HTTP REST Request Action - Request headers

Adding additional details to your HTTP calls

What are request headers?

To have a big picture on how API works, we first must know how our API requests look like.

In an API call, or a HTTP request, the data is structured to different layers. Each layers coincides with different data used in different stages.

The Request Header, as shown as the third layer in the diagram above, contains information that will be sent together with the request body that allows API to understand what kind of request it will be handling.

How do we know if an API endpoint requires Request Headers?

Always attempt to refer back to your application's API document is your best bet. A well documented API documentation usually contains a sample call for the API endpoint. In the sample call, look out for the term

--headers

This is where the data should be located in the Request headers section. Here is an example of Prosperworks API

Understanding this, you can now easily follow the sample request, and fill in the desired details into the Request headers section. Note that each line will represent one header data.