What type of API does Vault typically expose for integration?

Vault typically exposes a RESTful JSON API for integration. This design leverages the widely adopted principles of REST (Representational State Transfer), allowing for stateless communication between clients and the Vault server. The use of JSON as the data format ensures that the API is easy to work with across various programming languages and platforms, making integration straightforward and accessible to developers.

The RESTful JSON API enables various operations such as authentication, secret management, and policy management through standard HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE. This approach promotes clarity and simplicity, facilitating interactions with the Vault for different use cases, including retrieving secrets, configuring access controls, and auditing.

RESTful design is also conducive to the modular architecture that Vault employs, allowing different components and services to interact with Vault efficiently. The flexibility of REST APIs aids in broad integration possibilities across diverse ecosystems and microservices architectures, highlighting why it is the choice for Vault’s API.