Article: The Benefits of WordPress API Integration

The WordPress REST API (WP-REST) provides an interface for applications to interact with your WordPress site by sending and receiving data as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) objects.

• By Mensah Alkebu-Lan
• 19 March 2023

Table of Contents

• Overview
• “WP-REST API”
• References
  

Overview

REST, standing for “REpresentational State Transfer,” is a set of concepts for modeling and accessing your application’s data as interrelated objects and collections. API stands for Application Programming Interface. They are an accessible way to extract and share data within and across organizations. They have become key enablers of digital transformation efforts. One of the benefits of API integration is enabling the building of automated workflows that can get rid of time-consuming manual labor.

The average enterprise uses 175+ different applications

~40% of companies consider integrating applications as the number one blocker to digital transformation

Why are integrations so important yet such a problem, and how is Merge’s Unified API changing the integration game? pic.twitter.com/JIttXYHLVg

— Contrary Research (@Contrary_Res) February 8, 2023

Sometimes instead of building an API integration, there may be an existing pre-built integration available. Or there may be existing API integration tools that can speed up the process– meaning far less work for your Software Developers.

WP-REST API

The WordPress REST API (WP-REST) provides an interface for applications to interact with your Wordpress site by sending and receiving data as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) objects. It can enable your Wordpress plugin, Wordpress theme, or custom application to present new, powerful interfaces for managing and publishing your site content.

As an improvement over admin-ajax, the WordPress REST API enables developers to spend less time accessing the WordPress data they need and more time creating better user experiences. It also means these developers will not be restricted to the PHP programming language.

One way to access the WP-REST API is through the command line interface WP-CLI. For public data like published posts, you can access WP-REST via a simple request such as the following:

curl -X GET http://{yoursite.com}/wp-json/wp/v2/posts 

Once you are over the learning curve, you will recognize this is a relatively simple way to get your WordPress website data. You may notice this HTTP request uses the GET HTTP method, so you could test this in a browser. The response to this API request should be an array of post data JSON objects.

References

1. “REST API Handbook.” WordPress Developer Resources. Accessed 18 March 2023.
2. McCollin, Rachel. “The Complete Guide to WordPress REST API Basics.” Kinsta, 8 June 2022. Accessed 18 March 2023.
3. “What is an API? (Application Programming Interface).” MuleSoft. Accessed 19 March 2023.
4. “What is an API Integration? (for non-technical people).” Tray.io. Accessed 19 March 2023.