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---
title: "API - Glossary | MDN"
chunk: 1/3
source: "https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/API"
category: "reference"
tags: "web, html, css, javascript, documentation"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T05:23:33.899787+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
* [Skip to main content](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/API#content)
* [Skip to search](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/API#search)
[ MDN ](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/)
HTML
[HTML: Markup language](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML)
HTML reference
* [Elements](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Elements)
* [Global attributes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Global_attributes)
* [Attributes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Attributes)
* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference "See all HTML references")
HTML guides
* [Responsive images](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides/Responsive_images)
* [HTML cheatsheet](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides/Cheatsheet)
* [Date & time formats](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides/Date_and_time_formats)
* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides "See all HTML guides")
Markup languages
* [SVG](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/SVG)
* [MathML](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/MathML)
* [XML](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/XML)
CSS
[CSS: Styling language](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS)
CSS reference
* [Properties](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Properties)
* [Selectors](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Selectors)
* [At-rules](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/At-rules)
* [Values](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Values)
* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference "See all CSS references")
CSS guides
* [Box model](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Box_model/Introduction)
* [Animations](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Animations/Using)
* [Flexbox](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Flexible_box_layout/Basic_concepts)
* [Colors](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Colors/Applying_color)
* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides "See all CSS guides")
Layout cookbook
* [Column layouts](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook/Column_layouts)
* [Centering an element](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook/Center_an_element)
* [Card component](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook/Card)
* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook)
JavaScriptJS
[JavaScript: Scripting language](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript)
JS reference
* [Standard built-in objects](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects)
* [Expressions & operators](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators)
* [Statements & declarations](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements)
* [Functions](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Functions)
* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference "See all JavaScript references")
JS guides
* [Control flow & error handing](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Control_flow_and_error_handling)
* [Loops and iteration](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Loops_and_iteration)
* [Working with objects](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Working_with_objects)
* [Using classes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Using_classes)
* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide "See all JavaScript guides")
Web APIs
[Web APIs: Programming interfaces](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API)
Web API reference
* [File system API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/File_System_API)
* [Fetch API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API)
* [Geolocation API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Geolocation_API)
* [HTML DOM API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTML_DOM_API)
* [Push API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Push_API)
* [Service worker API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Service_Worker_API)
* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API "See all Web API guides")
Web API guides
* [Using the Web animation API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Animations_API/Using_the_Web_Animations_API)
* [Using the Fetch API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API/Using_Fetch)
* [Working with the History API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/History_API/Working_with_the_History_API)
* [Using the Web speech API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Speech_API/Using_the_Web_Speech_API)
* [Using web workers](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Workers_API/Using_web_workers)
All
[All web technology](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web)
Technologies
* [Accessibility](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Accessibility)
* [HTTP](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP)
* [URI](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/URI)
* [Web extensions](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions)
* [WebAssembly](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/WebAssembly)
* [WebDriver](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/WebDriver)
* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web "See all web technology references")
Topics
* [Media](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Media)
* [Performance](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Performance)
* [Privacy](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Privacy)
* [Security](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security)
* [Progressive web apps](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Progressive_web_apps)
Learn
[Learn web development](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development)
Frontend developer course
* [Getting started modules](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started)
* [Core modules](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core)
* [MDN Curriculum](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/curriculum/)
* [Check out the video course from Scrimba, our partner](https://scrimba.com/frontend-path-c0j?via=mdn-learn-navbar)
Learn HTML
* [Structuring content with HTML module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content)
Learn CSS
* [CSS styling basics module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics)
* [CSS layout module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout)
Learn JavaScript
* [Dynamic scripting with JavaScript module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting)
Tools
Discover our tools
* [Playground](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/play)
* [HTTP Observatory](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/observatory)
* [Border-image generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Backgrounds_and_borders/Border-image_generator)
* [Border-radius generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Backgrounds_and_borders/Border-radius_generator)
* [Box-shadow generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Backgrounds_and_borders/Box-shadow_generator)
* [Color format converter](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Colors/Color_format_converter)
* [Color mixer](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Colors/Color_mixer)
* [Shape generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Shapes/Shape_generator)
About
Get to know MDN better
* [About MDN](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/about)
* [Advertise with us](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/advertising)
* [Community](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/community)
* [MDN on GitHub](https://github.com/mdn)
[Blog](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/blog/)
1. [Glossary](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary)
2. [API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/API)
# API
An **API** (Application Programming Interface) is a set of features and rules that exist inside a software program (the application) enabling interaction with it through software - as opposed to a human user interface. The API can be seen as a simple contract (the interface) between the application offering it and other items, such as third-party software or hardware.
In Web development, an API is generally a set of code features (e.g., [methods](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Method), [properties](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Property), events, and [URLs](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/URL)) that a developer can use in their apps for interacting with components of a user's web browser, other software/hardware on the user's computer, or third-party websites and services.
For example:
* The [getUserMedia](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/MediaDevices/getUserMedia) API can be used to grab audio and video from a user's webcam, which is then available to the developer, for example, recording video and audio, broadcasting it to another user in a conference call, or capturing image stills from the video.
* The [Geolocation API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Geolocation) can be used to retrieve location information from services the user has available on their device (e.g., GPS), which can then be used in conjunction with other services, such as the [Google Maps APIs](https://developers.google.com/maps/), to plot the user's location on a custom map and show them what tourist attractions are in their area.
* The [Web Animations API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Animations_API) can be used to animate parts of a web page — for example, to programmatically move or rotate images.
## In this article
* [See also](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/API#see_also)
## [See also](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/API#see_also)
* [Web API reference](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API)
* [API](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API) on Wikipedia
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