What Is A POST API Call? How A POST HTTP Request Works

What is a POST Request?

A POST request, in simple terms, is a way for you to send data to a destination with the help of the internet.

It’s done using the POST request method, which is a very common HTTP request method (like GET, PUT, or DELETE).

Despite the capitalization, “POST” is not an acronym, so it doesn’t stand for anything. But an easy way to understand the POST method is by thinking of it as “POSTing” data to a destination.

How does a POST request work?

HTTP request methods can get very complicated, but we’ll try to keep things simple for the sake of clarity.

HTTP request methods (often called HTTP verbs) are kind of like actions which you can tell an API to do.

This makes more sense if you imagine the API as a waiter in a restaurant.

In the waiter analogy, we can think of GET requests as food orders.

If the user is a customer, and the server is the kitchen, then some sort of link has to exist for the two to communicate.

The link that makes this communication possible is the waiter — or the API.

If you’re satisfied with your meal and want to give your compliments to the chef, you need to tell the waiter so he can go to the kitchen and tell the chef.

What’s happening here is very similar to what happens when a POST request is being performed.

When you tell the API that you want to send information, you send a POST request to the server. After it processes your request, the server gets your information and processes it as intended.

For a more technical definition of POST requests, click here.

When to use a POST request

Currently, you can perform 2 HTTP request methods on Apipheny — GET and POST. You can use a mix of both to do your daily tasks, but it really depends on what you want to happen.

Here are a few examples of why you might want to perform a POST request:

Banking API – Transferring money
Unified Communications API – Sending an instant message or email to a coworker
Contact Form API – Sending a support ticket
Social Media API – Creating a post/comment outside of the actual application
Trading API – Sending a buy order for a stock or bond
Sign-Up API – Sending personal information to sign-up for a website or service

I could list countless examples of POST requests, but even with just 6 examples, it’s easy to notice the pattern.

Anytime you want to send information for whatever purpose, you use the POST request to send it to the destination.

Performing a POST request with Apipheny

In the video below, Co-Founder, Nate, demonstrates how you can perform a POST request with Apipheny’s easy-to-use interface.

Nate starts performing a POST request at 1:52.

In the video, Nate chooses the POST method in the dropdown list, enters the desired API URL Path (which you can get by clicking here), and enters the requested details in the POST body.

He does 2 separate tests:

One where he inputs personal information.

And another where he inputs login credentials.

The way his requests are setup tells Apipheny that he wants to send (or POST) data to the API destination.

Once he clicks “Run”, Apipheny processes the request. And after a few seconds, if the request goes through, the API returns a “Success” prompt.

Import API data directly into Google Sheets

Do a lot of copy-pasting?

We used to, as well.

But it took up too much of our time.

Introducing Apipheny, a Google Sheets add-on that lets you import data directly into Google Sheets — and save up to an hour of your workday.

It lets you connect virtually any API to Google Sheets — in just a matter of seconds.

This means you can now import data directly from your favorite data sources — and finally stop switching between tabs with your fingers stuck on Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V.

Tell me more about how Apipheny can speed up my work process.

Apipheny lets you do the following things:

Skip the scripting & coding part of APIs.
Retrieve and send data from your favorite data sources easily, using the GET and POST request features.
Access virtually any REST API, whether it’s JSON or CSV.
Get the data you need in a nice, clean, list on your spreadsheet with the JSON converter.
Save time by automating your API calls with the Save and Schedule features.