Module 05

Connectors & APIs

How your app asks another company's app for something.

8 min total4 min read4 min demos

An API is a service desk with a very strict script. Your app hands over a written request — a method, an address, a key, a body — and gets a structured answer back.

The failure path is as important as the happy path. Timeouts, 401s, and rate limits decide whether your app looks broken or trustworthy when something goes wrong.

YOUR APPKEYINTERNETENDPOINTWEATHER SERVICE
Pick a run. Watch what leaves your app, what it carries, and what comes back.
Concepts here

Words you will hear

Endpoint
The specific address your app sends a request to — one address per action.
API key
A secret proving your app is authorized to make requests. Never put it in a page.
JSON
The standard text format APIs use to send structured data back and forth.

Interactive demo

Request and response visualizer

A service that returns live weather for any city. Your app sends a city name, the service returns temperature and conditions.

Request leaving your server

GET https://api.example-weather.com/v1/now
Authorization: Bearer ****************
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "city": "London"
}

Response coming back

Nothing yet. Send a request to see the answer.

These responses are mocked in your browser. The shape is exactly what a real service returns.

What makes this work

The pieces underneath

Try it

15 min

Ask your builder to show today's weather for a city you type in, using a public weather API. Then break it on purpose: type a nonsense city name and watch how the app handles the error.

  • Store the key as a secret, never pasted into a page.
  • Ask for a loading state and an error state by name.

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