# Public API Glossary

## Scope

Baseline terms for future public API design and integration discussions.

## Terms

### Public API

Externally consumable endpoints intended for non-admin clients.

### Resource

Entity exposed by an API endpoint (for example: `page`, `media`, `news`).

### Contract

The stable request/response schema for an endpoint version.

### Version

Compatibility boundary for API contracts (for example: `v1`).

### Authentication

Identity verification mechanism for protected API routes.

### Authorization

Permission check determining whether an authenticated actor can access a resource/action.

### Pagination

Mechanism for splitting large result sets across requests.

### Idempotency

Property where repeating a request does not change final state beyond the first successful call.

### Rate Limit

Request threshold policy applied per consumer/time window.