There is no way of programmatically discovering REST services as they do not have a standard registry service.
Apart from doing something insane brute-force search there is no way of finding the right URLs ( not to mention the right parameters). So the only option is documenting your API. For that the best choice I have seen so far is:
- Swagger
- And people also like API Blueprint.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › finding api endpoints in the browsers debug/developer mode.
r/learnprogramming on Reddit: Finding API endpoints in the browsers debug/developer mode.
January 26, 2022 -
Hello,
I think it will be easiest if I start with an example. There is a car rental website where you can search for and book a rental. You put the dates in and the page will look for availability and prices. The provider of that website does not seem to publish its API details anywhere.
My understanding of how web apps work is that once I fill in all my criteria my browser then makes a call to the backend servers to fetch the results which it will then present to me.
If that is the case is it possible to use my browser debug/developer windows and check the communication that the browser is performing and capture the API call that it's running to the backed so that I could reuse it in a script that I would like to create?
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Others have answered with some of the potential issues, but haven't actually answered how to find the endpoints, so I guess I'll do that. Open the browser developer tools (default keybind is F12.) Go to the Network tab. Refresh the page to see all requests made while the page initially loads. There might be relevant stuff there. Once the page is loaded, fill out whatever form you need to and submit it. The new request(s) will be shown in the Network tab. All you can do is look at the requests and try to figure out which are the ones you're actually interested in. There will be plenty of clues to help you figure that out, for instance the URL and the request and response data.
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It is not necessarily the case that you would be able to use their api from your script even if you could find the endpoint and figure out the correct data format. They could, and probably should, be using csrf tokens and cors. Maybe even have some sort of authentication tied to it.
Does anyone know how to find an endpoint in an API given a JSON file? Oct 15, 2021
r/learnjavascript 4y ago
Top answer 1 of 3
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There is no way of programmatically discovering REST services as they do not have a standard registry service.
Apart from doing something insane brute-force search there is no way of finding the right URLs ( not to mention the right parameters). So the only option is documenting your API. For that the best choice I have seen so far is:
- Swagger
- And people also like API Blueprint.
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Some RESTful APIs publish a Web Application Description Language resource (WADL - pronounced like the walk that ducks do - for short). JAX-RS, or at least Jersy webapps will do this by default at the application root URL /application.wadl. It doesn't appear that Twitter's API is one of these. Many REST purists would argue that the API should be self describing and self discoverable simply by interacting with it and seeing what other endpoints it will give you.
More about WADL from wikipedia...
Programmatic way to get all API endpoints for my instance?
I’m looking for a way to get a definitive list of the API endpoints available in my Discourse instance. It can sometimes be difficult to know what APIs are available to me when looking to build an integration into the platform. More on meta.discourse.org
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April 21, 2025Script to get all possible Rest endpoints
If the company doesn’t have documentation or an api schema file then it’s usually not possible to crawl or figure out the other end points and params. If the framework is common then it may be guessable from one to the other for get but good luck again with what the params could be unless the framework perfectly named things as seen in the forms More on reddit.com
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January 16, 2024web application - How I can enumerate all endpoints of an API? - Information Security Stack Exchange
Information Security is part of Stack Overflow’s open communities: specialist spaces where curiosity is welcome, knowledge is shared freely, and the best answers rise to the top. Find your community · The 2026 Annual Developer Survey Results Site is live— view the results here!. ... Let's say I have an API api.example.com and I want to test all endpoints... More on security.stackexchange.com
Where to do I find the endpoint URL?
