:original_name: en-us_topic_0050065465.html .. _en-us_topic_0050065465: API Usage Guidelines ==================== Public cloud APIs comply with the RESTful API design principles. REST-based web services are organized into resources. Each resource is identified by one or more Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). An application accesses a resource based on the resource's Unified Resource Locator (URL). A URL is usually in the following format: https://*Endpoint/uri*. In the URL, *uri* indicates the resource path, that is, the API access path. Public cloud APIs use HTTPS as the transmission protocol. Requests/Responses are transmitted using JSON messages, with the media type represented by **Application/json**. For details about how to use APIs, see `API Usage Guidelines `__.