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

RESTful definition confusion is *real*. Here’s the tl;dr:

REST is an architectural style, not a protocol. HTTP + JSON is just the common implementation.

HATEOAS? Fancy way of saying "the API tells you what you can do next." Useful for discoverability, but not mandatory.

Your GET/POST/PUT/DELETE setup is RESTful *enough* for most cases.

For tools, Insomnia or httpie are great for testing RESTful behavior.