SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/tech-rest-stateless

REST APIs are stateless. What does that mean for each request?

Each request carries everything the server needs to understand it.

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  1. Each request carries all the info needed to understand it ✔
  2. The server stores nothing in any database
  3. Requests cannot change any data

Why: In REST, the server does not remember earlier requests from you between calls. Each request must include what is needed, such as a login token, which makes servers easier to scale and restart.

Huh, didn't know that: REST stands for Representational State Transfer, named by Roy Fielding in his 2000 dissertation.

The dad joke
My REST API has no memory of our last talk. It is very stateless, and a little rude.
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References

Answer: Each request carries all the info needed to understand it. In REST, the server does not remember earlier requests from you between calls. Each request must include what is needed, such as a login token, which makes servers easier to scale and restart.

  1. Roy Fielding, Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures, Chapter 5 (UC Irvine) ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/rest_arch_style.htm
    each request from client to server must contain all of the information necessary to understand the request
    Checked 2026-10-10.

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