"An API is a user interface for developers. Design it with the same care you'd design a UI for users."
The API Design Philosophy
First Principles
GOOD APIs ARE:
• Predictable - Behavior matches expectations
• Consistent - Same patterns everywhere
• Simple - Easy to use, hard to misuse
• Evolvable - Can change without breaking
• Documented - Self-describing where possible
GOOD APIs DO NOT: • Surprise developers • Require reading implementation • Change behavior silently • Expose internal details • Force awkward workarounds
---
## RESTful API Design
### The REST Maturity Model
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ RICHARDSON MATURITY MODEL ║ ╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ ║ ║ ║ LEVEL 0: The Swamp of POX ║ ║ Single endpoint, RPC-style ║ ║ POST /api → {action: "getUser", id: 1} ║ ║ ║ ║ LEVEL 1: Resources ║ ║ Multiple endpoints, still mostly POST ║ ║ POST /users/1 → {action: "get"} ║ ║ ║ ║ LEVEL 2: HTTP Verbs ║ ║ Proper use of GET, POST, PUT, DELETE ║ ║ GET /users/1 ║ ║ ║ ║ LEVEL 3: Hypermedia (HATEOAS) ║ ║ Responses include links to related actions ║ ║ GET /users/1 → {..., links: [{rel: "orders", href: "/..."}]} ║ ║ ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
### Resource Naming
NOUNS, NOT VERBS: ✓ GET /users ✗ GET /getUsers ✓ POST /orders ✗ POST /createOrder ✓ DELETE /items/1 ✗ POST /deleteItem
PLURAL FOR COLLECTIONS: ✓ /users ✗ /user ✓ /orders ✗ /order
HIERARCHY FOR RELATIONSHIPS: ✓ /users/1/orders ✗ /getUserOrders?userId=1 ✓ /orders/1/items ✗ /orderItems?orderId=1
KEBAB-CASE FOR MULTI-WORD: ✓ /user-profiles ✗ /userProfiles ✓ /order-items ✗ /order_items
### HTTP Methods
┌────────┬────────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┐ │ Method │ Purpose │ Idempotent │ Safe │ ├────────┼────────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┤ │ GET │ Read resource │ Yes │ Yes │ │ POST │ Create new │ No │ No │ │ PUT │ Replace all │ Yes │ No │ │ PATCH │ Partial update │ No* │ No │ │ DELETE │ Remove │ Yes │ No │ └────────┴────────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┘
*PATCH can be idempotent if designed carefully
### Status Codes
2XX SUCCESS: 200 OK - General success 201 Created - Resource created (include Location header) 202 Accepted - Processing started (async operations) 204 No Content - Success with no body (DELETE, PUT)
4XX CLIENT ERRORS: 400 Bad Request - Malformed request 401 Unauthorized - Authentication required 403 Forbidden - Authenticated but not permitted 404 Not Found - Resource doesn't exist 409 Conflict - State conflict (e.g., duplicate) 422 Unprocessable - Valid syntax, invalid semantics
5XX SERVER ERRORS: 500 Internal - Unexpected error 502 Bad Gateway - Upstream service failed 503 Unavailable - Temporarily overloaded 504 Gateway Timeout - Upstream timeout
### Request/Response Design
```json
// GOOD REQUEST
POST /api/v1/users
{
"email": "user@example.com",
"name": "John Doe",
"role": "member"
}
// GOOD RESPONSE
{
"data": {
"id": "usr_123abc",
"email": "user@example.com",
"name": "John Doe",
"role": "member",
"createdAt": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
},
"links": {
"self": "/api/v1/users/usr_123abc",
"orders": "/api/v1/users/usr_123abc/orders"
}
}
// GOOD ERROR
{
"error": {
"code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
"message": "Invalid request data",
"details": [
{
"field": "email",
"message": "Email format is invalid"
}
]
}
}
Pagination, Filtering, Sorting
Pagination Patterns
OFFSET-BASED (Simple, but has issues at scale):
GET /users?offset=20&limit=10
CURSOR-BASED (Better for large datasets):
GET /users?cursor=eyJpZCI6MTAwfQ&limit=10
Response:
{
"data": [...],
"pagination": {
"total": 1000,
"limit": 10,
"nextCursor": "eyJpZCI6MTEwfQ",
"prevCursor": "eyJpZCI6OTB9"
}
}
Filtering
SIMPLE EQUALITY:
GET /users?status=active&role=admin
COMPARISON OPERATORS:
GET /orders?total[gte]=100&total[lte]=500
GET /users?createdAt[gt]=2024-01-01
ARRAY VALUES:
GET /users?status[]=active&status[]=pending
SEARCH:
GET /users?q=john
GET /products?search=widget
Sorting
SINGLE FIELD:
GET /users?sort=createdAt
GET /users?sort=-createdAt (descending)
MULTIPLE FIELDS:
GET /users?sort=-createdAt,name
GET /users?orderBy=createdAt:desc,name:asc
API Versioning
Versioning Strategies
URL PATH (Most common, explicit):
GET /api/v1/users
GET /api/v2/users
QUERY PARAMETER:
GET /api/users?version=1
GET /api/users?v=2
HEADER (Clean URLs, hidden version):
GET /api/users
Accept: application/vnd.api+json;version=1
CONTENT NEGOTIATION:
GET /api/users
Accept: application/vnd.company.v2+json
Version Lifecycle
┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐
│ Alpha │────▶│ Beta │────▶│ Stable │────▶│ Sunset │
└─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
Breaking Breaking Backward Deprecation
changes OK with notice compatible warnings
Breaking vs Non-Breaking Changes
NON-BREAKING (Safe to add):
✓ New optional fields
✓ New endpoints
✓ New query parameters
✓ New response fields
BREAKING (Requires new version):
✗ Removing fields
✗ Renaming fields
✗ Changing field types
✗ Changing URL structure
✗ Changing validation rules
GraphQL Design
Schema Design
# Type definitions
type User {
id: ID!
email: String!
name: String!
orders(first: Int, after: String): OrderConnection!
createdAt: DateTime!
