Strapi APIs to access your content
Once you've created and configured a Strapi project, created a data structure with the Content-Type Builder and started adding data through the Content Manager, you likely would like to access your content.
From a front-end application, your content can be accessed through Strapi's Content API, which is exposed:
- by default through the REST API
- and also through the GraphQL API if you installed the Strapi built-in GraphQL plugin.
REST and GraphQL APIs represent the top-level layers of the Content API exposed to external applications. Strapi also provides 2 lower-level APIs:
- The Document Service API is the recommended API to interact with your application's database within the backend server or through plugins. The Document Service is the layer that handles documents as well as Strapi's complex data structures like components and dynamic zones.
- The Query Engine API interacts with the database layer at a lower level and is used under the hood to execute database queries. It gives unrestricted internal access to the database layer, but is not aware of any advanced Strapi features that Strapi 5 can handle, like Draft & Publish, Internationalization, Content History, and more.
⚠️ In most, if not all, use cases, you should use the Document Service API instead.
This documentation section includes reference information about the following Strapi APIs and some integration guides with 3rd party technologies:
REST API
Query the Content API from a front-end application through REST.
GraphQL API
Query the Content API from a front-end application through GraphQL.
Document Service API
Query your data through the backend server or plugins.
If you're looking for how to integrate Strapi with other platforms, please refer to Strapi's integrations pages.