I am going through documentation here - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/sp-add-ins/working-with-lists-and-list-items-with-rest. I assume , the api to work in files, folders is set up by default in sharepoint. Does it require any other configuration , setting up authetication to call the api being one. is the api public by default, do i have to set up anything so other clients can call it. where do i set up the authentiation/token? the documentation doesn't clearly specify that , so looking for any examples from folks who have done this .
The API does not require any configuration, it is enabled for everyone who has access to the site. You do not need to configure anything in SharePoint to use the API, you can just go ahead and use it.
Chat GPT can provide you with detailed examples how to do that in your language.