API

An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate with each other.

It acts as a bridge between different systems, enabling them to exchange data and functionalities.

APIs can be used to access features or data from another application, like retrieving weather information for a specific location:

{
  "location": "Nairobi",
  "temperature": "25°C",
  "condition": "Sunny"
}

In this example, the API returns data about the weather, including the location, temperature, and weather condition.

APIs can be public, allowing anyone to use them, or private, restricted to specific users or applications. They are essential for integrating different systems and enhancing functionality without having to build everything from scratch.

In Make.com, you often have to use an API if there is no direct integration available for the tool you want to use.

API endpoint

An API endpoint is a specific URL or address that allows applications like Make.com to communicate with a server and access data or services.

It’s where an API receives requests from external systems and returns responses 💪

Example:
Suppose you’re working with a weather API. An endpoint to get the current weather for a city might look like this:

https://api.weather.com/v3/weather/current?city=Amsterdam&units=metric

It works like this:

• https://api.weather.com is the base URL.
• /v3/weather/current is the endpoint path that specifies which resource to access.
• ?city=Berlin&units=metric are query parameters to filter results by city and unit.