> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ionq.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

Our API uses the [REST](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_State_Transfer) architectural style, which means we provide unsurprising, resource-oriented URLs and take advantage of built-in HTTP response codes, authentication, verbs, and other features.

We allow cross-site requests from any domain, and return JSON responses.

***

## Working with APIs

While you can work [directly](/guides/direct-api-submission) with our APIs if you'd like, most users will find it more convenient to work through one of the available SDKs. For new users, we tend to recommend [Qiskit](https://github.com/Qiskit/qiskit), and have provided a [getting started guide](/guides/qiskit) for it.

***

## System status

We continuously report the status of our APIs and our QPU fleet at [https://status.ionq.co/](https://status.ionq.co/). On that page, you can subscribe for automated updates when we perform maintenance or experience an outage.

System status is also displayed within the IonQ Quantum Cloud application on the [Backends](https://cloud.ionq.com/backends) page.