What is API?
An API is a defined way for one piece of software to request data or actions from another: a checkout asking a payment gateway to take a GCash payment, or a dashboard pulling yesterday’s sales from an accounting system. Both sides agree on the format in advance, so neither needs to know how the other works internally.
- Category
- Web & Software Engineering
- Also called
- API, REST API, Web service
- In our work
- Business automation services
For a buyer, the practical question about any system is whether it has one and what it exposes. A platform without an API is a place data goes in and does not come out, which turns every future integration into manual re-entry or an export-and-import routine somebody has to remember to run. Asking for the API documentation before signing is a cheap way to find out what a vendor actually allows.
An API you depend on is also a dependency someone else controls. Providers change pricing, impose rate limits on how many requests are allowed per minute, deprecate old versions and occasionally shut services down. Integrations survive that better when the connection is isolated behind one module rather than scattered across the codebase, and when the failure behaviour is decided during the build: what the app should do when the payment gateway does not answer.
Where it comes up.
Automating Quotations for Distributors and Suppliers in the Philippines
ArticleQuotation automation in the Philippines fixes the slowest part of B2B selling. What to automate, what stays human, and what an RFQ build really costs.
How Long Does It Take to Build a Custom App in the Philippines?
ArticleHow long to build a custom app in the Philippines depends on scope. Realistic timelines by project type, what makes builds slip, and how to hold a date.
Restaurant Software in the Philippines: POS + Online Ordering Done Right
ArticleA practical guide to restaurant POS Philippines setups and online ordering: aggregator commissions, direct channels, kitchen displays, and build economics.
Building Fintech in the Philippines: Lessons from the Digital Banking Wave
ArticleA practical guide to fintech development in the Philippines, covering BSP licensing categories, the minimum compliance stack, and what to build versus buy.
Related terms.
Headless CMS
Web & Software EngineeringA headless CMS stores content without controlling how it is displayed: editors work in an admin interface, and the content is delivered to a website, mobile app or in-store screen through an API.
Database
Web & Software EngineeringA database is the structured store behind an application: customers, orders, bookings and stock held in a form software can query reliably.
Custom Software vs Off-the-Shelf Software
Web & Software EngineeringCustom software is built for one organisation’s specific process; off-the-shelf software is a finished product many organisations subscribe to, such as Shopify or QuickBooks.
AI Agent
AI & AutomationAn AI agent is a system that uses a language model to decide which actions to take, then takes them through connected tools: reading a database, sending an email, updating a booking record.
Scoping a project?
Reading definitions because you are scoping a project? Skip ahead and just ask.