API Testing Components

Key Components of an API Request/Response

• Endpoint (URL): the address the request is sent to.
• HTTP Method: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH — indicating the action to perform.
• Headers: metadata such as content type or authorization tokens.
• Request Body/Payload: the data sent with the request (commonly JSON).
• Status Code: a numeric response indicating success or failure (e.g., 200, 404, 500).
• Response Body: the data returned by the server.

Why Understanding These Matters

A tester needs to know exactly which of these components to construct for the request and which to validate in the response to write an effective API test.