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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-17T22:05:21+00:00

I have an API that allows clients to post Request messages via a uri:

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I have an API that allows clients to post Request messages via a uri: [url]/Request

The Request message is xml:
<Request>
    <Source>1234</Source>
    <Destination>5551111</Destination>
    <Message>Hello</Message>
</Request>

The response message is
<Response>
    <Id>2589</Id>
    <Status>Stored</Status>
</Response>

Is it correct, in the REST sense for the service located at /Request to return in the HTTP Response a Response message?
Or, should the /Request post return a url to something like 

/Response?MessageId=2589

where a Response messsage is returned?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    The HTTP specification has this to say about the POST request:

    If a resource has been created on the origin server, the response
    SHOULD be 201 (Created) and contain an entity which describes the
    status of the request and refers to the new resource, and a Location
    header (see section 14.30).

    So, technically, if an entity is included in the POST response it should describe the status of the request. What constitutes the status of the request though, is entirely up to the implementor. Most large implementation will return a representation of the newly created resource to indicate ‘Success’, and an error message to indicate ‘Failure’. In any case, you will want to set the Location header of the response to be the URI of the newly created resource.

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