Requests the current representation of the target resource. Safe, idempotent and cacheable, GET is the most common HTTP method.
Quick facts
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Safe (does not modify state) | Yes |
| Idempotent (repeatable) | Yes |
| Cacheable | Yes |
Description
Requests the current representation of the target resource. Safe, idempotent and cacheable, GET is the most common HTTP method.
Example
curl https://api.example.com/users/1
Request example
GET /api/users HTTP/1.1 Host: example.com Accept: application/json
GET vs POST
| GET | POST |
|---|---|
| Retrieve data | Submit data |
| Safe | Not safe |
| Idempotent | Not necessarily |
| Cacheable | Usually not |
All HTTP methods
Frequently asked questions
GET is a safe method — it does not change resource state on the server.
GET is idempotent — repeated requests have the same effect as a single request.
Sources & standards
Updated 2026-08-18
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