Glossary

This glossary defines terms used across the API Guidelines so teams and integrators share the same language.

Terms

Resource

An addressable domain concept exposed via the API (e.g., an account, role, or campaign), usually represented as JSON and identified by a stable identifier.

Representation

The JSON shape you exchange over the wire for a resource (often a subset/variant of an internal domain model).

Compatibility (backwards compatibility)

The ability for existing clients to continue working without code changes. Additive changes are typically safe; semantic changes often are not.

Idempotency

A property where repeating the same request has the same effect as making it once (or yields the same result). Important for safe retries.

Optimistic locking

A concurrency pattern that detects conflicting updates (commonly using HTTP preconditions like ETag/If-Match) and fails writes when the resource changed since the client last read it.

Cursor pagination

Pagination using an opaque token (“cursor”) that points to a position in a result set, typically used for large or rapidly changing datasets.