Can someone clarify the exact RESTful definition for me? or What’s the simplest way to explain the RE

RESTful definition? Pfft. Half the APIs calling themselves "RESTful" barely scratch the surface.

The real deal is statelessness, resource-based URLs, and proper HTTP verbs. HATEOAS is cool but *way* overkill for most projects.

If you’re using GET/POST/PUT/DELETE cleanly, you’re already ahead of 80% of APIs out there.

For a quick sanity check, try Swagger/OpenAPI docs—they’ll keep you honest.