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I have a resource that represents a collection of tags:
/users/{username}/tags
An API client should be able to add a set of tags to this collection in a single HTTP request. I thought about how to do this and first thought about using the PUT or POST methods. However I think this would imply that the client is "setting" or "replacing" the tags in that collection. What would be the most appropriate HTTP method (or perhaps a different mechanism) to "add" multiple tags to that collection?
{HTTP METHOD} /users/{username}/tags
Request Body:
["short", "crazy", "funny"]
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Method 1: POST POST is the only RESTful API HTTP method that primarily operates on resource collections. When creating a subordinate resource in a collection, applying POST to the parent resource prompts it to create a new resource, associate it with the proper hierarchy and return a dedicated URL for later reference.
The HTTP GET method retrieves a resource representation. It is safe and idempotent. Repeated GET requests do not change any resources. The HTTP PUT method is often used to update resources or to create a new entity at a known URL.
In HTTP there are five methods that are commonly used in a REST-based Architecture i.e., POST, GET, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE. These correspond to create, read, update, and delete (or CRUD) operations respectively.
PUT /users/alganet/tags replaces all the tags.
POST /users/alganet/tags adds more tags.
You can also use PATCH.
PATCH /users/alganet/tags changes tags.
Possible body:
{"POST":["rest", "php"], "DELETE":["soap"]}
The body must have a specific patch format matching the Accept-Patch header. The sample body above is a custom format for patches, but you could use a clean diff for example.
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If the tags being sent in the request body are intended to be added to a collection, rather than replace, I would suggest POST. If you intend to replace the existing tags, use PUT.
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