---
mapped_pages:
  - https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/rest-apis.html
  - https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/serverless/current/elasticsearch-differences.html
---

# REST APIs

Elasticsearch exposes REST APIs that are used by the UI components and can be called directly to configure and access Elasticsearch features.

For API reference information, go to [Elasticsearch API](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch) and [Elasticsearch Serverless API](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch-serverless).

This section includes:

- [API conventions](/reference/elasticsearch/rest-apis/api-conventions.md)
- [Common options](/reference/elasticsearch/rest-apis/common-options.md)
- [Compatibility](/reference/elasticsearch/rest-apis/compatibility.md)
- [Examples](/reference/elasticsearch/rest-apis/api-examples.md)