See the system
Make the important pieces and their relationships visible.
Interactive course · intro
Understanding APIs
How software talks to software. You build real requests by hand: read with GET, create with POST, change and remove with PUT and DELETE, authenticate the call, read the status code that comes back, and fix a broken request on your own. By the end you can assemble a working API request and explain why a broken one broke.
- Length
- 40 minutes
- Lessons
- 7 lessons
- Format
- Interactive
INTERACTIVE COURSE · 7 lessonsUnderstanding APIs
For people building products with AI who want a practical mental model they can use.
WHAT CHANGES
Turn a complex system into something you can reason about.
For people building products with AI who want a practical mental model they can use.
Make a decision
Use the model inside a realistic product or technical trade-off.
Explain the why
Leave with language you can use with product, design, and engineering teammates.
COURSE CURRICULUM
Short lessons. One connected mental model.
Each lesson makes one part of the system visible, then asks you to make a decision inside it.
apis
- 01INTERACTIVE LESSON6 MIN
API Basics
Where an API sits between the client, server, and database, and the four actions every request maps to.
- 02INTERACTIVE LESSON6 MIN
GET and the Response
The parts of a GET request, and the status code and JSON body that come back.
- 03INTERACTIVE LESSON6 MIN
POST and the Request Body
How POST creates a resource, and why its data rides in the request body instead of the URL.
- 04INTERACTIVE LESSON5 MIN
PUT and DELETE
Updating and removing an existing resource, each aimed at one item by its id.
- 05INTERACTIVE LESSON6 MIN
Authentication
How an API key and OAuth prove who is calling before the server acts.
- 06INTERACTIVE LESSON6 MIN
Read the Response, Fix the Request
The status-code families, then a failing request you diagnose and repair on your own.
- 07INTERACTIVE LESSON5 MIN
APIs in the Wild
How a backend combines several API calls into one product feature.
START FREE
Build a useful mental model in 40 minutes.
Try the first interactive lesson without an account or a credit card.