I’m writing a Google Apps Script to populate a Google Sheet. Working in 3.5, but cannot find the endpoint URL to plug in to the code ANYWHERE. Yes, this is my first time. More on community.openai.com
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October 6, 202309:03
How To Find HIDDEN API Endpoints In JAVASCRIPT - YouTube
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What is an API Endpoint? - YouTube
Medium
iaraoz.medium.com › hacking-apis-discovering-enumeration-api-endpoint-b38590ab78e3
Hacking APIs: Discovering & Enumeration API/Endpoint | by Israel Aráoz Severiche | Medium
November 14, 2023 - It's just an example, you need to keep in mind about that “each webapp has different structure of resource, I think the most important is create a solid process or methodology to review. I’ve been working with dirb since I can recall, Yeah you know is kind of “old but gold”, major of those tool need a proper list of common word (dictionary)to compare api/endpoint to the server. Using dirb we found 3 resources with status code 200, the same resources that we found previously in the manual review inside the config.js
Apify
docs.apify.com › api scraping › general api scraping
Locating API endpoints | Academy | Apify Documentation
We can use the Filter option to search for the keyword tracks, and see if any endpoints have been hit that include that word. Multiple results may still be in the list when using this feature, so it is important to carefully examine the payloads ...
DEV Community
dev.to › ikram_khan › finding-api-endpoints-scrape-the-data-source-not-the-website-2a49
Finding API Endpoints: Scrape the Data Source, Not the Website - DEV Community
January 3, 2026 - import scrapy import json from urllib.parse import urlencode class ProductApiSpider(scrapy.Spider): name = 'product_api' # API base URL (found in Network tab) api_base = 'https://api.example.com/v2/products' # Headers (copied from Network tab) headers = { 'Authorization': 'Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...', 'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0...', 'Accept': 'application/json' } def start_requests(self): # Start with page 1 params = { 'page': 1, 'limit': 50, 'category': 'electronics', 'sort': 'popularity' } url = f'{self.api_base}?{urlencode(params)}' yield scrapy.Request(url, headers=self
Medium
infosecwriteups.com › 5-methods-i-use-to-discover-apis-6d646baa3ffb
5 Methods I Use To Discover APIs. While working on a target, some of the… | by Chux | InfoSec Write-ups
June 17, 2024 - There are many tools these days that do great job in API discovery through fuzzing. For simple GET requests with a list of endpoints we can always use tools like Burp Intruder, ffuf, GoBuster, Kiterunner, and even building our own fuzzer. In most cases, I find ffuf and Kiterunner as great tools, not only in terms of speed, but also the useful features it brings on like filtering by size, status code, words and more.
Code Institute
codeinstitute.net › blog › api › what is an api endpoint?
What Is an API Endpoint? - Code Institute Global
September 11, 2023 - These are the arguments that were supplied to the API in the request. The result sets, where you’ll find the headers and row set. The headers inform you of the column order, while each item in the row set is effectively the result of a database query. If the response matches what you are looking for, voila, you have found the API endpoint.
Postman
postman.com › api-evangelist › imperva › request › urwnn9l › retrieve-all-apis-and-endpoints-for-a-site
Retrieve all APIs and endpoints for a site | Imperva
We cannot provide a description for this page right now
Medium
medium.com › @alostwarrior › how-to-find-endpoints-in-web-applications-541ee1225b05
HOW TO FIND ENDPOINTS IN WEB APPLICATIONS | by Tushar Singh | Medium
December 7, 2022 - You also need to identify the valuable data (e.g. confidential, sensitive, regulated) in the application, by interviewing developers and users of the system, and again by reviewing the source code. Read more about attack surface Attack Surface Analysis Cheat Sheet · There are a lot of tools to monitor the attack surface, BURP Suite is one of them. We can use burp to find the endpoints and intercept request and response as well.
I'd Rather Be Writing
idratherbewriting.com › learnapidoc › docapis_resource_endpoints.html
Step 2: Endpoints and methods (API reference tutorial) | I'd Rather Be Writing Blog and API doc course
1 week ago - Sometimes the method is referred to as the “verb.” GET, PUT, POST, PATCH, and DELETE are all verbs or actions. ... When you describe the endpoint, you list the end path only (hence the term “end point”). The full path that contains both the base path and the endpoint is often called a resource URL. In our sample API scenario, the endpoint is just /surfreport/{beachId}. You don’t have to list the full resource URL every time (which would be https://api.openweathermap.org/surfreport/{beachId}).
