The Heroku Platform API is a set of HTTP endpoints that enables us to fully manage our applications. Each endpoint has a set of available actions. They are RESTful; this means that they use HTTP request types (GET, PATCH, POST, and DELETE) to determine what action we want from the API. GET is used to retrieve data such as a list of our applications. PATCH is used to make updates to the existing data, such as making a change to a configuration variable. POST is used to create something new, such as a new application. Finally, DELETE is used for exactly what it sounds like, deleting data.
In this recipe, we will learn about the conventions to make requests to the Heroku API. We will also be introduced to HTTPie, which is a command-line tool to send HTTP requests. It's similar to cURL, but easier to use.