In the architecture of Juniper Mist AI, the RESTful API is the foundational interface for all automation, monitoring, and configuration tasks.1 When building automation for a REST (Representational State Transfer) API, HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is the protocol used as the transport mechanism. REST is an architectural style that leverages the existing standards of the web, and in the case of the Mist Cloud, it specifically mandates the use of HTTPS to ensure that all data transmitted between the automation script (the client) and the Mist Cloud (the server) is encrypted and secure.
HTTPS acts as the "delivery truck" for the API requests.2 It carries the HTTP methods—such as GET (to retrieve data), POST (to create new objects), PUT (to update existing ones), and DELETE (to remove them)—across the network to specific Mist API endpoints (e.g., api.mist.com). While the actual data being transported is typically formatted in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), the underlying protocol that handles the connection, session negotiation, and data encapsulation is HTTPS.
Mist's "100% API" philosophy means that every feature available in the GUI is accessible via these HTTPS-based calls.3 This allows developers to use various tools and languages to interact with the platform. For example, a developer might write a script in Python (C) or use an orchestration tool like Ansible (A), but both of these will ultimately generate HTTPS requests to communicate with the Mist backend. Similarly, while some older APIs used XML (B) for data structure, modern RESTful services like Mist exclusively use JSON for its lightweight and human-readable properties.4 Therefore, HTTPS remains the essential transport layer that enables the secure, stateless communication required for scalable cloud-native automation.
