Request and Response Shapes

What should this operation return?

GET /orders?status=confirmed&limit=20

The shortest answer is a JSON array:

[
  {
    "id": "ord_7M2K",
    "status": "confirmed"
  }
]

This course returns something slightly larger:

{
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "ord_7M2K",
      "status": "confirmed"
    }
  ],
  "next_cursor": "eyJhZnRlciI6Im9yZF83TTJLIn0"
}

The object form provides space for pagination and other metadata in the response body. This lesson explains why the course uses it.