# Quick start for new developers
# Make your first API request
The statements API is a REST API.
- You can make a simple curl request using this script (opens new window)
- or make a request from our postman workspace (opens new window)
- see our postman article for some tips on how to make a request
NB you need to sign up (opens new window) and get a token first.
# JavaScript / TypeScript developers
The quickest path to getting up and running is to copy code from one of our existing samples.
- cli app with typescript (opens new window)
- a simple node app which sends a pdf to the Spike Statements API and prints the transactions to the console
- the app uses our @spike/api-statements (opens new window) library which provides typescript definitions for all requests and responses
- the library provides a great development experience - including intellisense and typechecking your code
- web app sample (opens new window)
- this sample is well worth checking out in order to ensure that your web-based statement uploader is easy for your users to use and that you don't send pdfs to us which have preventable errors (like a missing password!)
- this sample provides best-practice solutions for handling these issues
# Consult the specs
If you're developing in python / c# / java (or anything other than js/ts) then use consult our specs in order to develop your app.
# Best-practice advice
Statement processing is a convenient way for you to obtain transaction histories via your app. However there are some non-obvious development challenges in making a simple to use statement uploader. Make sure that you address these issues otherwise you might find a big drop-off in usage because your users find it too difficult or inconvenient to upload statements.
- The web app sample (opens new window) above provides the best example of dealing with these errors.
- Read our best-practices guide