# Ajax API overview

> How the Shoplazza Ajax API works: what storefront JavaScript can use it for, how to send a request from a theme, and why endpoints need locale-aware URLs.

The Ajax API provides a suite of lightweight REST API endpoints for the development of [Shoplazza themes](/docs/theme/getting-started/).

:::note
The Ajax API can only be used by themes that are hosted by Shoplazza.
:::

## Use cases

Possible uses of the Ajax API include:

* Add products to the cart and update the cart item counter.
* Display related product recommendations.
* Suggest products and collections to visitors as they type in a search field.
* Register a customer, sign them in, and manage their profile and addresses.
* Show a customer their orders and the tracking status of a shipment.
* Pull blog articles, custom pages, and navigation menus into a section.
* Read the metafields of a product, a collection, or the shop from JavaScript.

See the [Ajax API reference](/docs/theme/references/ajax-api/cart) for a full list of available API endpoints.

***

## Making requests to the API

The Ajax API accepts four types of HTTP requests:

* `GET` requests to read store data, such as the cart, products, collections, customers, and orders
* `POST` requests to create data or submit a form, such as adding to the cart or signing a customer in
* `PATCH` requests to modify data, such as a cart line item or a customer address
* `DELETE` requests to delete data, such as a cart line item or a customer address

For instance, to fetch the current content of the cart, send a client-side request to the store `/api/cart` endpoint.

```javascript title="Example"
fetch(window.SHOPLAZZA.routes.root + '/api/cart')
  .then(response => response.json())
  .then(data => { /* do something */});
```

***

## Locale-aware URLs

Stores can have dynamic URLs generated for them when they sell internationally or in multiple languages. When using the Ajax API, it’s important to use dynamic, locale-aware URLs so that you can give visitors a consistent experience for the language and country that they’ve chosen.

The global value `window.SHOPLAZZA.routes.root` is available to use as a base when building locale-aware URLs in JavaScript. The global value will always end in an empty string, so you can safely use simple string concatenation to build the full URLs.