GET

What it does

GET is the most common HTTP method. It requests a representation of a resource. The server returns the data in the response body. GET requests should be safe (no side effects) and idempotent (same result every time).

When to use it

• Fetching resources (users, products, posts)
• Read-only operations
• Cacheable requests (browsers and CDNs cache GET responses)
• Passing parameters via query string

Raw HTTP example

GET /users/123 HTTP/1.1
Host: api.example.com
Accept: application/json

cURL example

Send a GET request with cURL. Add query parameters after the URL:

curl -X GET "https://api.example.com/users?page=1&limit=10" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

JavaScript Fetch example

Using the Fetch API:

const response = await fetch("https://api.example.com/users/123", {
  headers: { "Accept": "application/json" }
});
const data = await response.json();

Common status codes for GET

GET typically returns:

• 200 OK — Resource returned successfully
• 404 Not Found — Resource does not exist
• 401 Unauthorized — Authentication required
• 403 Forbidden — Authenticated but not allowed

Common mistakes

• Sending sensitive data in query params (URLs are logged, cached, visible)
• Using GET for mutations (create, update, delete)
• Very long URLs (query params have size limits)