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    For something much more complex than start-job/monitor-job-status I wouldn't go with REST. I'd use websockets. If without websockets I'd implement a long-polling (comet) endpoint so I can get real-time (within milliseconds) update from the server. Commented Aug 2, 2020 at 0:30
  • That is an excellent point and it's a direction I'm definitely considering. I think a websocket approach makes a lot of sense given the complexity. However, I wanted to compare it with a REST approach first to better understand how something like this might be implemented. I really like @hans-martin-mosner's approach of modeling jobs as resources. So, I may have the client API initialize the request and return a "handle" to the job via some kind of proxy job object. The job object could then directly communicate with the server over websockets and raise "server-prompt" events when they occur. Commented Aug 2, 2020 at 3:02
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    Unfortunately I don't have the rep to answer, but... You could also register a URL for a callback when the processing is done. So, make the initial request, including a callback URL in the request. When the processing is done, the service running the process can hit the callback URL it was given, with the result of the operation. This keeps everything as a REST API, without any setup required for websockets. Not sure how 'pure' REST this is, but it's good enough for Microsoft docs.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/develop/… Commented Aug 3, 2020 at 9:19
  • Yet another possibility would be the use of push notifications. This would even allow the user to close the window and still receive notifications of completion/interaction required. Commented Aug 4, 2020 at 10:52