Title: wp rest api
Last modified: August 23, 2017

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# wp rest api

 *  Resolved [mycoding](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mycoding/)
 * (@mycoding)
 * [8 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp-rest-api-5/)
 * Hi, I have some question regarding wp rest api?
 * 1-What is the usage of “wp rest api”?
    2-Is it important to keep it? 3-Can I 
   delete it, how? 4-Many say that you should delete it as it increases site load
   time in header, is that correct? 5-Does it load auto by default or only when 
   it called? Thanks.
    -  This topic was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by [mycoding](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mycoding/).

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [8 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp-rest-api-5/#post-9442645)
 * The REST API allows WP to be compatible with a wide range of web services that
   go beyond browser based support. It makes WP “[RESTful](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer)“.
   We recommend keeping it for maximum compatibility, in particular with mobile 
   apps and possible future admin implementations. It’s very difficult to actually“
   delete” it, but it can be _[disabled](https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/using-the-rest-api/frequently-asked-questions/#can-i-disable-the-rest-api)_.
 * By default, the REST API outputs a single line in your page head for discovery
   purposes. The overhead to do this itself is negligible. Loading the related code
   base to implement RESTfulness does involve some overhead, but compared to the
   entire WP code base, it’s only a small part, along the lines of less than 400kB
   of PHP source code. In any case, even if disabled, the code is still loaded. 
   And fully deleting it in an otherwise compatible manner is just not possible.
 * Like most of WP, while the source code is almost always fully loaded, the vast
   majority of it never executes unless it is specifically needed, so the impact
   on normal HTTP browser requests is not that big of a deal, but it does contribute
   some. To know how much exactly would require some careful benchmarking. If you
   are that concerned with performance, you should seriously question why you are
   using WP at all. It’s not known for being highly fast and efficient. Still, if
   you have problems with site speed, the problem almost certainly lies else where,
   the core code is very rarely an issue. If you otherwise like WP, RESTfulness 
   is not worth worrying about IMO.
 *  Thread Starter [mycoding](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mycoding/)
 * (@mycoding)
 * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp-rest-api-5/#post-9523797)
 * Big thanks for your awesome help. I will keep it intact.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘wp rest api’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [api](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/api/)

 * In: [Developing with WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/wp-advanced/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [mycoding](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mycoding/)
 * Last activity: [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp-rest-api-5/#post-9523797)
 * Status: resolved

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