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Advanced 16 min readModule: Module 6: Route Handlers & REST API Endpoints

Building REST Endpoints with route.ts

Implement custom HTTP endpoints using Web standard Request and Response objects.

What You Will Learn in This Lesson

  • Exporting HTTP method handlers: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE
  • Extracting query parameters and JSON request bodies
  • Returning structured JSON with NextResponse.json()

Introduction & Core Concept

Route Handlers allow you to create custom request handlers for a given route using the Web Request and Response APIs.
WHY DOES THIS MATTER IN THE REAL WORLD?

Route Handlers are used for external webhooks (Stripe, GitHub), third-party REST APIs, and mobile app integrations.

GET & POST Route Handler

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// app/api/courses/route.ts
import { NextResponse } from "next/server";
 
export async function GET(request: Request) {
  return NextResponse.json({ status: "success", timestamp: new Date().toISOString() });
}
 
export async function POST(request: Request) {
  const body = await request.json();
  return NextResponse.json({ message: "Course created", data: body }, { status: 201 });
}

Line-by-Line Technical Breakdown

1Route handlers are evaluated dynamically if they read request headers or searchParams.

Try It Yourself (Interactive Editor)

Modify the code in real-time and click Run to test live browser output and console logs.

Intelligent Code Runner & Live Sandbox[TYPESCRIPT]
TYPESCRIPT SOURCE EDITOR
Interactive Live Code

Industry Best Practices & Professional Standards

  • Use Server Actions for internal UI mutations and Route Handlers for external webhooks.

Lesson Summary & Core Takeaways

  • Route Handlers provide full-featured REST API engineering inside Next.js.