# Via HTTP

In this section, you will explore querying SurrealDB using HTTP. The HTTP API is designed to be simple and intuitive, with a RESTful interface that provides a consistent way to interact with the database.

SurrealDB provides a [RESTful HTTP API](/docs/reference/rest-api/http-protocol.md) for interacting with the database programmatically. This is useful when you need to integrate SurrealDB into existing HTTP-based workflows, scripts, or environments where an SDK is not available.

## Using curl `POST /sql`

The `/sql` endpoint enables use of SurrealQL queries.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> This HTTP endpoint expects the HTTP body to be a set of SurrealQL statements.

### Headers

<table>
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th colspan="2">Header</th>
            <th colspan="2">Description</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td colspan="2" scope="row" data-label="Header">
                <code>Authorization</code>
               <label label="optional" />
            </td>
            <td colspan="2" scope="row" data-label="Description">
            Sets the root, namespace, database, or record authentication data
            </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td colspan="2" scope="row" data-label="Header">
                <code>Accept</code>
                <label label="required" />
            </td>
            <td colspan="2" scope="row" data-label="Description">
                Sets the desired content-type of the response
            </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td colspan="2" scope="row" data-label="Header">
                <code>surreal-ns</code>
                <label label="required" />
            </td>
            <td colspan="2" scope="row" data-label="Description">
                Sets the selected Namespace for queries.
            </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td colspan="2" scope="row" data-label="Header">
                <code>surreal-db</code>
                <label label="required" />
            </td>
            <td colspan="2" scope="row" data-label="Description">
                Sets the selected Database for queries.
            </td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>

### Example usage

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The `-u` in the example below is a shorthand used by curl to send an Authorization header.

```bash title="Request"
curl -X POST -u "root:secret" -H "surreal-ns: main" -H "surreal-db: main" -H "Accept: application/json" -d "SELECT * FROM person WHERE age > 18" http://localhost:8000/sql
```

```json title="Response"
[
	{
		"time": "14.357166ms",
		"status": "OK",
		"result": [
			{
				"age": "23",
				"id": "person:6r7wif0uufrp22h0jr0o"
				"name": "Simon",
			},
			{
				"age": "28",
				"id": "person:6r7wif0uufrp22h0jr0o"
				"name": "Marcus",
			},
		]
	}
]
```

## Using Postman

Postman is a popular tool for testing APIs. You can use it to send HTTP requests to your SurrealDB instance and perform various database operations.

1. **Set up Postman**: Download and install Postman from the [official website](https://www.postman.com/).

2. **Create a new request**: Open Postman and create a new HTTP request.

3. **Configure the request**:
   - Set the request method to `POST`.
   - Enter the URL of your SurrealDB instance, e.g., `http://localhost:8000/sql`.
   - In the [headers section](#headers), add a `Content-Type` header with the value `application/json`.
   - In the Body section, select `raw` and set the type to `Text`. Enter your SQL query, for example:

```surql
INFO FOR DB;
```

4. **Send the request**: Click the `Send` button to execute the query. You will see the response from SurrealDB in the lower section of the Postman interface.

## Learn more

Learn more about other [HTTP Endpoints](/docs/reference/rest-api/http-protocol.md) available in SurrealDB. For a more detailed tutorial on using Postman with SurrealDB, refer to the [working with SurrealDB over HTTP via Postman tutorial](/docs/explore/tutorials/tutorials/http-via-postman.md).