What does CORS stand for in relation to APIs?

CORS stands for Cross-Origin Resource Sharing, which is a critical concept in web development related to APIs. It is a security feature implemented by web browsers that allows or restricts web pages from making requests to a different domain than the one that served the web page. This is essential due to the same-origin policy, which is a security measure that prevents a web page from making requests to a different domain to protect user data from potential malicious attacks.

When an API supports CORS, it can specify which domains are permitted to access its resources. This is achieved through HTTP headers that inform the browser whether the requested resource can be shared with that origin. By enabling CORS, API developers can allow cross-origin requests from trusted sites while still safeguarding against unauthorized access from untrusted or unknown sources, thereby enhancing security while allowing for broader interaction between different web applications and resources.