HTTP messages

This documentation describes and presents examples of API requests in terms of the standard HTTP message transmission format. Using this format keeps the examples language independent and provides a standard notation for expressing the message content.

In practice, you create, send, and receive HTTP messages by using APIs supplied by an HTTP client library specific to your chosen programming language.

HTTP requests

HTTP request messages consist of a request line, header lines, a blank line, and a message body. The request line contains the HTTP method, the URI of an API, and the HTTP protocol version. Header lines consist of a header name followed by a colon and the corresponding value (for a list of headers, see common request headers). The message body is a JSON document.

The following example shows an HTTP request that would search for all of the pods in a cloud:

HTTP responses

HTTP response messages consist of a status line, header lines, a blank line, and a message body. The status line contains the HTTP protocol version, a numeric response code that indicates success or failure of the request, and a textual description of the response code. Header lines consist of a header name followed by a colon and the corresponding value (see common response headers for a list of headers).The message body is a JSON document.

The following example shows an HTTP response to a request to search for all of the pods in a cloud:

Related topics

HTTP-request-and-response-headers
Elements-of-JSON-documents
Common-patterns-in-JSON-documents