diff --git a/swh/core/api/__init__.py b/swh/core/api/__init__.py
--- a/swh/core/api/__init__.py
+++ b/swh/core/api/__init__.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
     Union,
 )
 
+from deprecated import deprecated
 from flask import Flask, Request, Response, abort, request
 import requests
 from werkzeug.exceptions import HTTPException
@@ -255,7 +256,7 @@
         except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError as e:
             raise self.api_exception(e)
 
-    def post(self, endpoint, data, **opts):
+    def _post(self, endpoint, data, **opts):
         if isinstance(data, (abc.Iterator, abc.Generator)):
             data = (self._encode_data(x) for x in data)
         else:
@@ -280,9 +281,17 @@
     def _encode_data(self, data):
         return encode_data(data, extra_encoders=self.extra_type_encoders)
 
-    post_stream = post
+    _post_stream = _post
 
-    def get(self, endpoint, **opts):
+    @deprecated(version="1.2.0", reason="Use _post instead")
+    def post(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        return self._post(*args, **kwargs)
+
+    @deprecated(version="1.2.0", reason="Use _post_stream instead")
+    def post_stream(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        return self._post_stream(*args, **kwargs)
+
+    def _get(self, endpoint, **opts):
         chunk_size = opts.pop("chunk_size", self.chunk_size)
         response = self.raw_verb(
             "get", endpoint, headers={"accept": "application/x-msgpack"}, **opts
@@ -293,8 +302,16 @@
         else:
             return self._decode_response(response)
 
-    def get_stream(self, endpoint, **opts):
-        return self.get(endpoint, stream=True, **opts)
+    def _get_stream(self, endpoint, **opts):
+        return self._get(endpoint, stream=True, **opts)
+
+    @deprecated(version="1.2.0", reason="Use _get instead")
+    def get(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        return self._get(*args, **kwargs)
+
+    @deprecated(version="1.2.0", reason="Use _get_stream instead")
+    def get_stream(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        return self._get_stream(*args, **kwargs)
 
     def raise_for_status(self, response) -> None:
         """check response HTTP status code and raise an exception if it denotes an
diff --git a/swh/core/api/tests/test_rpc_client_server.py b/swh/core/api/tests/test_rpc_client_server.py
--- a/swh/core/api/tests/test_rpc_client_server.py
+++ b/swh/core/api/tests/test_rpc_client_server.py
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@
 
 def test_api_raise_exception_exc_arg(swh_rpc_client):
     with pytest.raises(RemoteException) as exc_info:
-        swh_rpc_client.post("raise_exception_exc_arg", data={})
+        swh_rpc_client._post("raise_exception_exc_arg", data={})
 
     assert exc_info.value.args[0]["type"] == "Exception"
     assert type(exc_info.value.args[0]["args"][0]) == Exception