“WordPress 4.7 comes with REST API endpoints for posts, comments, terms, users, meta, and settings.” (Source: WordPress’ text about the API).

One of the great news in WordPress 4.7 is the REST API. Now it is possible to exchange data in the form of Json Objects.

Let’s try out the REST API in a simple terminal. In bash try this:

curl http://research-wordpress.dk/wp-json/wp/v2/categories

Perhaps the result above seems like gibberish to the uninitiated. But if we use a Json parser online, you’ll get a human readable result.

If you’re eyes are in top condition, you can see:

• name: “Book Review”
• description: “As a researcher I read a lot of books … etc.”

So a standard WordPress installation is able to exchange data between a behemoth of platforms, such as apps on mobile devices, and any kind of code that’s able to process Json, such as:

• Ajax
• Python
• Bash
• PHP
• Ruby
• Nodejs
• etc.

The possibilities are virtually endless. REST API marks a huge step foreward.

Read more: REST API Reference.