New relay "api": HTTP REST API

[flashcode]

Feature description

Add a new relay protocol called "api", with the following goals:

• easy client implementation: HTTP REST API, JSON input/output
• data synchronization: real-time sync with websocket or polling with HTTP requests
• no internal structures exposed: ANSI color codes, no use of pointers & complex structures like hdata
• WeeChat itself can connect to another WeeChat using this protocol (also known as relay "remote")

Specification: https://specs.weechat.org/specs/2023-005-relay-http-rest-api.html

[nilscc]

Would be nice if the API would support CORS, such that you can use it with OpenAPI directly.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CORS#preflighted_requests

[bqv]

Old protocols will remain, right?

[flashcode]

@bqv: short answer: yes, for now.

Long answer:

IRC protocol will remain as it allows any IRC client to connect, like a bouncer does.

The goal with API protocol is to deprecate and replace the "weechat" protocol.
The API protocol has major benefits: standard HTTP API using JSON, safe to use (no pointer or internal structures exposed), colors converted, and connection to another WeeChat is possible.
For these reasons, at some point, the "weechat" protocol could be completely removed.
But this will take time (I mean years) as some major external clients are using it today.
For the future, all efforts will be focused on the API protocol, the weechat protocol should not evolve much further.