Host: api.example.com
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <token>
# No request body
200
OK — resource returned
404
Not found
POST Create a resource
The POST method submits data to be processed to the specified resource. It often causes a change in state on the server or side effects such as creating a new record.
Request
Response
POST /api/users HTTP/1.1
Host: api.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <token>
{
"name": "Alice",
"email": "alice@example.com"
}
201
Created
400
Bad request / validation error
PUT Update a resource
The PUT method replaces all current representations of the target resource with the request payload. Unlike PATCH, it replaces the entire resource.
PUT /api/users/42 HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
{
"name": "Alice Smith",
"email": "alice@example.com",
"role": "admin"
}
200
Updated successfully
422
Unprocessable entity
Idempotency
GET, PUT, HEAD, OPTIONS, and DELETE are idempotent — calling them multiple times produces the same result. POST is not idempotent: submitting the same form twice creates two records.
# Safe + idempotent
GET /articles/1 → always returns same article
DELETE /articles/1 → deletes once, further calls = 404
# Not idempotent
POST /orders → creates a new order each time