White House Web API Standards
White House
API Lifecycle
Updates and VersioningHow to handle API updates and versioning |
Collection Resources
FilteringHow to select some resources in a collection |
Error handling
Error formatHow to provide information about errors |
HTTP Methods
DELETEThe DELETE method deletes the specified resource. |
GETThe GET method requests a representation of the specified resource. Requests using GET should only retrieve data and should have no other effect. |
POSTThe POST method requests that the server accept the entity enclosed in the request as a new subordinate of the web resource identified by the URI. The data POSTed might be, for example, an annotation for existing resources; a message for a bulletin board, newsgroup, mailing list, or comment thread; a block of data that is the result of submitting a web form to a data-handling process; or an item to add to a database. |
PUTThe PUT method requests that the enclosed entity be stored under the supplied URI. If the URI refers to an already existing resource, it is modified; if the URI does not point to an existing resource, then the server can create the resource with that URI. |
HTTP methodsGeneral information about HTTP methods usage |
HTTP Protocol
Content negociation and media typesHow to describe your API data format and/or propose different formats (like json, yaml, xml atom, …)
|
HTTP HeadersHow to use standard or custom HTTP headers
|
HTTP StatusesGeneral information about HTTP statuses usage |
HTTP Status Server Error
500 Internal Server ErrorA generic error message, given when an unexpected condition was encountered and no more specific message is suitable. |
HTTP Status Success
200 OKStandard response for successful HTTP requests. The actual response will depend on the request method used. In a GET request, the response will contain an entity corresponding to the requested resource. In a POST request, the response will contain an entity describing or containing the result of the action. |
HTTP Status User Error
400 Bad RequestThe server cannot or will not process the request due to an apparent client error (e.g., malformed request syntax, too large size, invalid request message framing, or deceptive request routing). |
Naming
NamingHow to name things |
Resources
Create resourceHow to create resources |
Delete resourceHow to delete resources |
Batch BulkHow to handle batch/bulk processing/creation/update/… (e.g. handle multiple resources at conce)
|
Retrieve resourceHow to retrieve a resource |
Update resourceHow to update a resource |
URL formatHow to design URLs |