What you will learn
- Handle auth tokens
- Page through results
- Retry with backoff
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The basics, in plain English
An API is how one program asks another program for data or actions over the network. Most modern services offer a web API you can call from a script to fetch info or trigger something.
- API
- A defined way for programs to talk to each other, instead of humans clicking buttons.
- Endpoint
- A specific URL on a service you call to do one thing, like /users to list users.
- Token / key
- A secret password your script sends to prove it is allowed to use the API.
- Rate limit
- A cap on how many calls you may make in a time window, to protect the service.
- Pagination
- Getting big lists in smaller chunks (pages) instead of all at once.
01
Reliable calls
Real automation handles auth, pagination, rate limits, and transient failures. Always add timeouts and exponential backoff.
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