Glossary

Review the definitions for terms used across Cloudflare’s API Shield documentation.

Term	Definition
API call	Also known as an API request. An API call is a message sent to a server asking an API to provide a service or information.
API endpoint	The API endpoint is the location where API calls or requests are fulfilled. API Shield defines endpoints as a host, method, and path tuple.
API schema	The API schema defines which API requests are valid based on several request properties like target endpoint, path or query variable format, and HTTP method.
session identifier	A session identifier is a unique number that a website assigns to identify a specific user for the duration of their visit.
source endpoint	The source endpoint is the endpoint managed by API Shield in Endpoint Management by its routing feature.
target endpoint	The target endpoint is the ultimate destination that a request is sent to by API Shield's routing feature.