API glossary
Short glossary of API terminology, used among other places in our technical documentation.
| API | Wikipedia definition: An application programming interface (API) is a computing interface that defines interactions between multiple software intermediaries. It defines the kinds of calls or requests that can be made, how to make them, the data formats that should be used, the conventions to follow, etc. |
| API endpoint | An API endpoint receives a predefined input, performs a (single) operation and returns a predefined output. |
| API schema | An API schema is just like an instruction manual for the programming processes. Describing API operations and methods on how to interact with it. A well-defined API schema allows developers to create machine-generated API documentation. Readable for both humans and machines. Which means the API is both easier to discover and use. |
| API scoping | We use API scoping to manage customer access, enabling us to distribute a different sets of endpoints to different customers and customer groups. |
| API key | A secret key that grants access to the API endpoints. You create it in the NorData dashboard and send it with each request, either in the X-API-Key header, as Authorization: Bearer <key>, or in the api_key query parameter. Keep it secret, like a password. |