API

A defined way for programs to talk to each other and exchange data.

An API (application programming interface) is a contract that lets one program request data or actions from another. On the web, you call an API by sending an HTTP request to a URL and usually get JSON back. In Python the requests library is the usual tool, and a status_code tells you whether it worked.

Example 
# with the requests package installed:
import requests

resp = requests.get("https://api.example.com/users/1")
if resp.status_code == 200:
    user = resp.json()        # parse JSON into a dict
    print(user["name"])

Where this shows up in real Python

APIs power live data in your scripts: weather, prices, maps, payments, and your own web services.

Commonly used API tools

  • requests.get(url) — fetch data from an API
  • requests.post(url, json=...) — send data
  • .status_code — 200 OK, 404 not found, and so on
  • .json() — parse the JSON response
  • params={…}, headers={…} — query parameters and headers

Official documentation: requests: HTTP for Humans

Related terms