✅ REST API Interview Questions & Answers
🔥 1. What is a REST API?
Answer (Easy Explanation):
REST API is a way for two systems to communicate over the internet using HTTP.
Client sends a request → Server sends a response (mostly JSON).
Example:
Frontend → (REST API) → Backend.
🔥 2. What does REST stand for?
Answer:
Representational
State
Transfer
Meaning: Server sends data in a representational format (JSON, XML).
🔥 3. What are HTTP Methods?
Methods used to perform operations:
Method Meaning
GET Read data
POST Create data
PUT Update entire data
PATCH Update partial data
DELETE Delete data
🔥 4. What is the difference between PUT and PATCH?
PUT PATCH
Replaces entire resource Updates only specific fields
Full update Partial update
🔥 5. What is an Endpoint?
Simple:
An endpoint is a URL where your API lives.
Example:
GET /users
POST /login
🔥 6. What is a Resource?
A resource is anything you handle via API:
users, products, orders, students, images…
🔥 7. What is JSON? Why used?
JSON is JavaScript Object Notation.
Used because it is lightweight and easy to parse.
Example:
"name": "John",
"age": 25
🔥 8. What is the Status Code? Explain types.
Status codes tell the result of API call:
Code Meaning
200 OK
201 Created
400 Bad request
401 Unauthorized
404 Not found
Code Meaning
500 Server error
🔥 9. What is Authentication?
Verifying who the user is.
Example:
Login using username/password, token, JWT.
🔥 10. What is Authorization?
Permissions – What a user can access.
Example:
Admin can delete users, normal users cannot.
🔥 11. What is JWT?
JWT = JSON Web Token
Used for secure login and session handling.
Example Token:
[Link]
🔥 12. What is Middleware in REST API ([Link])?
Middleware runs between request and response.
Example:
Authentication check
Logging
Validation
[Link]((req, res, next) => {
[Link]("Request received");
next();
});
🔥 13. What is CORS?
CORS = Cross-Origin Resource Sharing
Allows frontend from different domain to call API.
🔥 14. What is API Versioning?
Different versions of same API:
/api/v1/users
/api/v2/users
Useful when updating features without breaking old apps.
🔥 15. What is Rate Limiting?
Controlling how many requests a user can send.
Used to stop overload or attacks.
🔥 16. What is Idempotency?
Idempotent operations = same result every time you call.
Examples:
✔ GET → Always same result
✔ PUT → Same result
❌ POST → NOT idempotent (creates new each time)
🔥 17. What is Pagination?
Breaking large data into small chunks.
Example:
GET /users?page=1&limit=10
🔥 18. What is REST vs SOAP?
REST SOAP
Uses JSON Uses XML
Lightweight Heavy
Fast Slow
Simple Complex
🔥 19. What is REST vs GraphQL?
REST GraphQL
Fixed endpoints Single endpoint
Returns full data Returns only required data
Over-fetching possible No over-fetching
🔥 20. What is CRUD?
CRUD = Create, Read, Update, Delete
Implemented using REST methods:
Operation REST Method
Create POST
Read GET
Update PUT/PATCH
Delete DELETE
🔥 21. What is Headers in REST API?
Headers contain extra information.
Example:
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer token
🔥 22. What is Request Body?
Data sent along with POST/PUT/PATCH.
Example:
"name": "Dhruvi"
🔥 23. What is Query Parameter?
Used for filtering or pagination.
Example:
GET /products?category=mobile&price=10000
🔥 24. What is Path Parameter?
Used to pass ID.
Example:
GET /users/101
🔥 25. What is API Gateway?
A single entry point for multiple services.
Used in microservice architecture.
🔥 26. What is RESTful Routing?
Rules for creating proper API URLs.
✔ Nouns, not verbs
❌ /getAllUsers
✔ /users
🔥 27. What is HATEOAS?
Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State
REST principle where API responses contain links.
Example:
"user": "John",
"links": {
"orders": "/users/1/orders"
🔥 28. How to secure REST API?
✔ JWT tokens
✔ HTTPS
✔ CORS
✔ API rate limits
✔ Input validation
✔ OAuth
🔥 29. What is Response Time?
Time taken by server to return data.
Should be low (optimized API).
🔥 30. What is Postman?
A tool used to test REST APIs easily.
🎯 Bonus: REST API Example ([Link] + Express)
[Link]
const express = require("express");
const app = express();
[Link]([Link]());
// READ
[Link]("/users", (req, res) => {
[Link]({ message: "All users" });
});
// CREATE
[Link]("/users", (req, res) => {
[Link](201).json({ message: "User created" });
});
// UPDATE
[Link]("/users/:id", (req, res) => {
[Link]({ message: "User updated" });
});
// DELETE
[Link]("/users/:id", (req, res) => {
[Link]({ message: "User deleted" });
});
[Link](5000, () => [Link]("server running"));
