Building Blocks for HTTP APIs Working Group

This is the home page of the IETF Building Blocks for HTTP APIs (HTTPAPI) Working Group.

Our mission is to create standard technical specifications to improve use of HTTP for machine-to-machine communications, including HTTP extensions, formats, and best practices.

See our:

• Charter - our scope of work
• Working Group Materials - agendas, minutes, etc.
• Mailing list - announcements, calls for consensus, and general discussion of our work
• Discussion repo - alternative venue for discussing ideas about new specifications

Current and Upcoming Work [Updated March 2024]

The group is currently working on the following specifications (in the GitHub repository indicated). The step in the progress graph with an orange circle represents the current state of the document. The pink colour indicates the status at the last IETF meeting :

Link-Template HTTP Header Field - repository

graph LR
    classDef current fill:orange
    classDef lastIETF fill:pink

    WG-Adopt --draft-02--> WGLC
    WGLC --> AD-Review
    AD-Review --> IETF-LC
    IETF-LC --> IANA-Review
    IANA-Review --> IESG-Review((IESG-Review))
    IETF-LC --draft-03--> IESG-Review
    IESG-Review --> RFC-Editor
    RFC-Editor --> RFC   

    class IESG-Review current

The Idempotency-Key HTTP Header Field - repository

graph LR
    classDef current fill:orange
    classDef lastIETF fill:pink

    WG-Adopt((WG Adopt)) --draft-04--> WGLC
    class WG-Adopt current
    WGLC --> AD-Review
    AD-Review --> IETF-LC
    IETF-LC --> IESG-Review
    IESG-Review --> RFC-Editor
    RFC-Editor --> RFC

RateLimit Fields for HTTP - repository

graph LR
    classDef current fill:orange
    classDef lastIETF fill:pink

    WG-Adopt((WG Adopt)) --draft-07--> WGLC
    class WG-Adopt current
    WGLC --> AD-Review
    AD-Review --> IETF-LC
    IETF-LC --> IESG-Review
    IESG-Review --> RFC-Editor
    RFC-Editor --> RFC

REST API Media Types - repository

graph LR
    classDef current fill:orange
    classDef lastIETF fill:pink

    WG-Adopt((WG Adopt)) --draft-05--> WGLC
    class WG-Adopt current
    WGLC --> AD-Review
    AD-Review --> IETF-LC
    IETF-LC --> IESG-Review
    IESG-Review --> RFC-Editor
    RFC-Editor --> RFC

The Deprecation HTTP Header Field - repository

graph LR
    classDef current fill:orange
    classDef lastIETF fill:pink

    WG-Adopt((WG Adopt)) --draft-03--> WGLC
    class WG-Adopt current
    WGLC --> AD-Review
    AD-Review --> IETF-LC
    IETF-LC --> IESG-Review
    IESG-Review --> RFC-Editor
    RFC-Editor --> RFC

API Catalog

graph LR
    classDef current fill:orange
    classDef lastIETF fill:pink

    WG-Adopt((WG Adopt)) --draft-00-02--> WGLC
    class WG-Adopt current
    WGLC --> AD-Review
    AD-Review --> IETF-LC
    IETF-LC --> IESG-Review
    IESG-Review --> RFC-Editor
    RFC-Editor --> RFC

Byte Range Patch

graph LR
    classDef current fill:orange
    classDef lastIETF fill:pink

    WG-Adopt((WG Adopt)) --draft-01--> WGLC
    class WG-Adopt current
    WGLC --> AD-Review
    AD-Review --> IETF-LC
    IETF-LC --> IESG-Review
    IESG-Review --> RFC-Editor
    RFC-Editor --> RFC

Authentication Link Relations

graph LR
    classDef current fill:orange
    classDef lastIETF fill:pink

    WG-Adopt((WG Adopt)) --draft-00--> WGLC
    class WG-Adopt current
    WGLC --> AD-Review
    AD-Review --> IETF-LC
    IETF-LC --> IESG-Review
    IESG-Review --> RFC-Editor
    RFC-Editor --> RFC

Link Hint

graph LR
    classDef current fill:orange
    classDef lastIETF fill:pink

    WG-Adopt((WG Adopt)) --draft-00-01--> WGLC
    class WG-Adopt current
    WGLC --> AD-Review
    AD-Review --> IETF-LC
    IETF-LC --> IESG-Review
    IESG-Review --> RFC-Editor
    RFC-Editor --> RFC

Completed Work

Linkset: Media Types and a Link Relation Type for Link Sets - repository

graph LR
    classDef current fill:orange
    classDef lastIETF fill:pink

    WG-Adopt -- draft-00-06 --> WGLC
    WGLC --> AD-Review
    AD-Review -- draft-06-08 --> IANA-Review
    IANA-Review --draft-09--> IETF-LC
    IETF-LC --draft-10--> IESG-Review
    IESG-Review --> RFC-Editor
    RFC-Editor --> RFC((RFC9624))
    class RFC current

Problem Details for HTTP APIs - repository

graph LR
    classDef current fill:orange
    classDef lastIETF fill:pink

    WG-Adopt --draft-03--> WGLC
    WGLC --draft-04--> AD-Review
    AD-Review --> IETF-LC
    IETF-LC --> IANA-Review 
    IETF-LC --draft-06--> IESG-Review   
    IANA-Review --draft-04--> IESG-Review
    IESG-Review --draft-07--> RFC-Editor
    RFC-Editor --> RFC((RFC 9457)) 

    class RFC current

YAML Media Type - repository

graph LR
    classDef current fill:orange
    classDef lastIETF fill:pink

    WG-Adopt --draft-03--> WGLC
    WGLC --draft-04--> AD-Review
    AD-Review --> IETF-LC
    IETF-LC --> IESG-Review
    IETF-LC --> IANA-Review
    IANA-Review --> IESG-Review
    IESG-Review --> RFC-Editor
    RFC-Editor --draft-09-10--> RFC9512((RFC 9512))
    
    class RFC-Editor lastIETF
    class RFC9512 current

See also the official document listing.

We talk about potential future work on the mailing list and in the discussion repo.

Who Should Participate

We think that the following sorts of people will be able to effectively contribute to this work:

• HTTP standards experts: Those with deep understanding of and experience with the protocol
• API practitioners: Those who create, operate, and use HTTP APIs often
• API vendors: Those who provide products (commercial or Open Source) for serving, designing, securing, etc. APIs

Others are, of course, welcome to join.

How to Participate

Everyone who participates needs to understand the IETF NOTE WELL conditions. This includes the Intellectual Property terms, code of conduct, and other important policies.

If you plan on actively participating, subscribing to the working group mailing list is encouraged but not required.

Anyone can make comments or pull requests to the specification repositories (see above).