REST API
A REST API exposes resources via URLs and standard HTTP verbs: read, create, update, delete. Its simplicity and universal tooling make it the lingua franca of web integrations.
In practice
A good API is recognizable by its predictability: accurate status codes, explicit errors, consistent pagination, declared versioning. Our systems use APIs to control DNS, CDN, and indexing — the entire infrastructure scripts itself. What can be scripted repeats without error; what is clicked through gets it wrong eventually.