Curriculum
A guided path from “what is an API” to building a real ETL pipeline. Start with the fundamentals — JSON, URLs, and HTTP, explained generically — then every later lesson maps to live endpoints you call with curl, n8n, or Power Query. Work through it in order, or jump to what you need.
Examples use https://api.ifsjaipur.cloud — replace it with your API domain.
Foundations
- 8 min
What is an API & your first app
The mental model behind every API integration, and how to get real credentials to practice with.
- 9 min
JSON fundamentals
The data format every API — and every AI tool — speaks: objects, arrays, the six value types, and how it compares to XML.
- 8 min
Anatomy of a URL
Every part of a web address — scheme, host, port, path, query — and the words people mix up: endpoint, resource, base URL.
- 11 min
HTTP: requests, responses & headers
The request/response exchange behind every API: methods, status codes, MIME types, and the headers that matter for automation.
- 8 min
Webhooks: when the API calls you
The reverse of a normal API call — the server notifies you the instant something happens, instead of you asking over and over.
HTTP & Networking
- 8 min
Methods, content types & uploads
GET/POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE and how to send JSON, form data, XML, and files.
- 10 min
Resilience: timeouts, retries, redirects, batching
Real networks fail. Practice the settings that make an integration robust.
- 8 min
CORS: cross-origin requests
Why a browser blocks some API calls — and how servers opt in with CORS headers.
Authentication
- 6 min
Basic Authentication
The simplest auth: a username and password, base64-encoded into one header.
- 6 min
API Key auth (header & query)
A single secret key, sent in a header (recommended) or the query string (weaker).
- 5 min
Bearer tokens
A token you present as "Authorization: Bearer <token>" — the shape most modern APIs use.
- 10 min
Digest & HMAC signatures
Two schemes that never send the secret over the wire — used by legacy and trading/payment APIs.
- 10 min
JWT: JSON Web Tokens
A signed, self-describing token. Learn its three parts and why each claim matters.
- 12 min
OAuth 1.0a (3-legged)
The older signed-request flow (Twitter-style): request token → authorize → access token.
- 12 min
OAuth2 client credentials (n8n)
The machine-to-machine grant n8n uses most: exchange your credentials for a short-lived token.
- 10 min
OAuth2 grant types compared
Client Credentials vs Authorization Code vs PKCE vs Refresh — which to use, and why.
Data & ETL
Web Scraping
- 7 min
When there is no API — scraping vs APIs
Sometimes the data only lives in a web page. What scraping is, when to use it, and the one trap that catches everyone.
- 9 min
CSS selectors for extraction
The handful of selector patterns that let you pull almost any field — and how to write ones that survive a redesign.
- 9 min
Scraping in n8n & Power Query
Turn selectors into data with n8n HTML Extract node and Power Query Html.Table — including how to grab attributes, not just text.
Power Query (M)
- 12 min
Power Query: Web.Contents & its options
The M function behind every web query — and the options record that controls it.
- 10 min
Power Query: authenticating requests
API keys, Bearer tokens, and Basic auth from M — inline and via data source credentials.
- 12 min
Power Query: fetch all pages
Use List.Generate to follow the relative "next" link until it runs out.
Power Automate
- 10 min
Power Automate: calling the API
Use the HTTP action to authenticate and pull data — and know what Power Automate can and cannot do here.
- 8 min
Power Automate: Custom Connector (OpenAPI)
Import the OpenAPI spec once and get typed actions with auth and auto-pagination handled.
- 8 min
Power Automate: pagination (Do Until)
When using the raw HTTP action, loop with Do Until following nextLink until it is empty.