}
type Order {
id: ID!
user: User!
items: [OrderItem!]!
total: Money!
status: OrderStatus!
}
enum OrderStatus {
PENDING
CONFIRMED
SHIPPED
DELIVERED
CANCELLED
}
# Connections for pagination
type OrderConnection {
edges: [OrderEdge!]!
pageInfo: PageInfo!
}
type OrderEdge {
node: Order!
cursor: String!
}
type PageInfo {
hasNextPage: Boolean!
endCursor: String
}
Query Design
type Query {
# Single resource
user(id: ID!): User
# Collection with filtering
users(
filter: UserFilter
orderBy: UserOrderBy
first: Int
after: String
): UserConnection!
# Viewer pattern for current user
viewer: User
}
input UserFilter {
status: UserStatus
role: UserRole
search: String
}
input UserOrderBy {
field: UserOrderField!
direction: OrderDirection!
}
Mutation Design
type Mutation {
# Create with input type
createUser(input: CreateUserInput!): CreateUserPayload!
# Update with partial input
updateUser(id: ID!, input: UpdateUserInput!): UpdateUserPayload!
# Delete returns deleted item or boolean
deleteUser(id: ID!): DeleteUserPayload!
}
input CreateUserInput {
email: String!
name: String!
role: UserRole
}
type CreateUserPayload {
user: User
errors: [UserError!]!
}
type UserError {
field: String
message: String!
code: ErrorCode!
}
Security Best Practices
Authentication
TOKEN-BASED:
Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIs...
API KEY:
X-API-Key: sk_live_abcd1234
OAUTH 2.0 FLOWS:
• Authorization Code - Web apps
• Client Credentials - Server-to-server
• PKCE - Mobile/SPA apps
Rate Limiting
HEADERS:
X-RateLimit-Limit: 1000 # Total allowed
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 999 # Remaining
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1609459200 # Reset timestamp
RESPONSE WHEN LIMITED:
HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
{
"error": {
"code": "RATE_LIMITED",
"message": "Rate limit exceeded",
"retryAfter": 60
}
}
Input Validation
ALWAYS VALIDATE:
□ Type (string, number, boolean)
□ Format (email, URL, UUID)
□ Length (min, max)
□ Range (min, max for numbers)
□ Allowed values (enums)
□ Required fields
SANITIZE:
□ Strip HTML
□ Escape special characters
□ Normalize unicode
□ Limit nested depth
Documentation
OpenAPI/Swagger
openapi: 3.0.0
info:
title: User API
version: 1.0.0
paths:
/users:
get:
summary: List all users
parameters:
- name: status
in: query
schema:
type: string
enum: [active, inactive]
responses:
200:
description: User list
content:
application/json:
schema:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/UserList'
Self-Documenting APIs
// HATEOAS - Include discoverable links
{
"data": { ... },
"links": {
"self": "/api/users/1",
"edit": "/api/users/1",
"delete": "/api/users/1",
"orders": "/api/users/1/orders"
},
"actions": [
{
"name": "deactivate",
"method": "POST",
"href": "/api/users/1/deactivate"
}
]
}
Error Handling
Error Response Structure
{
"error": {
"code": "RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND",
"message": "User with ID 'usr_123' not found",
"target": "user",
"details": [
{
"code": "INVALID_ID",
"target": "id",
"message": "ID format is invalid"
}
],
"innererror": {
"trace": "abc123",
"timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
}
}
}
Error Code Conventions
Use consistent, meaningful codes:
AUTHENTICATION:
• AUTH_REQUIRED
• AUTH_INVALID_TOKEN
• AUTH_TOKEN_EXPIRED
AUTHORIZATION:
• FORBIDDEN
• INSUFFICIENT_PERMISSIONS
VALIDATION:
• VALIDATION_ERROR
• INVALID_FORMAT
• MISSING_FIELD
• FIELD_TOO_LONG
RESOURCE:
• RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND
• RESOURCE_ALREADY_EXISTS
• RESOURCE_CONFLICT
RATE LIMITING:
• RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED
• QUOTA_EXCEEDED
Quick Reference
API Design Checklist
□ Resources are nouns, plural
□ HTTP methods used correctly
□ Status codes are semantic
□ Consistent naming conventions
□ Pagination for lists
□ Filtering and sorting
□ Versioning strategy defined
□ Error format standardized
□ Rate limiting implemented
□ Authentication documented
□ OpenAPI spec available
□ Examples for all endpoints
REST vs GraphQL Decision
CHOOSE REST WHEN:
• Simple CRUD operations
• Caching is important
• Team knows REST well
• Multiple simple clients
• Request patterns are predictable
CHOOSE GRAPHQL WHEN:
• Complex, nested data
• Mobile apps with bandwidth concerns
• Frontend needs flexibility
• Multiple related resources
• Rapid frontend iteration
"The best API is invisible. Developers use it without thinking about it because it does what they expect."