As per the REST architecture, a RESTful Web Service should not keep a client state on the server. This restriction is called Statelessness. It is the responsibility of the client to pass its context to the server and then the server can store this context to process the client's further request.

Is RESTful stateless or stateful?

Because REST is stateless, the client context is not stored on the server between requests, giving REST services the ability to be retried independently of one another.

Why is a REST API considered stateless?

Statelessness means that every HTTP request happens in complete isolation. When the client makes an HTTP request, it includes all information necessary for the server to fulfill the request. The server never relies on information from previous requests from the client.