API in simple terms: how it works, why it is important, and why short links are needed

If you work in digital, sooner or later you will come across three letters that sound like the password to a closed developer club: API. The word is familiar, the meaning seems clear... but it's still somehow uncomfortable to ask. Because everyone seems to be "in the know."

So let's go without pathos, without technical snobbery - in simple language. What it is, why it's important, and why you should know it, even if you're a marketer or content creator, not a developer.

What is an API?

Imagine there is a restaurant. In the kitchen there is a chef, pots, spices, meat. But you are not allowed in there. You sit at a table and communicate only with the waiter. He takes the order, passes it to the kitchen, and then brings the dish. The waiter in this story is an API. An interface that allows you to interact with the system (kitchen) without going inside.

In the digital world, it's the same. API (Application Programming Interface) is a "waiter" between applications, websites, CRM, CMS, services. You don't see what's happening behind the scenes. You just send a request, get a response, and everything works.

Do you want the site to show the latest comments? Send a request via the API. Do you want to send an SMS from CRM? Same story. Do you want to automatically generate a short link? Without the API - no way.

Where the API is used (spoiler: everywhere)

Even if you've never written a line of code in your life, the API is already working for you. When you:

• you choose delivery by Nova Poshta on the website - API;

• enter the address in Google Maps — API;

• add a product to the Shopify cart — API;

• you receive a push notification in the application — also an API.

Everything that looks like "magical service-to-service interaction" is just a well-tuned API. It takes data from one system, shoves it into another, and it's like they've known each other for a long time.

Why is this important?

Because API is automation. And automation is your time, your productivity, and your nervous system.

Without API you:

• manually create a link, copy the UTM, paste it into the email;

• you independently pull data from Google Analytics and compare it with sales;

• copy-paste texts, images, product IDs from one system to another.

But with the API:

• data from one system is automatically transferred to another;

• any process that can be described as "if → then" is automated;

• even a marketer can run complex campaigns without touching the code.

API is the glue that holds all your tools together. And when everything works, you don't even notice its existence. But when the API falls apart, Excel, manuals, nerves, and three coffees in a row begin.

How do short links work via API?

Okay, a little practice. You have a bunch of UTM-tagged links — from emails, ads, segments. And you want to avoid inserting it all manually. What do you do?

You are using the surl.li API — a Ukrainian service that allows you to create short, branded, managed links through a simple request.

What does the process look like?

1. Do you have the full link:
   https://hyperhost.ua/index.php?id=123&utm_source=telegram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=summer_sale

2. You send it to surl.li via the API, you can immediately set the campaign name, TTL, and branded domain.

3. At the exit, you will receive a beautiful short link: surl.li/abc123 or go.myshop.com/summer123

This link can be inserted into an email, attached to a Telegram bot, thrown into an advertising banner or updated via API if the landing page has changed. And this whole process takes a few seconds. No manual editing, no errors in UTM, no analytics break. Just a request - response - result. And so you saved yourself half a day.

Conclusion

APIs aren’t scary or “for developers.” They’re like a power outlet: you don’t have to know how electricity works to use it. But it’s better to have a tool in your arsenal that turns everything on.

And if you work with links, campaigns, content — the surl.li API allows you to not only shorten links, but also reduce time, costs, and the number of errors.

So if you're still creating everything by hand, it's time to get to know the "waiter." He knows how to make your order fast, beautiful, and accurate.