---
title: "REST API Basics"
url: https://develop.sentry.dev/backend/api/basics/
---

# REST API Basics

This section includes common terms and resources to learn more about API design. If you're new to API design, this is a good place to start.

## [Common Terms](https://develop.sentry.dev/backend/api/basics.md#common-terms)

* **Resource** is the object you’re performing the action on with your endpoint. For example, in ProjectEndpoint the resource is Project.

* **Resource Identifier** can be an ID, like an event ID, or slug, like an organization slug. Note that it must be unique. For example, Sentry's project resource identifier is {organization}/{project}, because projects are only unique within their organization. You can find more information about this in the slug vs. ID section.

* **Method** is what you do with the resource. Each endpoint can have multiple methods. For example in ProjectEndpoint, you can have a GET method that returns details of a specific project.

* **Collection** is basically an object type. You can map them to a Django object type like an Organization or a text object like an error.

## [Additional Reading](https://develop.sentry.dev/backend/api/basics.md#additional-reading)

The following resources are helpful to learn about general API design best practices:

* **[The Design of Web APIs](https://g.co/kgs/R7rXEk)** is an example-packed guide to designing APIs.

* **[API Design Patterns](https://g.co/kgs/Vfnpe5)** is comprehensive guide on key API patterns.