REST API Response Explained | Status Codes & Response Body | System Design | 8

A beginner-friendly overview of REST API responses covering the most common HTTP status codes (200, 201, 204, 301, 302, 400, 401, 403, 404, 500) and best practices for structuring response bodies. Key advice includes always wrapping response data in a JSON object rather than returning a bare array, which improves flexibility for future changes without breaking client-side code. A mapping of HTTP methods (GET, POST, DELETE) to their expected status codes and response shapes is also provided.