What is stateless interaction?

Stateless interaction is a way for a client and a server to communicate where the server does not store information about the client's previous requests.

In simpler terms: every request behaves like the first and only one.

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#What "stateless" means in plain words

If an interaction is stateless:

• the server does not remember the client
• the server does not remember past requests
• all the necessary information must be in every request

The server processes the request, sends the response, and forgets everything.

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#What this looks like in practice

The client sends a request:

"Give me user 123's data, here is my token"

The server:

• checks the token
• processes the request
• sends the response
• does not store the client's state

The next request:

"Give me user 123's order list, here is my token"

For the server, this is a completely new request, even if it came from the same client.

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#A real-life example

Stateless is like a line at an information desk:

• you walk up
• you ask a question
• you get an answer
• you walk away

If you come back again, the clerk is not obligated to remember what you asked before. You have to explain everything from scratch again.

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#Where statelessness shows up most often

The best-known example is HTTP:

• every HTTP request is independent
• the server does not store session state by default
• login, tokens, parameters, all of it is passed in the request

Cookies, tokens, and sessions are ways to work around statelessness, not to eliminate it.

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#Why statelessness is a good thing

#Advantages:

• simplicity of server logic
• scalability (any server can handle the request)
• reliability (servers do not depend on state memory)
• convenient for distributed systems