GET /api/country

Fetch country details from RestCountries API with caching

A caching proxy endpoint that retrieves country information from the RestCountries API. This endpoint exists to provide consistent caching behavior for country lookups.

Endpoint

GET /api/country

Query parameters

code · string · required

The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 or alpha-3 country code (e.g., “PL” or “POL”).

Response

Returns the raw response from RestCountries API v3.1. The response is an array containing country data.

[0] · object · required

Country data object from RestCountries API

Show Country data structure

name · object

Contains country name variations including common and official

cca2 · string

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code

cca3 · string

ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code

latlng · number[]

Coordinates as [latitude, longitude]

borders · string[]

Array of alpha-3 codes for bordering countries

area · number

Country area in square kilometers

population · number

Country population

flags · object

Contains svg and png flag URLs

region · string

Geographic region

subregion · string

Geographic subregion

Caching

This endpoint uses Next.js’s force-cache strategy:

const res = await fetch(`https://restcountries.com/v3.1/alpha/${code}`, {
    cache: 'force-cache'
});

From app/api/country/route.ts:11-13

Country data is cached indefinitely to reduce external API calls and improve performance.

Example request

curl https://yourdomain.com/api/country?code=PL

Example response

[
  {
    "name": {
      "common": "Poland",
      "official": "Republic of Poland",
      "nativeName": {
        "pol": {
          "official": "Rzeczpospolita Polska",
          "common": "Polska"
        }
      }
    },
    "cca2": "PL",
    "cca3": "POL",
    "latlng": [52, 20],
    "borders": ["BLR", "CZE", "DEU", "LTU", "RUS", "SVK", "UKR"],
    "area": 312679,
    "population": 37950802,
    "flags": {
      "png": "https://flagcdn.com/w320/pl.png",
      "svg": "https://flagcdn.com/pl.svg"
    },
    "region": "Europe",
    "subregion": "Central Europe",
    "capital": ["Warsaw"],
    "languages": {
      "pol": "Polish"
    },
    "currencies": {
      "PLN": {
        "name": "Polish złoty",
        "symbol": "zł"
      }
    }
  }
]

The response includes many additional fields beyond what’s shown above. Refer to the RestCountries API documentation for the complete schema.

Error responses

Missing country code:

{
  "error": "Country code is required"
}

Status: 400

Failed to fetch from RestCountries:

{
  "error": "Internal Server Error"
}

Status: 500

Code example

// Fetch country details by code
const response = await fetch('/api/country?code=PL');
const [countryData] = await response.json();

console.log(countryData.name.common); // "Poland"
console.log(countryData.capital[0]); // "Warsaw"

Use cases

This endpoint is primarily used by:

• Country search/autocomplete components
• Guess validation in the game interface
• Displaying country details after user selection