Ammune Security
ammune.ai › blog › how-to-find-api-endpoints-of-a-website
How to Find API Endpoints of a Website | Ammune.ai
June 26, 2026 - Application code may reference API base URLs, route constants, GraphQL operations, SDK calls, and service names. API gateways, load balancers, reverse proxies, WAFs, service meshes, and application logs often reveal active API routes. Runtime API discovery tools can identify endpoints, methods, parameters, response fields, sensitive data, and behavior from traffic. Match discovered endpoints against known API inventory to find shadow APIs, zombie APIs, duplicates, and unmanaged routes.
Discourse
meta.discourse.org › development
Programmatic way to get all API endpoints for my instance? - Development - Discourse Meta
April 21, 2025 - I’m looking for a way to get a definitive list of the API endpoints available in my Discourse instance. It can sometimes be difficult to know what APIs are available to me when looking to build an integration into the pl…
DEV Community
dev.to › shrsv › a-simple-tool-to-quickly-find-api-entry-points-across-all-your-repositories-2pe9
A Simple Tool To Quickly Find API Entry Points Across All Your Repositories - DEV Community
March 7, 2026 - Fast search: Need to find /users/{id}/profile? Type it in, and LiveAPI spits out the exact endpoint, parameters, and even a description if you’ve got one documented. Source code links: One click, and you’re at the exact file and line—like jumping from R1, F1, L1 to R2, F2, L2 without breaking a sweat. Think of it like a GPS for your APIs...
Danaepp
danaepp.com › finding-hidden-api-endpoints-using-path-prediction
Finding Hidden API Endpoints Using Path Prediction – Dana Epp's Blog
February 26, 2026 - Developers often follow a logical and consistent structure when creating these paths (sometimes called routes), making them somewhat predictable. This predictability is utilized in path prediction to guess potential hidden endpoints based on the known API structure. It involves studying the URL structure, endpoint patterns, and other discernible indicators within the API documentation or code.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/webdev › script to get all possible rest endpoints
r/webdev on Reddit: Script to get all possible Rest endpoints
January 16, 2024 -
Anyone know of a script or robot that can take a rest API base and search for all possible end points via brute force? For example I tell it to go to abc.com/rest/api/3/ and it fetches all possible endings to that which could be either a GET or other method.
Top answer 1 of 4
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If the company doesn’t have documentation or an api schema file then it’s usually not possible to crawl or figure out the other end points and params. If the framework is common then it may be guessable from one to the other for get but good luck again with what the params could be unless the framework perfectly named things as seen in the forms
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Using brute force would just be a few lines of code but it would take an eternity
Inspectelement
inspectelement.org › apis.html
Finding Undocumented APIs - Inspect Element
February 24, 2023 - These responses are information-rich, and contain fields that don’t end up in the source code or in the user interface that most people encounter when they visit a site. Further, we can reverse-engineer how this request is made, and use it to collect structured data at scale. This is the power of finding undocumented APIs.
OpenAI Developer Community
community.openai.com › api
Where to do I find the endpoint URL? - API - OpenAI Developer Community
October 6, 2023 - I’m writing a Google Apps Script to populate a Google Sheet. Working in 3.5, but cannot find the endpoint URL to plug in to the code ANYWHERE. Yes, this is my first time.
Postman
blog.postman.com › home › what is an api endpoint? understanding api urls and routes
What is an API Endpoint? Understanding API URLs and Routes
December 16, 2025 - Every API endpoint includes several important parts: Base URL: The root address for the API, such as https://api.postman.com · Path: The resource you’re interacting with, such as /workspaces or /collections/12345 · HTTP method: GET to retrieve, POST to create, PUT to replace, PATCH to modify, DELETE to remove
OpenRewrite
docs.openrewrite.org › recipe catalog › java › spring › search › find spring api endpoints
Find Spring API endpoints | OpenRewrite Docs
Use the Moderne recipe catalog instead. ... Find all HTTP API endpoints exposed by Spring applications. More specifically, this marks method declarations annotated with @RequestMapping, @GetMapping, @PostMapping, @PutMapping, @DeleteMapping, and @PatchMapping as search results. GitHub: FindApiEndpoints.java, Issue Tracker, Code Genome Project
Published: September 4, 2026