Isn't this well defined already? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REST

> REST (Representational State Transfer) is a software architectural style that was created to describe the design and guide the development of the architecture for the World Wide Web. REST defines a set of constraints for how the architecture of a distributed, Internet-scale hypermedia system, such as the Web, should behave.

And isn't it always misused, mis-represented basically all the time? Often confused with things that are basically just JSON API(s)?

It's kind of interesting to go through the examples in the article, because it largely really describes a HAL-style JSON API really. It in parts also described the Web Linking Standard (RFC 8288) too.

> And isn't it always misused, mis-represented basically all the time? Often confused with things that are basically just JSON API(s)?

The article makes this point.