diff --git a/distributed/distributed.yaml b/distributed/distributed.yaml
index 74d59addb35..931c7438ad2 100644
--- a/distributed/distributed.yaml
+++ b/distributed/distributed.yaml
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ distributed:
         - distributed.http.scheduler.prometheus
         - distributed.http.scheduler.info
         - distributed.http.scheduler.json
+        - distributed.http.scheduler.api
         - distributed.http.health
         - distributed.http.proxy
         - distributed.http.statics
diff --git a/distributed/http/scheduler/api.py b/distributed/http/scheduler/api.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3f4e80194fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distributed/http/scheduler/api.py
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+
+from distributed.http.utils import RequestHandler
+
+
+class APIHandler(RequestHandler):
+    def get(self):
+        self.write("API V1")
+        self.set_header("Content-Type", "text/plain")
+
+
+class RetireWorkersHandler(RequestHandler):
+    async def post(self):
+        self.set_header("Content-Type", "text/json")
+        scheduler = self.server
+        try:
+            params = json.loads(self.request.body)
+            n_workers = params.get("n", 0)
+            if n_workers:
+                workers = scheduler.workers_to_close(n=n_workers)
+                workers_info = await scheduler.retire_workers(workers=workers)
+            else:
+                workers = params.get("workers", {})
+                workers_info = await scheduler.retire_workers(workers=workers)
+            self.write(json.dumps(workers_info))
+        except Exception as e:
+            self.set_status(500, str(e))
+            self.write(json.dumps({"Error": "Internal Server Error"}))
+
+
+class GetWorkersHandler(RequestHandler):
+    def get(self):
+        self.set_header("Content-Type", "text/json")
+        scheduler = self.server
+        try:
+            response = {
+                "num_workers": len(scheduler.workers),
+                "workers": [
+                    {"name": ws.name, "address": ws.address}
+                    for ws in scheduler.workers.values()
+                ],
+            }
+            self.write(json.dumps(response))
+        except Exception as e:
+            self.set_status(500, str(e))
+            self.write(json.dumps({"Error": "Internal Server Error"}))
+
+
+class AdaptiveTargetHandler(RequestHandler):
+    def get(self):
+        self.set_header("Content-Type", "text/json")
+        scheduler = self.server
+        try:
+            desired_workers = scheduler.adaptive_target()
+            response = {
+                "workers": desired_workers,
+            }
+            self.write(json.dumps(response))
+        except Exception as e:
+            self.set_status(500, str(e))
+            self.write(json.dumps({"Error": "Internal Server Error"}))
+
+
+routes: list[tuple] = [
+    ("/api/v1", APIHandler, {}),
+    ("/api/v1/retire_workers", RetireWorkersHandler, {}),
+    ("/api/v1/get_workers", GetWorkersHandler, {}),
+    ("/api/v1/adaptive_target", AdaptiveTargetHandler, {}),
+]
diff --git a/distributed/http/scheduler/tests/test_scheduler_http.py b/distributed/http/scheduler/tests/test_scheduler_http.py
index dce785fdce5..b1213bc95bd 100644
--- a/distributed/http/scheduler/tests/test_scheduler_http.py
+++ b/distributed/http/scheduler/tests/test_scheduler_http.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 import json
 import re
 
+import aiohttp
 import pytest
 
 pytest.importorskip("bokeh")
@@ -245,3 +246,53 @@ async def test_eventstream(c, s, a, b):
     )
     assert "websocket" in str(s.plugins).lower()
     ws_client.close()
+
+
+@gen_cluster(client=True, clean_kwargs={"threads": False})
+async def test_api(c, s, a, b):
+    async with aiohttp.ClientSession() as session:
+        async with session.get(
+            "http://localhost:%d/api/v1" % s.http_server.port
+        ) as resp:
+            assert resp.status == 200
+            assert resp.headers["Content-Type"] == "text/plain"
+            assert (await resp.text()) == "API V1"
+
+
+@gen_cluster(client=True, clean_kwargs={"threads": False})
+async def test_retire_workers(c, s, a, b):
+    async with aiohttp.ClientSession() as session:
+        params = {"workers": [a.address, b.address]}
+        async with session.post(
+            "http://localhost:%d/api/v1/retire_workers" % s.http_server.port,
+            json=params,
+        ) as resp:
+            assert resp.status == 200
+            assert resp.headers["Content-Type"] == "text/json"
+            retired_workers_info = json.loads(await resp.text())
+            assert len(retired_workers_info) == 2
+
+
+@gen_cluster(client=True, clean_kwargs={"threads": False})
+async def test_get_workers(c, s, a, b):
+    async with aiohttp.ClientSession() as session:
+        async with session.get(
+            "http://localhost:%d/api/v1/get_workers" % s.http_server.port
+        ) as resp:
+            assert resp.status == 200
+            assert resp.headers["Content-Type"] == "text/json"
+            workers_info = json.loads(await resp.text())["workers"]
+            workers_address = [worker.get("address") for worker in workers_info]
+            assert set(workers_address) == {a.address, b.address}
+
+
+@gen_cluster(client=True, clean_kwargs={"threads": False})
+async def test_adaptive_target(c, s, a, b):
+    async with aiohttp.ClientSession() as session:
+        async with session.get(
+            "http://localhost:%d/api/v1/adaptive_target" % s.http_server.port
+        ) as resp:
+            assert resp.status == 200
+            assert resp.headers["Content-Type"] == "text/json"
+            num_workers = json.loads(await resp.text())["workers"]
+            assert num_workers == 0
diff --git a/docs/source/http_services.rst b/docs/source/http_services.rst
index fe076a08653..31bb62292a7 100644
--- a/docs/source/http_services.rst
+++ b/docs/source/http_services.rst
@@ -49,6 +49,22 @@ Pages and JSON endpoints served by the scheduler
 - ``/statics/()``: static file content (CSS, etc)
 - ``/stealing``: worker occupancy metrics, to evaluate task stealing
 
+Scheduler API
+-------------
+
+Scheduler methods exposed by the API with an example of the request body they take
+
+- ``/api/v1/retire_workers`` : retire certain workers on the scheduler
+
+.. code-block:: json
+
+    {
+        "workers":["tcp://127.0.0.1:53741", "tcp://127.0.0.1:53669"]
+    }
+
+- ``/api/v1/get_workers`` : get all workers on the scheduler
+- ``/api/v1/adaptive_target`` : get the target number of workers based on the scheduler's load 
+
 Individual bokeh plots
 ----------------------